My husband and I were recently making a trip back from my parents place to our home.  We take a beautiful scenic drive that allows me to look at lots of cattle, sheep and also horse properties along the way.  One property had a sign posted in the corner of the paddock saying Small Property Maintenance with a contact number.  And I got to thinking: why not horse farm property maintenance?

The very first thoroughbred stud I did work placement on (Swettenham, then Collingrove) was big, beautiful and well maintained.  There were three staff that were employed to keep it that way.  Broken fences, bust water troughs, leaves that needed raking, mowing…

You name it; they did it to keep the place looking good for clients.  But a lot of small horse properties perhaps don’t have the budget to employ someone to do this regularly.  But what if they could hire a team on the odd occasion to do so?

The Horse Farm Property Maintenance Team

What if there was a horse farm property maintenance team of people that could be hired out?  They could come to your farm and fix it up after a storm, before an open day or competition or before fire season, etc.  As a small property owner, you could contact an agency that has a collection of staff with various skills.  Some may be good at building and have a chainsaw licence to cut down fallen trees.  Others may be great on a tractor and can harrow, spray weeds or even bale hay.  Still others could rake up areas, prune back plants and weed.

What if there was one place you could go to find a handful of people that could come in on a given day or week of the year to help get your horse property in top shape for clients?  A horse farm property maintenance agency!  This could provide people casual work for people with particular farm skills whilst also helping out horse property owners.  What do you think?

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Recently on twitter it was suggested that I follow a horse related account. Curious about any horse products and sites, I headed along to find out what ArcEquine was all about. It seems it’s a website that promotes microcurrent therapy for horses.

A look at the website indicates that this form of therapy could be used to successfully treat many issues.  The likes of broken bones, reduction of pain, reducing scar tissue, swelling and bruising.  And then there’s the stifle, sarcoids and the sacroiliac region in the horse. As it says on the site:

“ArcEquine mimics the body’s natural electrical currents and reintroduces them from an external source. This kick-starts and accelerates many processes involved with correct cellular functioning, resulting in faster healing and promoting optimal health.”

Microcurrent Therapy for Horses

The use of this technology was introduced to the horse world several years ago.  This was in the form of a study being done on racehorses that had substantial injuries. These were the kind of injuries to end the horse’s racing career and even potentially to threaten their life. Ian Thirkell who has created ArcEquine used microcurrent therapy on these horses.

It resulted in the average return to racing time frame for these horses to be 30 weeks. This is pretty incredible when you consider a diagnosis of not being able to race again!

What I find further encouraging is that there were no repeat performances in the area of breaking down with the same injury after being treated. This is exciting stuff! If you have an interest in rehabilitation of performance horses, then perhaps ArcEquine has piqued your interest.

It’s a wonderful thing to know about and be able to use services and technologies that can help keep our horses sound or resolve a soundness issue.  And to be involved in such an industry as a career can be just as incredible.

“I’ve often told people who ask if there is a God: Get around enough people with horses and see what happens. See how they survive in spite of all the things they do, and you’ll become a believer!” ― Buck Brannaman

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Recently I was checking out Alex Brown’s website and reading through a list of comments from horse people.  These words related to Alex’s latest release, Missionville.  One of the people quoted was Caitlin Taylor of OTTB Designs.

Curious, I did a search online to find out what exactly OTTB Designs was.  I then contacted Caitlin about the work she does and the possibility of being profiled.  She was quick to give me a reply email.

“As for OTTB Designs/OTTB Identity, I don’t know that we are the best example of how to run a business. Most of our profits go to charity and I work a regular 9-5.

“OTTB Designs could be more profitable, but I feel that would be disingenuous to the purpose of the brand. We keep the margins pretty thin because we know our customer doesn’t have a lot to spend. Many OTTB owners are girls and women on a tight budget so we try to accommodate that demographic.”

Chances are if you are familiar with the thoroughbred world, you’ll know the acronym OTTB.  Many people search for off the track thoroughbreds (OTTBs) to retrain and give a second life in another discipline.  The thoroughbred breed is very versatile and can often go onto dressage, jumping, eventing or even showing or pleasure riding.

For the person who has an OTTB, perhaps it would appeal to them to be able to have riding gear with an associated logo on it!  Saddle blankets could be one such item.  If you check out the OTTB Designs website, you’ll find that there’s even jewellery with an OTTB logo.

What I love about this setup is that there are so many people with off the track thoroughbreds.  The designs are a unique idea, but one that many can utilise!  And of course the fact that a lot of their profits go to charity is also appealing.

You may have already read the post on Equus Education about providing finance to people who have a horse business plan. Of course, this often happens in the form of a loan, on which you need to pay interest. Recently on Vision Radio I heard an interview with a gentleman who is involved in microfinance in the Philippines. And of course I got to thinking about microfinance for horse small business. (No I’m not obsessed!)

So what’s the general idea? Well, if we use the example from the Philippines, $150 USD was provided to people who had a business idea. With this (small) sum of money they were able to start a business.

It could be to buy product or something to help them provide a product or service that they could sell. Alongside this money, they were also provided with training and encouragement to get their business off the ground. Within a short time span, they were also expected to pay back the money that they had been loaned. This was interest free. Any other money they made after paying back the loan was theirs to live on / provide for their family and future.

I love this concept of empowering people to do things for themselves. Sometimes all someone needs is a helping hand to get out of a poverty cycle.  This could be a cycle that may have affected their family for generations. With the accountability of paying back what they’ve been loaned, they aren’t being given something for free.  Rather, they are being provided with an opportunity to earn and be responsible for themselves.

Microfinance for Horse Small Business

So how could microfinance apply to horse small business? What if a particular setup provided $150 USD to individuals to start a horse business? Is this enough? For some things, sure!

• $150 could help to buy a website and pay for hosting – it would cover the hosting and .com renewal of Equus Education for a year.
• It could be used for someone to undertake a course that educates and enables them to earn, like with my Equine Passive Streams Course at Udemy.
• Maybe the money could be used to pay an editor, get a book cover designed and publish a book. Electronically, you can publish a book for free on many platforms and earn a return as soon as someone buys.

So how would such an initiative benefit the person providing the money? Not in the form of interest earned on the money loaned. But what about in the form of raising the economy in particular areas, or even worldwide? In time, if the concept grew, maybe different people could volunteer their time and resources in various areas.

For example, maybe $150 USD in a third world country could buy a horse or donkey that could be used as a pack horse or trail horse for tourists. In this way, it could be bringing in consistent money for the owner. Buying second hand horse books off eBay or in opportunity shops and selling them in sets could generate a handy return.

There are so many little things that could be done with $150 to turn it into a greater sum of money and in time, maybe even a viable business. With so many people in the world below the poverty line or on government benefits, for those with an interest in horses, could you see microfinance for horse small business working?