Celebrating Pretty Pony Pastures – 2009

One of the things I never considered when we started to provide riding lessons was marketing skills. Oh, I knew we had to promote what we did to get clients. I did not realize that this business required ways to not only attract riders, but also to keep riders. And we were working with a very narrow niche – persons with special needs and young children who wanted to ride. Since all I ever wanted since I was 4 years old was a horse, I couldn’t fathom someone wanting to stop riding and try something else!

I noticed a pattern the two previous years – a certain number of riders stopped riding during the cold winter months. I understood that, but only a percentage of them returned in the spring. We were at a critical point for a new business because 65% of all new businesses fail in the first 10 year.

We started the year with a new event. Centered around Valentine’s Day, we introduced Hug a Horse – for Valentine’s Day. Spend 30 minutes riding a horse and 30 minutes learning to groom a horse and other horse-related activities. We even opened a PayPal account to receive registrations online! The event was an immediate success.

Our riders also began very serious about showing their horses. We did a few shows at the 4-H Fair Grounds. Then, as luck would have it, we met a woman at our church who said she could train our horses to compete in dressage. I took her up on her offer. She worked with Leslie and before we knew it, we had a dressage horse in our barn!

We ended the year by participating in the Holly Night Christmas Parade. We chose not to ride our horses , but use stick ponies as our steeds. It was cold, but it was fun!

Pretty Pony Pastures, an inclusive horseback riding facility, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Join the festivities on Saturday, August 19th   https://fb.me/e/2Ht9VdaS2
To learn more about their riding programs, volunteer opportunities, and other programs that are available, click this link and visit their website.