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Equine Business Resources Main Page (Index)

Getting Started 

     Legal Business Entity

     Mission Statement

     Business Plan

     Internal Revenue Service 

     State Corporation Commission

     Agreements Contracts and Forms 

     Equine Lawyers Agriculture Lawyers Other Special Times for Lawyers

If Business Goes Badly

Taxes

Insurance

     Liability Insurance Property & Casualty Insurance 

     Care Custody and Control Insurance  Summer Camp Insurance

     Workers Compensation, Critical Illness, Disability, or Key Man Insurance and Pet Trusts

Banking, Financing

Accounting and Business Management Tools 

   Reservation Management Software

   Membership Rosters and Billing

   Horse Record Keeping Tools

   Service Statistics Recordkeeping and Reports

   State and National Statistics and Reports  

   Close the Sale - Make Payment Easy

Safety, Emergency, and Disaster Planning

Board of Directors

Other Resources 

NEWS FLASH-OUR 2008 Best Humane Business Innovation Award went to the National Black Farmers Association for Project Wanted Horse

How This Horse Business Resource Section Works   (Top of Page)

The focus of the site is to be rich in content, and easy to read onscreen.  A majority of small horse businesses are on slow dial-up connections (cannot afford cable or DSL, or it is not available in their rural area) and using older versions of operating systems and browsers on older computer platforms (usually acquired from people who upgraded to newer technology.)  Therefore, you won't see tons of frames, flash, page transitions, and multimedia effects here.  We avoid colored text on dark backgrounds, which can be nearly impossible to read on a monitor.  We even keep the pictures small and to a minimum to facilitate page loading. So if the visual effects are bland, you now know why!  We don't want our visitors to give up due to long page-loads and hard to read color combinations and time-consuming bells and whistles - they just don't have that kind of time.

Getting Started                              (Top of Page)

Whether you are starting from scratch, acquiring an existing horse operation, or going into partnership with another horse professional, you have many aspects to consider, and decisions to make.  How the business will be structured, what services it offers, how it will attract business, and how it will pay the bills.  For a business that will own and care for horses, this is especially critical.  If any other endeavor fails, as two out of three start-up businesses do, it is painful but not impossible for the entrepreneur to retrench to an apartment and beat the pavement for another job.  The horses who are "employees" of a business cannot do that. So begin with a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, make a plan, work the plan, and based on experience, revise the plan.  Business planning is a responsibility for horsepeople, not an option.  With practice, it gets easier and more useful every year.

Mission Statement

Start with a one paragraph description of what your business does and why that service is valuable and trustworthy. 

Business Plan                                                   (Top of Page)

Every business, even a non-profit, needs a business plan.  No matter how small and part-time your start-up enterprise, no matter how well established, you need a plan that is refreshed every year with new information.  If you look for help from a lender, a large donor, or a government body, your application begins with either the business plan or elements from it.  It helps you stay on track, and helps choose the right course when you must make adjustments.

This program can step you through the process, or you can contact us for guidelines, step-by-step mentoring, research, and brainstorming for an initial or updated plan.

Legal Business Entity                            (Top of Page)

FindLaw http://www.findlaw.com/ is probably the most comprehensive legal resource for consumers and businesspeople on the internet, with plenty of links to professionals.  It is a good way to generally educate yourself on the issues before going to an attorney for specific help with a specific problem.  The more you have your background materials together first, the easier it is for both of you to drill down to the meat of what you need the lawyer to do.  Here's their good overview section on small businesses .

Depending on the structure you choose, here is a partial list of items, which can result in a “skeleton” corporation, if not completed properly. Small businesses are extremely prone to neglecting some of this "housekeeping" for their business, which can be expensive in direct and hidden costs.

 makes forming a legal business entity a step-by-step procedure for most firms for handling all the paperwork filing, posting notices, and so on.  It is primarily a document service, and there are many documents to create and file for a company, so this is a good deal.  That said, because of the relationships of the owners, or your backers or family, and your goals, you may still need the advice of a qualified expert to choose the right form of business.  There can be financing, insurance and tax and bookkeeping issues with different structures that affect your choices.  Here's a simple example: a husband and wife own a hobby farm where they give riding lessons and train horses.  To simplify inheritance, they own everything 100% equally with full rights of survivorship.  Many couples own their homes this way.  However, for the business entity that operates on the farm this means all kinds of loans, grants, and purchasing preferences they could have received if the wife, as a woman, owned a majority share.  Get the advice of an expert who understands what you want to accomplish now and in the future and your specific circumstances.

BizFilings  is a direct competitor of Legal Zoom for businesses.  Besides providing the forms and stepped procedures, and completing filing and posting notices, BizFilings offers web seminars, CD's and other helpful education for choosing the right legal form for your business.

Ezonlinefilings.com  competes with both of the other services, specializing in LLCs and corporations with a somewhat more personal approach.

Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury.  Information, forms, and state links for Small Business and Self-Employed

State Corporation Commission.  The state in which you incorporate, and the state in which you conduct business require you to periodically file information about your business to remain "in good standing."  If you don't do this, you can be subject to fines and penalties.  Also, you can lose your I.R.S. business classification.  This can not only affect taxes, but the "corporate veil" that protects your private assets from claims, financial or legal, against the business.  This can affect your liability insurance or workers' compensation insurance, with a higher premium than if these documents were up to date. 

If you ever decide to sell part or all of your business, these corporate records, or the absence of them, can affect how it is valued. That may sound like a pipe dream to the owner of a small horse training stable or boarding stable who is barely making a living.  But some day you may want to retire, or your waning health could force you to retire.  Perhaps there is no younger family member you have groomed to take over.  Two facts that could make you take this long-term goal more seriously:

1. If your business has survived the first five years, it is past the worst start up risk phase, and a candidate for sale.  Business brokers do a lively trade putting buyers and sellers together.  Almost 50% of established businesses are sold each year to new owners.  That includes art galleries, laundromats, warehouses, used tack consignment stores, tutoring businesses, pet sitting businesses, in short, anything you can think of with verifiable books, clean business documents, and an existing clientele.
2. Of all the ways to generate real wealth, developing and selling a business beats all other methods except inheritance:  it is better than working in a well-paid profession and/or working your way to the top of the corporate ladder, better than property development, other real estate investment, stock market or commodities market investing, or gambling.

Agreements Contracts and Forms                                    (Top of Page)          

More paperwork.  Yes, there are all kinds of written agreements, from liability releases, to bills of sale, to installment contract purchases, to employee non-compete agreements that go with operating a horse business.  Don't just copy someone else's form, especially if it originated in another state!  Get expert assistance from an attorney with appropriate experience.  Most horse business insurance companies, and some lenders, ask to see samples of the forms you use in the appendix of your business plan or insurance application.  Here's a handy up-to-date program for general business forms.

Visit the website of a good equine attorney for breeding contracts, bills of sale, leases,  boarding contracts, consignment agreements and to arrange for specific advice.  Even if you choose to go the economy route and modify generic forms from a equine law book or website, since these contracts are for a business, not a one-off private party situation, be wise and at least have them all reviewed by a qualified expert before you use them.

Equine Lawyers

Equine Legal Solutions, Rachel K. McCart  Common forms, articles, links, blog, and an initial free 15 minute consultation via a toll-free telephone number.

HorseLawyers.com   Common forms, articles, links, and referrals.

L.B.Shawcross and Associates

Nelson and Tucker, PLC

Legal Equestrian. PLC

Julie I. Fershtman  frequently writes for horse publications.

Equine Law and Horsemanship Safety, Jan Dawson  Comprehensive statues and legal decisions in cases by state.

Agriculture Lawyers

If you are going to operate your horse business on farm or ranch land, besides an expert in equine-specific matters, you may need a livestock or agriculture legal expert at some point.  Agriculture law attorneys represent farmers, landowners, and others in cases involving crop-growing, farming processes, dairy production, livestock, farmland use, government subsidization of farming, and more. Agriculture law attorneys may also handle cases involving seasonal and migrant farm workers.

State and federal laws govern a broad range of issues involving plants, animals, land use, food products, and environmental rules. Activities covered in agricultural law include everything from planting seeds and raising livestock, to harvesting and selling food products. As farming increasingly uses advanced technology, agricultural law has become more complex, covering areas affecting horses such as international trade, genetically modified organisms, pest management, farm waste, intellectual property, and real-estate agreements.

Agriculture Lawyers

Other Special Times for Lawyers

Other specialties include employment, copyright, trademark or patent, tax, environmental, insurance and bankruptcy situations.

We were fortunate to have a good firm in our town that included attorneys with expertise in all these areas.  By keeping a retainer on account with the firm, we had the peace of mind of knowing we had prompt access to someone who knew our company and the type of problem, with whom we could consult. 

If Business Goes Badly                                                          (Top of Page)

First, let's recognize that accidents and circumstances beyond our control happen in life.  A spouse who is your working partner in the business falls ill, the plant that upheld half the economy in your county closes, etc.  If you are on the verge of financial trouble, look for help before you need it.  A good bankruptcy attorney can explain those options and how foreclosure works for normal mortgages.  Your banker can be resourceful if you have a good working relationship with him.  Many farm credit system banks and credit unions have more options to work with you than commercial retail banks and mortgage companies.

Also, make contingency plans for the horses.  See our Emergencies page for some ideas of what you can do and where you can turn for help.

Having a back-up plan doesn't mean you are being pessimistic and giving up.  It means you are being prudent and won't wait until a problem is a crisis and you have no options to start looking into your options!

Find experts and professionals from the beginning who know you and want to help you if hard times ever come.  Find experts who get paid for you to WIN, not paid for you to LOSE. 

TIP: Keep your books up-to-date so that you can see trends in income and expenses every month, not just quarterly or at year end tax time.  At bill paying times, watch for:

FindLaw's brief explanation, provided by the American Bar Association, of business Chapter 11 Bankruptcy  and the more desirable alternative, the workout plan .

Taxes                                                                                           (Top of Page)

One of the time-consuming hassles of any business enterprises is taxes and corporation commission reports, and this is true for an equine commercial business.  You will have to file federal and state income tax returns, annual corporate reports and board meeting minutes, federal and state payroll taxes, file social security annual reports and pay and report quarterly and annual unemployment insurance and workers compensation insurance reports if you pay even one person (yourself, for example!) and, if you sell items, sales taxes in many states. 

If you do not keep good records of expenses, payroll, cash disbursements, and income, capital improvements and depreciation, and hold corporate governance meetings, you can lose your corporate status, and be subject to fines or penalties.  Welcome to the wonderful world of red tape! Most payroll taxes must be paid monthly.  Payroll tax reports are generally filed quarterly.  If you do not have a payroll service take care of this for your business, ensure your accounting software produces compliant reports, and file them on time.  For a micro business like a horse ranch, the fines and penalties for late filing are usually more than the taxes themselves!

Here's the link to the IRS .Information, forms, and state links for Small Business and Self-Employed

Business Insurance                                        (Top of Page)

Liability Insurance

Incorporation helps to protect your personal assets and credit from losses incurred by your equine program, up to a point.  This protection is called the corporate "veil."  However, it is possible for individuals and companies to take legal action against your business to seek, and possibly be awarded, monetary damages for mistakes made or harm done to horses, property, or people.  In America today, civil lawsuits are one of the major factors driving up the costs of just about everything, healthcare being one of the most publicized.  Sports and education are not much further down the list of lawsuit targets.  If you open your doors to the public, you are vulnerable, and if the officers or Board of Directors can be found to have mismanaged or failed to perform their duty, the "corporate veil" can be pierced.  That means they can be held personally liable sometimes.  Consequently, you owe it to your family and horses to obtain equine liability insurance for the type of operation you have, whether boarding, training, lessons, children's riding camp, trail rides, dude ranch, carriage rides or therapeutic riding lessons and hippotherapy.  Being wiped out financially by a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous, even if you finally are vindicated, can leave them stranded. 

If you offer trail rides or tourist carriage rides as a "concession" in a township or on public lands, the public agency that grants the concession will likely require you to provide proof of such insurance, with the public body named as an additional insured party.  If you visit other establishments with your horses, such as a school or a senior center, the management may wish to see a "certificate of insurance" as proof that you have coverage when booking your appearance.  Hotels and convention planners who schedule events at your location are also likely to ask for a "certificate of insurance" as part of their due diligence in booking your facility for an event.

Sometimes liability insurance is available at a reduced rate if you belong to a professional association.  For example, therapeutic riding centers that belong to NARHA are eligible for discounted insurance through the major equine underwriter, Markel Insurance, because they receive educational materials and standards as members that improves the likelihood they will operate in a manner that lowers the risk to the insurance company.  For some businesses, the reduced premiums of general liability insurance is one of the major benefits of their annual dues.  AQHA, USEF, USDF and other breed or competition associations arrange discounts for their members from sponsor insurance companies in exchange for advertising and co-branding preferences.

Horsemen's United Association, Inc. general liability insurance for horse shows, clinics, rodeos, trail rides, events, etc. 

Property & Casualty Insurance                                             (Top of Page)

If your home, car, and other valuables are insured against loss or damage, so too must be the assets of your equine  operation.  If you are using your personal property at home on your private farm or ranch to get started, check with your insurance agent or read your policy to see if any of the equipment or supplies of the business are covered.  There's a very good chance they are not, and you will need separate insurance for the business property, with an appropriate deductible.  While the recent Farm Bill that passed in Congress provides disaster relief grants and low-interest loans to horse breeders in addition to FEMA assistance available to homeowners and small businesses, horse businesses do not qualify for any of the extra special taxpayer funded help given to livestock producers and racetracks.  Not only would you stand in line for emergency assistance with other homeowners and small businesses after a disaster, but none of these government disaster relief programs help in the case of a single barn fire, or tack room theft.  Can you afford to be wiped out of the equipment and feed you have stored, or pay to board elsewhere while repairs are made?  

Once you have insurance in case of fire, theft, vandalism or storm (or in some areas, flood) you need to document your business property and keep these records in a secure off-site location.  Don't forget to update them at least annually.  Most businesses do this automatically as they prepare their taxes to account for capital improvements and depreciate assets over time.

Care Custody and Control Insurance                                  (Top of Page)

If you board or care for any horses other than your own, you may need care, custody and control insurance to protect you if something happens to the horse.  Check with your equine insurance agent, if you cannot tell from reading your general liability policy. 

Summer Camp Insurance                                                       (Top of Page)

If you have equine facility or event general liability insurance for board and care, training, or riding lessons or some other equine activity such as carriage rides, you do not necessarily have insurance for operating a summer camp for adults or children, whether a day camp or overnight one.  Check your policy and contact your agent.  Virtually every company requires you to answer a Camp Supplement Questionnaire to deal with such issues as food service, sanitation, risky side activities such as trampolines or swimming, and how you ensure children are not collected by unauthorized people at the end of the session.  Based on the number of days or weeks you offer the camp, the number of participants, the activities, the food or snacks, and the training and experience of the personnel conducting the camp, a "rider" to your regular policy can be issued for an extra premium to cover your camp operations.  It is extremely helpful if the counselors and instructors who conduct the camp also work with your horses at your facility the rest of the year, as opposed to hiring someone just for the season who must get up to speed.

Workers Compensation, Critical Illness, Disability, or Key Man Insurance and Pet Trusts

When you start a business that involves horsekeeping, you absolutely must have a funded plan for continuing daily operations for months if something happens to the key personnel.  Some of the worst horse neglect cases we have seen in recent years involving multiple horses were the result of a stable operator becoming sick, injured, or unable to work due to a disaster.  With no income, hay could not be purchased, hooves could not be trimmed, necessary veterinary care could not be given, utilities were cut off.  With no money to hire a stable hand to do chores, or a temporary trainer to work horses and give lessons, income further plummeted, the horse trailer was repossessed, and the mortgage was often foreclosed.  The result, abandoned horses without food and water.  Ninety-six percent (96%) of households in the U.S. would not survive 6 weeks financially if the primary wage earner was sick and unable to work.  Serious illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, and cancer strike people as young as 30, men and women alike.  These illnesses not only require medical bills to be paid, which most people buy health insurance to cover, but they normally require the person to be off the job for three to six months.  In other words, even if their medical bills are paid, their emergency fund or savings will not support their household budget for half their minimum recovery period.  If your business does not have three to six months worth of operating expenses available in liquid assets or a line of credit, you need some kind of catastrophic coverage.

Workers Compensation and Disability Insurance will cover up to 60% of the employee's after-tax earnings.  If the business operator is not paid a salary, or not paid a salary sufficient to cover his household budget (as is often the case with start-up small businesses) you may need Critical Illness or Key Man Insurance.  Further, Workers Compensation and Disability Insurance do nothing to protect the necessary operational expenses for the horses.

Investigate the costs of various types of coverage.  Budget for three to six months worth of expenses in the event all other sources of funding dry up or a natural disaster strikes, causing you to pay board for your horses relocated elsewhere while you apply for assistance and rebuild.  Then include the cost of appropriate necessary coverage in your annual budget. 

NOTE:  If you are a livestock producer (breeder), or engaged in other farming or ranching, you can get disaster insurance through the USDA.  There are many other advantages to including another farming or ranching activity on your horse ranch as an additional profit center.  Contact us for more information.

Obtaining coverage will also demonstrate your prudence and good business practices and proper responsibility to the horses entrusted to your care, for any entity considering contracting with you for services, or providing grant monies. 

Critical Illness Insurance is one company offering this coverage option, explained in a simple article.

Pet Trusts Del Camino Quarterly Tip - Establishing a Pet Trust  can ensure that if something happens to you, your horses will be taken care of properly until a new manager can be obtained, or, if the business will be dissolved, until they can all be placed in new homes.

Banking, Financing                                             (Top of Page)

Money.  No matter where it comes from or goes to, running any kind of equine operation means cash flowing in and out of checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, credit cards and lines of credit.  If you do your homework, you can establish a relationship with a bank that understands your needs.  That relationship can open the doors to many financial resources and advisors if you choose the right bank.

Are you willing to produce an agricultural product part-time on your horse operation?  If you have farm income of at least $500 per year or more, you are eligible for a wide range of home and farm related financing programs including loans for farm and land, operating expenses, loans and leases for farm equipment and vehicles, livestock and farm improvements, family expenses, equity lines of credit and more. Many farm programs apply for part time farmers.

Check out Farm Credit Services of Mid-America.

Will your horse business locate in a rural setting on current or former farm or ranch land?  Are you purchasing land from a retiring farmer or rancher?  Are you willing to produce an agricultural product on some of the land, and consider yourself a beginner farmer with ten or less years of farming or ranching experience?  If so, you may benefit most from establishing your accounts with a bank that specializes in serving the agricultural community.  There are special federally supported lending programs for small farmers ($500 to $250,000 in sales), beginning farmers, and retirement transition programs to keep rural land productive as farmers retire and their heirs choose not to remain on the land. 

Farm Credit System Report: Young and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers 2006.pdf

 Are you setting up shop in an urban or mixed urban/rural area that is being re-developed or is targeted for improvement?  Today many community banks have business banking and loan officers who are right on top of programs for Empowerment Zones.

A bank wants to see that you have a sound business plan, a reasonable budget, adequate skilled staff to manage the business and operational components of your business, and risk management plans should problems arise.  It does not matter whether you just want a checking account for receiving payments and paying bills, a mortgage for some land, or a small line of credit guaranteed by your personal assets to get started.  Your management and entrepreneurial skills can impress a bank and inspire it to go out of its way to save you money and succeed, or they can write you off as well-meaning but small fry.  Banks large and small invest in their communities and gain goodwill that translates into business by doing so.  Banks have relationships throughout those communities.  Choose a bank that is as likely to be a good networking and educational resource as it is a place to use the ATM.

Accounting and Business Management Tools   (Top of Page)

Need help choosing the right accounting software, bookkeeping service, tax service, or evaluating the tax consequences of some equine business decisions?  Talk to a Certified Public Accountant who understands the horse industry if at all possible.  Here's one:

Carolyn Miller, CPA

Reservation Management Software

If your horse business includes a dude ranch, bed and breakfast, carriage service, campsites, wild horse watching tours, or trail rides, you know how important it is to ensure that reservations are managed so that you do not overbook but also do not turn down business holding reservations that "no show".  Manage your reservations professionally and effectively with software used by other hospitality businesses: hotels, motels, and resorts.

For information on one such reservations package Click Here!

Membership Rosters and Billing                                           (Top of Page)

If you participate in a horse supplies buying club, you may need to track member participation and bill their dues.  Don't know what this kind of cooperative that pools buying power to save money on hay, grain, bedding, and other regularly purchased supplies is all about?  Contact us.

If you put on horse shows for an association, you may also need to recruit and assign volunteers.

 

GiftWorks Volunteer Management Software  enables you to track Volunteer Rosters, Participation, Training completed, and Assignments and match volunteer availability with job and schedule requirements.  Horse businesses that put on schooling or association rated shows, gymkhanas, trail rides or trials, or community special events, do not need to stumble through spreadsheets or word processing documents to manage this complicated process and pile of changing information.

Even if your non-profit buying club, or horse show/competitive trail ride management firm is starting very small, with just a few horses and volunteers, the sooner you learn to take advantage of a database and scheduling package, the more time you will have to take care of other tasks that cannot be automated.

Service Statistics Recordkeeping and Reports

As you apply for loans and grants from banks or credit unions, foundations and government agencies, you will immediately notice that being able to show a track record of service, and a demand for more service, as well as sales numbers in factual, statistical, measurable form is necessary. 

If you are overwhelmed with calls from people who want to take riding lessons, but cannot give a precise count of how many you turned away, you have missed the boat.  If you believe there is a huge demand for composted horse manure from local organic farmers and suburban gardener clubs, but have no data to back that up, you are going to lose credibility as well as have difficulty showing what the per dollar impact of a grant or donation or sponsorship might have.  The person or committee that reviews loan or grant requests needs to get "the most bang for the buck".  If they give or loan you money to start or expand a project, can you show there are more in your geographical area to be served that know about your service and want to take advantage of it?  Once the donor gives you the money, can you show you served more, as expected, and met the goal of the grant?  If the program is new, can you document pent up demand?

Presently, this is the area where horse businesses can learn a great deal from established micro businesses, and in so doing, help move the entire horse industry of small firms into the 21st century. 

State and National Statistics and Reports

At some point your figures from call logs and website visits and clients served get compared with similar horse businesses in your state, region, or nationally.  If you do not do it to show that a loan dollar invested in you is well-spent by comparison, the person or committee reviewing your grant or loan request probably will.  Loan officers at small banks and credit unions might access the corporate reports filed with your state's corporation commission for similar outfits, but large banks won't bother before turning you down.  Provide all the facts needed for their due diligence if you want your proposal to be taken seriously.  Especially do good homework if you ask for a business loan for a venture that is less than four years old or during a slowing economy.

You should make it your business to track whatever statistics are available in your field, so that you can use them in your marketing and grant writing materials.  Be sure to compare apples to apples - your weekly figures do not compare to an annual report unless you add up 52 weeks!  Don't leave it to your reader to do the math.  If your equine business does not have good state or national statistics collected by a good state or national professional association or government agency, such as the livestock board, or horse council or trail preservation consortium, write letters to urge the right people to take action so your tax dollars or association dues are being used to produce this valuable information.  Be a squeaky wheel. 

The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) has many tools to locate charities in your field by state, financial size, and more.  It can be a valuable resource to obtain more detailed information to compare funding, clientele service, operating expenses and community partnerships.  This launching point enables you to speak and write knowledgeably about your non-profit business when you write your business and marketing plans and grant/sponsorship requests.

Professional Industry Source Materials

Professional industry research reports are commonly available to lenders, and potential investors for commercial businesses, and grant reviewers for non-profits.  If they can access industry market sector reports that provide them with historical state, national or global figures, risk assessments, and trends, then your business plan, marketing plan, loan request, or grant request budget and statement of need should not make contrary claims that you cannot justify with local conditions.  Worse than making such a mistake would be for your presentation, either in the document or your in-person pitch, to show ignorance of your general industry or niche within it.  We do research for commercial and non-profit equine businesses to use in their planning, loan requests, and grant proposals.  Contact us for more information.

Research Example Excerpt for the Hay Industry (Some Information Redacted) from IBIS World Industry Reports

Scheduling Tools, Communication, and Software          (Top of Page)

Organization is a powerful tool.  Meeting with creative people and service providers can be time consuming, and difficult for horse trainers who are on the road to shows and clinics.

Google Apps is a Suite of Web-based applications that include Gmail (email & chat including mobile devices), Google Talk (text and voice), Google Calendar (including meetings and shared calendars), Google Docs (create, share, collaborate on documents real-time), Google Sites (team sharing of internal information, employee handbooks, marketing materials an artist or writer is designing for you, a report for the bookkeeper, etc.), Start Page to collect all of the applications together.

Microsoft Small Business on MSN has many tools for small businesses for free or nearly free.

Barn Management Tools

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has established guidelines for the selection, care, client interaction with, appropriate activities of and well-being of animals that work in animal assisted activities and therapies.  If your horses work in the field of equine-assisted therapy or equine-assisted learning, you should review their recommendations and evaluate your program procedures and staff training to confirm that your valuable horses are managed in a way that optimizes their lives and contributions.

Horse Record Keeping Tools                                                   (Top of Page)

Most of the equine record software packages or print forms on the market are designed for single horse owners, breeding farms, or show training stables.  While most do a decent job of tracking vaccinations, worming, and shoeing, they usually include pedigree, breeding, showing, or billing features you don't need at a boarding stable, retirement or lay-up facility, carriage business, event management business, lesson academy, riding camp, equine studies program, or for-profit equine-assisted activities center.  If you purchase one, you are likely to be disappointed that you cannot track information you need about a school, therapy, or working horse, or a client's horse you are rehabilitating or a project horse you intend to rehome. 

If you purchase the software simply to track horse care and maintenance, most will do the job.  The majority are too rudimentary on the billing and collection side for accounting purposes.  Either they are not robust accounts receivable packages, or they do not interface smoothly with complete accounting packages like QuickBooks Premier 2010 , or they do not offer PayPal or credit card or e-mail interfaces so that you must print paper invoices.  Some are deficient in all three areas.  These are actually better for pure animal care tracking, because they do not include extra incomplete features you will handle in good accounting software instead.

Here's an easy online calendar from Intervet for tracking health records.  It can be an excellent tool to collaborate with absentee owners, a good link to include in a packet for new horse owners, and is certainly a cost-free way to get started with good records on your horses from the beginning. Foal Care

Either way, if you intend to care for even a few horses, or have several clients, or plan to be in business more than a year, you need records.  Further, those records need to be accessible and easy to maintain.  For help setting up a simple but useful system that tracks your horses, and ensures you get paid for services rendered, contact us.

Meeting Coordination Tools                                             (Top of Page)

Scheduling a meeting of a planning committee, a board, part-time staff that work different shifts, or clients preparing for an out-of-barn show can soak up precious time.  Today, travel around town to attend a meeting is expensive in fuel as well as time.  People who would like to help you part-time or on an as-needed basis and have great skills to offer may live an impractical distance away or, due to a full time job, can only meet in the evening but can't drive to your farm at night.

Gain flexibility and participation by skilled advisors and part-time staff by holding meetings online, or a combination of online and at the farm.  Here are some tools to investigate, besides the traditional telephone conference call.  Can you do the part of your extra seasonal staff orientation and training that does not have to be hands on as an online seminar?  Can your board or officers meet this way some of the time?  How about standing committees of associations that you belong to?  Being on these committees can be valuable to your business, but can't take you away from the stable and revenue-producing activities.  That is probably true for the other members as well, so they may be quite receptive to learning to use online meeting tools. 

Can you offer online courses to supplement income?

Typically, the software offers access to both PC and Mac users, enables you to share your entire desktop, and transfer control to another user, as well as record the meeting.  Some offer video conferencing and/or audio conferencing, and current versions of most plans do not require downloading software to the attendees' computers.  Virtually all offer a free trial period and an unlimited number of sessions per month. Big variables among the industry leaders are:

1. the number of users per session ranging from 10 to 150,

2. the monthly fees ranging from $29 to $100,

3. whether or not they include onscreen live chat or integrated voice-over-internet (VOIP). 

Here are five major vendors for you to check out.

Do you have an idea for a clinic you could hold online, perhaps with video demonstrating the technique or skill?  If so, but you need help turning it into a successful webinar, Contact Us.

Safety, Emergency, and Disaster Planning                             (Top of Page)

September is National Emergency Preparedness Month each year.  The prestige and credibility of your equine business can be enhanced by providing community service as a partner with the Department of Homeland Security.  Using materials conveniently available through Ready.gov, you can distribute information and tools for large animal emergency planning, or coordinate local large stables, fairgrounds, racetracks, horse show venues, rodeo or roping arenas as temporary shelters in the event of an emergency. 

TIP:  If your business works with the special needs population, consider a link on your website to: Disabilities/911, the disaster preparedness website for persons with disabilities.

As you develop your equine business' own safety, emergency, and disaster plans, don't forget to maintain good regular backups of your computer software and data, from email address books to online accounts to actual accounting data, contact databases, and horse records.  The first thing you may need to access following an evacuation may be your lists of clients and vendors.  No backups should be more than a week old, and if you need to subscribe to an automatic online service to get this peace of mind, you only need to use it once when a computer's hard disk crashes to realize it is worth every penny.

See also Security as Safety and Fire Prevention on our Horse Business Main Resources page.

Community Needs and Your Impact                                         (Top of Page)

From the very beginning, collect and keep verifiable statistics on the equine community, and larger local community that you serve.  As your equine business grows, and you become eligible to apply for grants and participation on government and civic committees and boards that impact your mission, you need to clearly and briefly articulate the impact of your organization on the equine, and larger community. 

For example, let us say you have a therapeutic riding center that wants to assist wounded warriors who are amputees from Afghanistan and Iraq.  How many are there in your geographic area?  Nationally, as of mid-2007 there were 803.  What if you open your vision to include Vietnam veterans?  Nationally, there are 75,000 Vietnam veterans with disabilities.  Perhaps a reasonable client base live within a half hour drive of your center, and have conditions you are well equipped to serve.  This knowledge directs your grant requests toward a slightly different audience.

If you are writing a grant request for a horsemanship camp for at-risk youth, you must make the case that youth in your community are at risk, and that similar programs have had positive results for other communities.  What information can you cite from state, county, and local schools, churches, and government and non-profit youth programs concerning at-risk youth in your area?  What have been the historical experience trends?  Are there more or fewer documented cases over the last five years?  Are the cases specific to a time of year, or concentrated in particular zip codes?  What are the gender, age, literacy proficiency, and English skills of the at-risk youth?  You may find that no such statistics are available, once you make contact with and develop positive working relationships with local agencies.  Perhaps your first grant will actually be to set up a system for collecting and analyzing this data.  Perhaps you simply need to make telephone calls once monthly to complete a questionnaire you design to collect the data.  But make no mistake.  This data is valuable.

Close the Sale - Make Payment Easy                          (Top of Page)

PayPal.com   You must ask for the order!  When people visit your compelling website, they come from various searches.  The "landing page" may be the ad for a particular horse for lease.  Once someone navigates away from the one page where you have placed clickable reservation button or inquiry link, there is a 80% likelihood they will not return to it.  Put the links next to the topic. It may be your "home" page, or the story of a recent event you held.  There should be an appropriate PayPal button on that page. 

Do you have boarders? There should be a "Pay My Board Bill" button on that page.    PayPal enables people to immediately make a reservation while the spirit moves them.  It is safe, since they don't have to give you their credit card information.  The buttons are easy to build.  The money goes into your PayPal account, from which you can pay vendors directly, or transfer funds to checking or savings accounts.  If you are not using PayPal to its full potential, you are missing the boat!  Today's boarder would rather click an onscreen button and fill a few fields on a form, than write a check, address an envelope, and put a stamp on it, or drive 20 miles to hand deliver a check or have his credit or debit card swiped.  If you are not accepting online payments for board and training you are wasting both time and money. 

Board of Directors                                                       (Top of Page)

Having a Board of Directors is critical to the success of an organization.  For a start-up or a busy horse business, even a mom-and-pop, or family-run operation, it is imperative.  You must differentiate yourself from backyard horse trainer, breeder, or instructor wannabes or hobbyists.   

For all equine related businesses, profit and non-profit alike, that seek grants or loans from government agencies, or foundations,  having a board of directors speaks volumes about your ability to grow your business and step out of the statistics of overwhelming failure of entrepreneurial one-man-bands that have short lives and poor business practices because one horse trainer or one horse rescuer or one equine mental health therapist is trying to run a complex business single-handedly.

Speaking of being a one-man band, or mom-and-pop team, without a board of directors to provide support and a perspective one step emotionally removed from the day-to-day issues, sooner or later you will burn out.  If you are a riding instructor or retirement boarding stable operator who wants to do this until the day you can comfortably retire and just ride your own horses, or you are a horse trainer, or a travelling clinician, you need a group of supporters with whom you can share confidential business planning,  issues, and choices, including personnel management.  It is a big mistake to vent to clients or employees.  Many horse business operators are tempted to do so because with the long hours they work at the farm, the temptation is extreme.  Unlike other industries, there are few professional clubs with local chapters where they can talk business without customers present.  You are, however, in contact with employees and clients every day,  The urge to discuss farm affairs is strong, and in no time, concerned customers or well-meaning part-time employees who have differing goals are running your operation by ad hoc committee or developing conflicts among themselves that causes key employees or customers to pack up and take their skills, passions, or business elsewhere.

Board members not only have experience in areas you lack, and can thus help develop resources that would take you forever to "get up to speed on", but board members know people in your community.  Every person knows 250 people - whether it is a customer who can refer business, an employee who can refer more staff, or an investor who knows other people who might invest.  The same is true for your board of directors.  They know other people in their field, and they know other successful people generally, and key people, like suppliers, in your industry.  While a veterinarian on your horse lay-up and retirement facility board should not be expected to donate free veterinary care to paying retirees, he is probably called upon by manufacturers and wholesalers who have a marketing and sales budget.  The sales departments of these companies routinely give away samples, purchases raffle tickets, buy advertising in community events, etc. as normal ordinary sales expenses.  Your veterinary board member can funnel their largess to your outfit.  It is easy for him to ask the salesman during a regular quarterly delivery/sales call if XYZ company would like to buy a full page ad in ABC Sanctuary's upcoming Barn Sale promotional catalog going out to all the local horsepeople, or a sponsorship that underwrites their full page ad in the State Horse Monthly Magazine.   

But how to recruit a board, who to recruit for your board, and what their function should be, is what you need to master.  There are millions of businesses in the U.S.A. competing for the best, brightest, most capable board members to guide and enhance their organizations.  Some, as we have seen in 2008 repeatedly, are paying huge salaries to board members who are complete duds.  Before you begin recruiting, learn a little bit about how to identify the right people for your start-up or next-stage equine business, and how best to attract them and make the experience a win-win for both of you.

These books offers some very practical advice.  Don't just buy one and skim it once.  Read it and keep it near your desk as a reminder, just as handy as a phone book.

Once you are ready to recruit a board, it is possible to reach out beyond your small circle of friends, acquaintances, vendors and business contacts to find experienced business board members interested in your field.  As important as it is to involve your local community influencers, it is also important to enlarge your horizons. 

Keep your board energized and effective with the quick newsletter from CompassPoint, called Board Cafe.   Here's an example of one containing a succinct discussion of how to handle contact between staff/volunteers and your board to prevent undermining you as CEO, but enable positive communication to flow for committees, programs, and, if they arise, complaints. CompassPoint Board Cafe Communication Article  Here's another on ways to improve board meetings, with links to other sites of value to board members:

Another excellent resource for board members is Board Source  with links to information and helpful articles specifically for those with oversight and mission responsibility.

Cost-Savings

 Visit our Quarterly Tips, Forums, Blog, or Products for Horse Businesses and Senior Horse Resources section for ways to save money.

Other Resources                                             (Top of Page)

The Del Camino Horse Owner Products and Services catalog offers some horse products of interest to owners of senior horses, and horses being retrained or rehabilitated.

The Del Camino Stable Manager's Product and Services catalog offers products and services of interest to those operating a horse facility.

The Del Camino forums provide a place to network with other horse non-profits, and the blog covers related timely topics.

Horse Welfare Statistics

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