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Horse Boarding Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

horse boarding business plan template

Horse Boarding Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their horse businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regard to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a horse boarding business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Horse Boarding Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your horse boarding business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan Horse Boarding Facility

If you’re looking to start a horse boarding facility or grow your existing horse business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your horse business in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Horse Boarding Facilities

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a horse business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Personal savings is the other most common form of funding for a horse boarding business. Venture capitalists will usually not fund a horse business. They might consider funding a horse business with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.  With that said, personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for horse boarding facilities.

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How to write a business plan for a horse boarding facility.

If you want to start a horse business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The horse boarding business plan template and guide below will help you write each essential section of your own business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of horse business you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a horse business that you would like to grow, or are you operating boarding facilities in multiple markets?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the horse boarding industry. Discuss the type of horse business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of horse business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of horse facilities:

  • Full Boarding : this type of horse business will include all the necessities for the horse as well as a stall and full turnout to pasture.
  • Pasture Boarding: this type of boarding business focuses on the horse living outdoors in the pasture along with food, water, and a run-in shelter.
  • Self-Care Boarding: this type of horse business is where the facilities (shelter and a stall) are provided for the horse owner, but everything else is up to the owner, such as feed, bedding, cleaning, grooming, etc.

In addition to explaining the type of horse business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, the number of positive reviews, etc.
  • Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the horse boarding industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the horse boarding industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your horse boarding business plan:

  • How big is the horse boarding industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your horse business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your horse boarding business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: households with income above $75,000, households with income between $50,000 and $75,000, and households with income below $50,000.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of horse business you operate. Clearly, more affluent households would respond to different marketing promotions than middle-income households, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most horse businesses primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other horse businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes landowners with stables, livestock farmers, and landowners with a large pastures. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other horse businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be horse boarding facilities within a few hours’ drive of your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

  • What type of horse training or boarding services do they offer?
  • How many horses do they board at any given time?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide services competitors don’t offer?
  • How often will a horse be examined by a veterinarian?
  • What service plans/tiers will you offer for the horse owner?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a horse business, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of horse business that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to horse boarding services, will you provide other services such as premium food, grooming, horse training, horseback riding lessons, etc.?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your horse business. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your horse business located within driving distance of a large metro area, near a horse training or horse racing facility, etc.  Discuss how your location might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your marketing strategy is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertising in local papers and magazines
  • Reaching out to local websites
  • Social media marketing
  • Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your horse business, including marketing your business, feeding, grooming, maintenance, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to board your 50 th horse or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your horse business to a new market.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your horse business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing horse businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in some aspect of the equine industry or successfully marketing small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you board 1 horse at a time or multiple horses at a time? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your horse business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a horse business:

  • Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
  • Cost of equipment and supplies
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes and permits
  • Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your stable blueprints, or the cost of providing resources such as feed, tools, labor, etc.  

Putting together a business plan for your horse business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the horse boarding industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful horse boarding facility.  

Horse Boarding Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my horse boarding business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Horse Boarding Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of horse boarding business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a horse boarding business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of horse boarding businesses?

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Horse Boarding business plan?

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Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s professional business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.

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Horse Boarding Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Horse Boarding Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Horse Boarding business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Horse Boarding businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Horse Boarding business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Medford Stables, located in Medford, Oregon is a new horse boarding company that focuses on providing high-quality, full-care horse boarding for recreational horse owners. The company provides all the essentials every horse needs to be healthy and happy in a spacious ranch-style boarding facility. Medford Stables aims to be the premier horse boarding company providing the best horse care and customer service in the area.

Medford Stables’ most valuable asset is the expertise and experience of its founder, Jane Doe. Jane has been in the horse boarding business for the past 20 years. During this time she developed a deep understanding of the horse boarding industry and how to care for horses so they are always in peak health and happiness. She will use her love for horses to create the best horse boarding company in the Medford, Oregon area.

Product Offering

Medford Stables will provide all of the essentials every horse needs on a daily basis to be healthy and happy. Customers can rest assured their horse will be in good hands. Additionally, the company will offer horse training and horseback riding lessons.

The following are the products and services included in the monthly boarding fees:

  • Designated Stall with Hay and Shavings
  • Food & Water
  • Daily Feeding
  • Pasture Access
  • Stall Cleaning
  • Veterinary Visits (customer pays for vet fees)
  • Supplement & Medication Administration
  • Horse Training
  • Riding Lessons

Customer Focus

Medford Stables will primarily serve horse owners within a 20 mile radius of our location in Medford, Oregon. The customer segments that are typically horse owners are wealthy residents, rural residents and farmers, and families.

Management Team

Medford Stables will also have an experienced assistant who will be trained in handling the administrative tasks of the business. The desired individual will have an undergraduate business degree and years of management experience. Medford Stables will also employ certified horse trainers, experienced horseback riding instructors, and an on-call veterinarian in case of medical emergencies.

Success Factors

Medford Stables will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

  • Customer-Oriented Service: Medford Stables will have a full-time assistant to keep in contact with customers and answer their everyday questions. Jane Doe realizes the importance of accessibility to her customers, and will further keep in touch with them through weekly newsletters.
  • Management: Jane has been extremely successful working in the horse boarding business and will be able to use her previous experience to assure customers of the care that Medford Stables will take to do the job right. Her unique qualifications will serve customers in a much more sophisticated manner than Medford Stables’ competitors.
  • Relationships: Having lived in the community for 35 years, Jane knows many of the local leaders, newspapers, and other influences. Furthermore, she will be able to draw from her ties to horse owners from her work in the equestrian industry to develop an initial client base.
  • Scope of Services Available: The company will provide a wider range of services than its competitors. No other horse boarding facility in the area offers horseback riding lessons, horse training, and full-care for a single monthly fee.

Financial Highlights

Medford Stables is seeking a total funding of $425,000 of debt capital to open its horse boarding company. The capital will be used for funding capital expenditures and location build-out, hiring initial employees, marketing expenses, and working capital. Specifically, these funds will be used as follows:

  • Boarding facility design/build-out: $100,000
  • Equipment and supplies: $75,000
  • Three Months Of Overhead Expenses (Rent, Salaries, Utilities): $100,000
  • Working Capital: $100,000
  • Marketing and Advertising: $50,000

The following graph outlines the pro forma financial projections for Medford Stables.

Medford Stables Financial Projections

Company Overview

Who is medford stables.

  Medford Stables’ most valuable asset is the expertise and experience of its founder, Jane Doe. Jane has been in the horse boarding business for the past 20 years. During this time she developed a deep understanding of the horse boarding industry and how to care for horses so they are always in peak health and happiness. She will use her love for horses to create the best horse boarding company in the Medford, Oregon area.

Medford Stables’ History

Jane Doe began researching what it would take to create her own horse boarding company and did a thorough analysis on the costs, market, demographics, and competition. Jane has compiled enough information to develop her business plan in order to approach investors.

Once her market analysis was complete, Jane began surveying the local available ranch property and located an ideal location for an equestrian facility. Jane incorporated Medford Stables as a Limited Liability Corporation on May 1st, 2023.

Once the sale is finalized on the property, construction can begin to build-out the stable and ancillary facilities.

Since incorporation, the company has achieved the following milestones:

  • Located available equestrian space for sale that is ideal for a full-care horse boarding business.
  • Developed the company’s name, logo, and website.
  • Hired a general contractor for the build-out of the stable and facilities.
  • Determined equipment and necessary supplies.
  • Began recruiting key employees with previous horse boarding, horse training, and horseback riding instruction experience.

Medford Stables’ Services

Industry analysis.

Horse boarding is part of the wider equestrian market. The U.S. equestrian market is a $122 billion industry. This industry is segmented into competition horse ownership and recreation horse ownership.

There are 7.2 million commercial and recreational horses in the United States and 28 million people who consider themselves horse enthusiasts. Trail and pleasure riding is the most popular activity among recreational horse owners.

In the equestrian market, horse boarding is one of the top revenue generators, followed by riding lessons and horse training. Recreational horse owners spend around $8,000 per year on horse care such as veterinary visits, grooming, medicine, leather care, boarding fees (52% of spending is on boarding fees), bridles, straps, hoof treatments, and saddles.

Industry operators can compete effectively by providing top notch service and quality care for their customers’ horses. Customers are typically willing to pay more for quality service they can depend on when it comes to care for their horses.

Due to the recovering economy and increased spending on horse and horse-related activities, industry revenue is expected to increase over the next several years. This is a great time to start a new horse boarding company as it is expected that many people will buy and own horses for the first time in the next couple of years.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

Medford Stables will serve the horse owners in the community of Medford, Oregon and its surrounding areas.

The community of Medford has a growing number of recreational horse owners. Horseback riding is becoming a popular past-time for both children and adults in the area. The area is also populated mostly by moderate to wealthy individuals who lead busy lifestyles; as a result, they have both the need for horse boarding services and the means to pay for it.

The demographics of Medford, Oregon are as follows:

Customer Segmentation

Medford Stables will primarily target the following customer profile:

  • Rural residents and farmers
  • Wealthy horse owners

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Medford Stables will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Country Horse Ranch

Country Horse Ranch is a horse boarding company in Medford, Oregon. In business for over 35 years, Country Horse Ranch is well known in the community. The stable offers self-care boarding which includes a monthly rental fee for a basic stall. The customers are responsible for all feeding, care, and grooming for their own horses. Horse owners who have specific requirements for their horses and want to take a hands-on approach to horse care prefer this facility because it is one of the cheapest options available. The stable fee includes access to the riding trails available on the company’s large horse ranch. The company does not offer horse training or horseback riding lessons.

Fanny’s Full Service Horse Stables

Fanny’s Full Service Horse Stables is a local full-care boarding facility. The company charges a boarding fee by the week or the month, so customers can choose to board their horses on a short-or-long-term basis. Fanny’s provides all the necessary horse care supplies and equipment and is ideal for customers who are looking for a hands-off approach to horse ownership. The boarding fees include pasture access and daily grooming and exercise sessions with experienced farmhands.

While this company offers many of the same services as Medford Stables, it does not offer horse training or horseback riding lessons, which is something that many locals have requested. Additionally, the company’s customer service is lacking according to many customer reviews.

Hilly Land Horse Boarding

Founded in 1975, Hilly Land Horse Boarding is also a local horse boarding company that offers partial care services. The customer is responsible for providing all the supplies their horse will need, but the company will provide the care on a daily basis. This stable is a popular choice for horse owners with busy schedules who still want to use all of their own horse supplies. This company provides boarding services at a moderate price point, making it a popular choice for horse owners who can’t afford a full-care stable. Stable fees include Hilly Land’s pasture access. However, the company does not offer riding lessons or horse training.

Competitive Advantage

Medford Stables offers several advantages over its competition. Those advantages are:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Medford Stables will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

  • Customer-focused service that treats each horse individually with excellent care
  • Superior, customized service built on long-term relationships
  • Proven track record and expertise in the industry
  • Full-service boarding that includes care, training, and riding lessons

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for Medford Stables is as follows:

Social Media

Medford Stables will invest heavily in a social media advertising campaign. Jane will create the company’s social media accounts and invest in ads on all social media platforms. It will use targeted marketing to appeal to the target demographics.

Website/SEO

Medford Stables will invest heavily in developing a professional website that displays all of the features and benefits of the company and its facilities. It will also invest heavily in SEO so that the brand’s website will appear at the top of search engine results.

Equestrian Events

Jane Doe will visit multiple equestrian events to hand out brochures for the stable. The company will ask event hosts to keep a handful of brochures on hand and pass them out to their clients. Because the founder is well-known in the industry, she believes the equestrian event organizers will be happy to hand out her brochures.

Local Publications

The company will also invest in advertising in selected local publications until it has achieved significant brand awareness. Advertisements in local newspapers, magazines, and circulars will be a large part of the initial marketing strategy.

Medford Stables’ pricing will be premium due to the higher quality of its services over its competitors. Customers will be confident in the quality of care their horses will receive when purchasing the company’s boarding services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for Medford Stables. Operation Functions:

  • Jane Doe will be the Owner and President of the company. She will oversee all staff, manage client relations, and be in charge of the general operations of the company. Jane will spend the next several months hiring the following staff:
  • An Administrative Assistant who will oversee all administrative aspects of running the horse boarding company. This will include bookkeeping, tax payments, and payroll of the staff. They will also be available to answer all client questions and concerns.
  • Several stable hands to care for the horses and keep the stables clean.
  • Several horse instructors to help train the horses.
  • Veterinarians who can provide checkups and care for the horses when they are ill or injured.

Milestones:

Medford Stables aims to achieve the following goals in the next six months.

  • 6/202X – Finalize lease agreement
  • 7/202X – Design and build out Medford Stables office
  • 8/202X – Hire and train initial staff
  • 9/202X – Kickoff of promotional campaign
  • 10/202X – Reach break-even
  • 11/202X – Reach 20 ongoing clients

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

Medford Stables’ revenues will come primarily from its horse boarding fees. The company will charge boarding fees on a monthly basis. The boarding fees are all-inclusive.

The boarding facility purchase/build-out, equipment, supplies, and labor expenses will be the key cost drivers of Medford Stables. Ongoing marketing expenditures are also notable cost drivers for Medford Stables.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following table outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the business loan.

  • Number of clients per month

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, horse boarding business plan faqs, what is a horse boarding business plan.

A horse boarding business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your horse boarding business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Horse Boarding business plan using our Horse Boarding Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Horse Boarding Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of horse boarding businesses , some examples include: Full Boarding, Pasture Boarding, and Self-Care Boarding.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Horse Boarding Business Plan?

Horse Boarding businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Horse Boarding Business?

Starting a horse boarding business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Horse Boarding Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed horse boarding business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your horse boarding business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your horse boarding business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Horse Boarding Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your horse boarding business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your horse boarding business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Horse Boarding Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your horse boarding business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your horse boarding business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful horse boarding business:

  • How to Start a Horse Boarding Business

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Horse Boarding Business plan

Executive summary image

If you are planning to start a new horse boarding business, the first thing you will need is a business plan. Use our sample business plan created using upmetrics business plan software to start writing your business plan in no time.

Before you start writing your business plan for your new horse boarding business, spend as much time as you can reading through some examples of  pet-related business plans.

Reading sample business plans will give you a good idea of what you’re aiming for. Also, it will show you the different sections that different entrepreneurs include and the language they use to write about themselves and their business plans.

We have created this sample for you to get a good idea about what a perfect horse boarding business plan should look like and what details you will need to include in your stunning business plan.

Horse Boarding Business Plan Outline

This is the standard business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

  • Mission Statement
  • Vision Statement
  • Keys to Success
  • 3 Year profit forecast
  • Company Summary
  • Business Structure
  • Company Locations and Facilities
  • Startup cost
  • Membership Lease
  • Feed and Hay
  • Tack and Supply
  • Web Service
  • Contract Services
  • Horse Sales
  • Food Vendor
  • Special Events
  • Market Trends
  • Target Market
  • Individual Households
  • Horse Dealers
  • Animal Shelters
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Sales Strategy
  • Sales Forecast
  • Advertising Strategy
  • Pricing Strategy
  • Important Assumptions
  • Brake-even Analysis
  • Profit Yearly
  • Gross Margin Yearly
  • Projected Cash Flow
  • Projected Balance Sheet
  • Business Ratios

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Homesteading.

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The Ultimate Guide To Building An Equestrian Business

August 10, 2022.

horse business plan template

Hi, I'm Paige, half of the duo behind Fairway Stables™

This website is the one I've been searching for, for years; a compilation of knowledge on all things horsemanship, including practical advice on how to start an equestrian business. No matter your experience level with horses or homesteading, I hope this is a place you can get lost in, and learn something along the way - we welcome everyone from vets, to lifelong ranchers, trainer, to nonprofits contributing.

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Homesteading equine law equestian living horseback riding.

Starting a business in general is an exciting, daunting, and stressful experience. It’s thrilling to take risks and follow your passion, but you may get anxiety about whether you have what it takes to make a business successful.

This is especially true of equestrian businesses . Many owners get into the horse business for love of horses and the sport, forgetting that they need to run a business properly to succeed. Find out everything you need to know to start your equestrian business off right.

Table of Contents

  • Overview of Equestrian Businesses
  • Size of Equestrian Industry
  • Equestrian Industry Worth

Glossary of Equestrian Business Terms

  • Equestrian Business Ideas
  • What to Consider Before Starting an Equestrian Business

How to Start an Equestrian Business

Growing your equestrian business.

building an equestrian business

What Is an Equestrian Business? A Brief Overview

There’s no strict definition for an equestrian business. An equestrian is a person who rides a horse. As an adjective, equestrian can refer to anything related to horseback riding.

A business is an activity or enterprise entered into for profit. Put those together and you get an equestrian business.

Equestrian businesses can be anything that focuses on horses or horseback riding, including businesses that house or train horses, care for horses, show horses, or breed horses. It may also include the businesses responsible for managing facilities, pasture, waste removal, and more.

How Big Is the Equestrian Industry?

In the US, there are roughly 158,000 equestrian businesses and no major companies.

Each business represents a small portion of market share (<5%), While a third of US households have a horse enthusiast, only 1.3 percent own a horse. The remainder participate in horse activities or enjoy horse events.

How Much Is the Equestrian Industry Worth?

The equestrian industry is worth $122 billion and created 1.7 million jobs in the US. There’s not only direct contribution with economic activity that occurs in the horse industry itself, but also the positive ripple effect into other economic activity outside of the horse industry.

Horse Ranch

A ranch is a large farm used for raising animals, such as cattle, sheep, or horses. A horse ranch focuses specifically on horses.

Generally, a stable can refer to a building that houses horses or an establishment where horses are kept and trained.

Equestrian Facility

An equestrian facility is a facility designed to accommodate, train, or compete with horses. Based on their use, an equestrian facility may be referred to as an equestrian center, stables, riding hall, barn, livery yard, boarding stable, or ranch.

A stud farm is a term used in animal husbandry to indicate a facility for selective breeding. While stud comes from Old English and means a “herd of horses or place where horses are kept for breeding,” the modern use of the term refers to a stallion that’s currently used for breeding. Stud farms may be full breeding operations or purely stud service.

Boarding Stable

Also known as a livery yard or livery stable, a boarding stable is a facility that houses and cares for other people’s horses for a fee.

Riding Stable

A riding stable is a facility that houses horses for equestrian activities. Though separate from a boarding stable, the two may be combined. A riding school or academy may also be called a riding stable.

Barn is a colloquial term for a stable or equestrian facility. Barns are located on farms and hold equipment, grain, and sometimes horses or cows, but they’re distinct from a stable.

Farm is a catch-all term for activities related to agriculture. Though technology is reserved for food production, “farms” may include feedlots, orchards, and ranches. Properties with horses aren’t typically referred to as a horse farm (with the exception of a stud farm). The purpose and use of the facility determine which term is preferred.

21 Equestrian Business Ideas

Let’s take a look at several equestrian business ideas that can help you turn your passion into profit.

Boarding/Livery

For many horse owners or enthusiasts, keeping a horse at home isn’t an option. They still want to ride, however, so they look into a boarding or livery facility.

Generally, a boarding stable charges a monthly fee to house a horse and provide for its needs. Boarding stables offer different options for board, and the monthly charge depends on factors like pasture or turnout, location, amenities, on-site trainers and instructors, tack storage, and more.

Typically, boarding stables offer the following fee options:

This includes all the necessities for the horse, plus a stall with full turnout. Full board is the most time- and work-intensive, since owners leave all the work to the facility – they clean the stalls, feed the horse multiple times a day, and take it in and out to pasture. For a busy adult equestrian or the overwhelmed parents of a child rider, this is an ideal option.

Some boarding facilities also offer additional services for a fee, such as lessons with a qualified instructor, access to indoor or outdoor riding arenas, trails, or equipment use. Owners may have to pay for specialized feeds and supplements, grooming, blanketing, and similar services.

Typically, veterinary care and farrier care are the financial responsibility of the owner. Some facilities will maintain the same veterinarian and farrier for the entire facility, while others will allow owners to bring in their preferred professionals. For a new horse owner, having vetted and qualified professionals offers peace of mind, but an experienced equestrian may prefer their own veterinarian and farrier.

Partial Boarding

Partial boarding is essentially a timeshare with a horse. In this situation, the owner shares the use of their horse with another person in exchange for cheaper boarding fees. This arrangement may be used for owners with horses that are docile enough to be “school” horses, or lesson horses, but it may also be beneficial for a busy adult with a horse that’s suitable for another rider.

In this arrangement, both parties split the boarding costs. For example, if board is typically $500 per month, but the horse is used for lessons, the owner will only pay $250. This does involve a contract agreement to ensure that everyone is protected, which may outline how often the horse may be ridden, whether the rider can bring their own equipment, and who is responsible for farrier and veterinarian services.

Pasture Board

Pasture board can be an economical option for an owner and convenient for you. If you have land, you permit the horse to live outdoors year-round with feed, water, and a simple run-in shelter. The work and maintenance is minimal compared to a full boarding facility while giving you income from your land.

Depending on the climate, pasture board may offer additional services like blanketing in cold weather, either included or for a fee. Pasture board also requires you – or your staff – monitor the horses outside to ensure they’re cared for properly.

Pasture board is appealing for its low fees, though horses get less attentive care in this arrangement. This is ideal for occasional riders, retired older horses, horses that prefer to roam, and horses with medical conditions like recurrent airway disease (heaves).

In addition, someone with well-bred show horses or breeding horses typically want minimal turnout alone to avoid potential injuries or blemishes that affect the horse’s appearance, such as bite marks or cuts.

Self-Care Board

Self-care board is basically renting out only the facility and amenities but leaving the actual care to the owner. The horse gets a stall and access to turnout, but the owner must provide their own feed and bedding, muck out the stall, feed and water the horse, and bring it in and out from the pasture. They also handle their own arrangements for veterinary and farrier services.

For people who live near the stable, self-care board is a convenient and economical solution. They get to take a hands-on approach to their own horse’s needs, even if they don’t have land. Sometimes, groups of riding friends will take a self-care board arrangement and handle the care of each other’s horses in shifts to make chores more practical and convenient.

The downside of a self-care board is that owners don’t have schedule freedom or flexibility. They are responsible for their own horse’s care at all times and have to make arrangements for vacations or other obligations. As the facility owner, you can offer care for an extra fee when the owners are unavailable to care for their own horses.

Short-Term Boarding

If you have a facility with extra space, short-term boarding provides accommodation for horses if owners are traveling or moving. Short-term and overnight boarders can add income to an existing boarding facility and make up for empty stalls.

Many boarding facilities offer multiple types of short-term boarding with different fees, such as one-day, one-week, or one-month boarding. The traveler may supply the feed and buckets, but the facility handles the stall, bedding, turnout, and care.

Short-term boarding can be beneficial in many ways and boosts the exposure of a stable, but it’s important to have the right setup. Traveling horses can present a disease or injury risk to the other boarders, which is why owners need to supply buckets. There should be stalls and turnout that are separate from the long-term boarding clients.

Retirement Boarding

In many ways, retirement boarding is similar to a nursing home for elderly humans. Owners who no longer compete or ride – or ride only occasionally – can enjoy the benefits of boarding in a quieter facility than a competition stable. In addition to older horses, these facilities may board horses that have been put out of commission due to injury.

Retirement boarding may be structured as a full-service, partial, or self-care boarding arrangement. All the horse’s needs are cared for, including veterinary and farrier services, but in a low-key environment.

Additional Arrangements

When it comes to boarding, just about any arrangement you can imagine has been done. Some stables may work out reduced rates for owners who are willing to take on some chores, such as mucking out their own stalls. Some may offer work-exchange or working-student arrangements, which is when equestrian students do barn chores in exchange for reduced board or free lessons or training.

If you choose to offer these kinds of flexible arrangements for boarders, it’s important that all the responsibilities of both parties are outlined in the boarding contract. Those who don’t hold up their end of the arrangement will have to pay full board – or whatever the penalty is according to the contract.

Training and Instruction

Often combined with boarding facilities, training and instruction is another option for an equestrian business. Many equestrians will choose a boarding facility based on the option of an on-site instructor or horse trainer.

There are numerous paths to becoming a professional horse trainer or riding instructor. You don’t need a degree or certifications, in most cases, but you do need something to establish yourself as an authority. Typically, horse trainers and instructors have a track record of success in prominent horse show circuits or reputation for training champion horses.

If you don’t want to train or instruct yourself, you can hire an on-site trainer and instructor for your boarding clients. Ideally, the trainer and instructor should be specialized in a discipline, such as hunter/jumper or cutting.

Another option is subcontracting. In this arrangement, you may or may not provide an on-site trainer, but if you get a rider who prefers to work with their own trainer, they can pay for the use of the amenities like the indoor or outdoor arena.

In addition to on-site staff and subcontractors, many boarding facilities will bring in big-name trainers for clinics. The trainer has run of the facility for the time they’re scheduled, and students can book appointments for lessons. This is helpful for the riders, since the trainer comes to them, and they can work in the environment in which they and their horses are most comfortable.

Breeding Operation

Breeding horses is a diverse facet of equestrian business. Not for beginners to the horse world, breeding takes a lot of time, passion, and a gift for selecting solid breeding stock . Like breeding other animals, care must be taken to ensure that the foal crop is free of genetic illness and that the most desirable traits are passed through the generations.

Horse breeders are not “backyard breeders” bringing together their two mutts to sell the puppies. While that may happen, horse breeders usually focus on one pure breed and specialize in specific purposes like barrel racing, flat racing, or show jumping. They know the pedigrees of the stock inside and out, as well as what makes a horse a champion in their respective discipline.

In addition, breeding requires skill and comfort around horses. Both stallions and mares in heat can be difficult to handle, and a lot goes into the care or the breeding stock and bringing up the foals.

There are a few ways to approach a breeding operation, from boutique breeders to studding services to full-scale breeding operations. Many breeders get started by realizing an opportunity with their winning stallion or mare, or simply having a good eye for superior horses.

Full-Scale Breeding Operation

A breeding operation may be full-scale with on-site stallions, mares, and foals, as well as the necessary breeding areas and equipment. This is a big undertaking, since you’re providing land and stalls for your breeding stock and the foal crop.

One of the advantages to a full-scale breeding operation is that you can start small, however. Just a stallion and a few mares with a stable and some land can grow over the years to become dozens of horses on hundreds of acres.

Most full-scale breeding operations have their own breeding stock that’s either already owned or purchased (the latter is more expensive!). Owners may hold back some foals for future breeding, meaning they’re not offered for sale, while the others are sold for profit. These operations may also bring in new mares or stallions to diversify the crop over the years.

Usually, a full-scale breeding operation will use hand-mating and artificial insemination for their own breeding stock. They may offer stud services for artificial insemination, or they may bring an outside mare for studding.

One main difference between a breeding facility and other types of horse facilities is that it’s set up for breeding. There’s plenty of land and space for not only the current horses but the future ones as well. These facilities also have areas for hand-mating and insemination, veterinary equipment, studding, and separate pastures for individual stallions, mares, and weanlings or yearlings.

With purebred horses, there may be an additional registration process with the breed registry. The process can vary, but horses may be eligible for registration and branding that allows them to compete in breed-specific competitions and increases their value.

Some owners maximize profits by studding out their champion stallion, giving them income without running a full breeding operation. When a champion racehorse or show horse finishes its career on a high note, the owner can use that notoriety to offer the horse’s semen for a fee.

They simply offer the material to impregnate the mare, and the mare’s owner is responsible for the rest. Because the work involved in studding is less intensive than a full breeding operation, people may keep and stud a stallion at a riding or boarding facility instead of a dedicated breeding ranch.

Some studs can command fees of thousands of dollars for semen, and a male horse produces enough to pair with over 100 mares. Of course, if the stud produces a bunch of duds, the fee can plummet – it’s a gamble.

Mares have long gestation periods – typically 11 months – which is a long period to be out of commission. Pregnancy also carries risk that can lead to loss of life or loss of use. Some owners who want to breed their mare prefer to avoid this risk by using a surrogate mare, or recipient mare.

The time period in which a mare can carry a foal safely and successfully is also limited. If the mare can’t take time off of showing for breeding, surrogacy allows for multiple pregnancies from different mares in a given year while she continues to show. It also allows the mare’s owner to breed her to multiple stallions at the same time to produce a range of foals.

Reproduction is done through artificial insemination with an embryo transfer, sperm injection, and semen freezing, shipping, and storage. It’s a long process, but comparatively shorter than having a mare out of the show circuit.

The mare’s owner is responsible for the stud fee and associated costs, the cost of artificial insemination, and the veterinary care for the mare.

Also, like a stud, the surrogate mare may be part of a larger breeding facility or simply kept at a boarding or riding stable. For owners of mares that aren’t suitable for breeding or showing at a high level, surrogacy is a way to make use of their optimal breeding years.

Riding Clinics

Riding clinics are intensive training sessions that take place with a qualified equestrian instructor or trainer. Typically, these clinicians have an accomplished equestrian career in a specific discipline that qualifies them to command a high fee for training sessions.

If you’re a trainer or instructor yourself, you can provide clinics on a travel tour. Students would book appointments in advance to ensure that your time, travel, and expenses are worthwhile. In fact, some of the biggest-name trainers often have waiting lists, applications, and cut-off dates to book lessons.

With this arrangement, you would pay for use of the facility and its amenities for your clinic. Often, the students who attend will be from the same facility, but they may also travel to attend. For accomplished equestrians, this can be lucrative.

Conversely, if you own a riding stable or boarding facility, you can offer clinics. It will not only make your facility more appealing to clients, but it gives you an extra source of income. The catch is that you would need to seek and find the right opportunities.

When you bring in clinicians, it’s important that they teach the discipline that appeals to most of your clients. There is some overlap, such as a show jumper participating in a dressage clinic, bringing a clinician in English equitation won’t be appealing to a stable full of barrel racers.

Tourist Ranches

Tourist ranches, also known as dude ranches or guest ranches, are a type of vacation property that has horses for guest use. These are all-inclusive experiences that combine hospitality and horsemanship.

Dude ranches have been around since the 19 th century. Tourists enjoy the pioneer experience and nostalgia without risking their health and welfare. Many began in the West and offered activities to indulge in the “cowboy” life, but now, they come in a wide variety.

Ranches run the gamut from romantic Wild-West cattle ranches to luxurious resorts with top-notch amenities like tennis courts and heated swimming pools and spas. The beauty of them is that you can make the ranch what works best for you and the location.

For example, some ranches offer adventure experiences like hiking, whitewater rafting, cattle herding, target shooting, and fishing. Others operate similarly to a luxurious resort, but include horses and horse-related activities like trail rides. In either case, they include cabins or other accommodation for guests on the property, as well as services like dining and housekeeping.

These destinations are particularly appealing to families with kids. Often, activities are designed to keep the kids entertained, such as campfire sing-alongs and petting zoos. Many ranches have themes that inform the whole experience, such as ranches that allow guests to participate in antiquated activities like churning butter or milking goats.

The different types of guest ranches may include:

Working Dude Ranch

These types of ranches are working cattle or sheep operations. Horseback riding excursions may be reserved for those with experience with cowhorses, though some ranches may offer different excursions based on skills and experience.

This is the most authentic of the ranch experiences. Visitors expect – and want – hard work and hands-on activities. Assisting in herding cattle, grooming horses, and mucking stalls may be part of the experience.

A basic dude ranch of guest ranch caters to visitors looking for horseback riding. These are the more romanticized Wild-West ranches that teach guests the “cowboy” life and allow them to take part in iconic experiences like lassoing, driving cattle, and camping out with horses under the stars.

Generally, visitors are looking more for activities directly related to cowboy culture and fantasy, not necessarily general ranch chores or menial labor. They want to ride and rodeo, not muck stalls.

Resort Ranch

Resort ranches are the luxury ranches that offer upscale accommodations and amenities. The overall style may be frontier or working ranch, but the rooms, amenities, food, and entertainment are more like a luxury resort or cruise.

Typically, resort ranches offer a more diverse array of activities and facilities. Along with the expected ranch amenities, they may have a pool, fitness center, spa, childcare facility, fine dining, a bar, and an entertainment venue. This is more of a “glamping” ranch experience than a true frontier west experience.

Hunting Ranches

Though less common, areas with desirable game may have hunting ranches. They operate similarly to a working ranch or dude ranch, but they include hunting in the activities separate from the horseback riding.

Depending on the location, the hunting may include elk, moose, bears, or deer. Some ranches may offer captive-bred exotic game for trophy hunters, such as antelope. The high tag fee and hunting guides support the care and proliferation of a rare or threatened species.

These are the basic types of ranches, but they may combine elements of each other or offer something unique. Ultimately, the common thread is horseback riding. Whether it’s an organized trail ride, lessons, or a cattle drive, guest ranches center the experience around the horses.

There’s a lot to consider when starting a guest ranch, however. Depending on the location, it may only be able to operate seasonally. You also have to simultaneously run a hospitality business and an equestrian business.

Horse-Related Adult Retreats

Wellness or nature retreats are popular among adults. Whether focused on meditation, yoga, getting in touch with nature, women-only, or any other type of theme, these adult retreats may include equestrian activities.

The retreat may be reserved for experienced riders or beginners, but they have a theme that informs all of the activities. Journaling, meditation, life-coaching training, group therapy, nature walks, creating vision boards, and beach yoga are among the types of activities that retreats offer.

As far as the equestrian activities, it depends on the experience level of the participants. A retreat may teach basic horsemanship for beginners to horse yoga to advanced activities like team penning and barrel racing.

Like running a dude ranch, starting an equine retreat for adults means balancing the demands of a horse business and a tourist experience.

Horse Rescue

A horse rescue is a non-profit organization that cares for abused, starving, or abandoned horses. Like other rescues, horse rescues are often no-kill, volunteer-based organizations that provide a safe environment for horses, care for their basic needs, and educate the public about their welfare.

Running a horse rescue or shelter may be born of passion, but it needs to be approached like a business. Horses are expensive to care for, especially in a rehabilitation environment, and the IRS has specific requirements for non-profit status and donations.

Another aspect to consider is that rescues are run as non-profits, so the profitability isn’t widely known. Generally, these are not lucrative businesses.

Horse Leasing

Horse lovers may dream of having a horse of their own, but it’s not an option for every equestrian. For riders who are just starting out or lack the ability to buy a horse of their own, leasing a horse is an excellent alternative.

If you own a horse suitable for another rider, leasing gives you income for the privilege of allowing your horse to be ridden. You maintain ownership, care, and financial responsibility for the horse, but you’re giving a rider a chance to learn and prepare for eventual horse ownership.

For the rider, they essentially “rent” the horse and take on fewer financial responsibilities – think of it like renting an apartment vs. buying a home. If they decide they no longer want to ride or they move, they’re free of the responsibility of selling or relocating the horse.

This is an ideal arrangement for beginner riders. If they bought a horse, they may outgrow it or lose interest in the sport. Leasing acts as a “stepping-stone” in their riding career.

There are numerous types of horse lease arrangements:

Partial Lease

A partial lease, or half lease, provides the privilege of riding a horse on certain days of the week. The owner still has riding privileges, so both parties are basically “sharing” the horse. With this arrangement, the horse typically remains on the premises instead of being moved to another facility.

Most partial leases offer the ability to ride three or four days a week for a fixed monthly fee. The expenses for veterinary care or farrier services may be split, or they may fall on one party. These arrangements typically run month-to-month, rather than a long-term contract.

With a full lease, only one rider has the privilege of riding the horse. This is the closest to horse ownership for the rider, since they can choose when and how often they can ride without working around another’s schedule.

Some full lease arrangements permit the rider to move the horse to a different facility, while others require the horse stay on the owner’s premises. Full leases also come with more responsibilities and costs, such as veterinary or farrier fees and horse insurance. Still, when it comes to making decisions about care, the owner is in control.

Other Lease Arrangements

Like boarding, leasing can take on many forms. Facilities may work with lesson leases to use horses for students instead of a partial board arrangement. Quarter leases are also an option for casual riders who only want to ride a few times a week and don’t want to pay for unused riding time.

No matter the arrangement, it’s vital that all aspects of the lease are in writing. A lease is similar to other types of rentals, so the arrangement should include the terms to protect both parties.

Stable Merchandising

If you already have a breeding, riding, boarding, or training facility, merchandising is a great way to bring in extra income and boost brand exposure.

Stable merchandise is branded gear with the stable’s logo and brand colors. Prominent equestrian facilities often sell branded merchandise like zip-ups, custom dress shirts, hats, tote bags, notebooks, tank tops, socks, saddle pads, and travel mugs. These products are relevant and practical for the client and promote the facility for minimal cost.

Professional Equestrian

A professional equestrian is an elite career . The competition can be fierce, but a rider with the skill, talent, and qualifications can make a solid income. You can work from your own facility, or your business could be your personal brand.

Professional equestrians are paid to ride and show other people’s horses. If you’ve ever watched a competition, you may notice that some riders compete multiple times or in multiple events with different mounts. That’s because they’re paid to show an owner’s horse.

Owners want the best riders for their horses. They want the horses to get noticed and develop a name for themselves, which comes into play when they try to sell or breed them. Sometimes, older owners no longer ride, but they want their horse to compete and pay a professional to showcase them.

Professional equestrians also train and teach. Usually, a professional equestrian does a combination of all three, but within the same discipline or related disciplines. Professionals also have experience in other aspects of horse care and management.

The biggest challenge with becoming a professional equestrian is building your personal brand. You have to compete at high levels and win to make a name for yourself and cultivate a demand for your riding and training skills.

Horse Transport

Investing in a horse trailer, and a truck to pull it, and learning the ins and outs of driving the outfit is overwhelming to many horse owners. Offering horse transport services can be a lucrative business.

Horse owners may need transportation to shows, but you also have the option of offering long-distance hauls for owners who are moving or showing on the national level. Owners may need transportation to university veterinary hospitals or when they’re transferring to a different facility as well.

Keep in mind that the requirements to transport a horse a few hours away are vastly different from the requirements to transport them across multiple states over long periods. For example, horses on long-distance trips need a trailer with a box stall and frequent stops for water and stretching. You may also need to develop a network of short-term boarding facilities for overnight stops.

Transporting horses doesn’t take as much horse knowledge as some other types of horse businesses. The start-up costs can be significant, however, especially if you’re trying to get multiple outfits. You’ll also need liability insurance and written policies about how horses will be handled, what happens in the case of injury, and how clients will be notified about transportation status.

Local laws and regulations apply to horse transport in a state, city, and county, however. It’s important to speak with an attorney to ensure you’re doing everything by the book.

If you own a riding stable or boarding facility, you can invest in trucks and trailers to transport your clients to shows or veterinary appointments. This is usually an additional fee that can provide extra income during the show season, and you could offer your services to other horse owners in the area.

Professional Grooming

Horses need impeccable grooming for horse shows, and that’s where professional grooms come in. Children and busy adults may lack the time or knowledge to groom their own horses properly and pay for professional grooming services.

Professional grooming may include specific tasks like braiding the mane and tail for shows, but some grooms perform the entire process of bathing, brushing, picking out hooves, and tacking up, only to hand the horse off to the rider. Then, when the ride is complete, the rider hands the horse back to the groom to be walked, untacked, and rinsed off before being put away.

Grooms may also have the responsibility of cleaning tack, packing supplies for a horse show, and assisting riders with barn chores at the showgrounds.

Being a professional groom has many avenues. You can be a dedicated groom for one rider and their horse – or horses – or you can work with clients within the same facility. Owners of riding stables can offer grooming services, either themselves or from hired support staff.

Finally, there’s the option to run your own grooming business. You may begin by grooming on your own, but you can scale your business by taking on more grooms to handle clients and adopting a more managerial role.

Horse Stable Cleaning Services

The chores can add up in a facility with multiple horses. Not all boarding facility owners want to handle all the chores themselves, so they hire horse stable cleaning services.

Horse stable cleaning services may include a variety of tasks, such as mucking stalls, power-washing walls, sweeping or power-washing aisleways, racking arenas, spreading manure, scrubbing feed and water buckets, and tidying up the feed room or tack room.

Similar to grooming, you can take on work for specific clients in one facility or offer your services to multiple facilities. As you grow, you can take on more clients by hiring employees and operating a full cleaning service.

Pasture and Facility Care

Horse turnout and the grounds of a stable need maintenance like anything else. If you enjoy handiwork and landscaping, pasture and facility care is an in-demand service.

Busy stable owners are inclined to pay for professionals to maintain their outdoor areas. Some of the tasks may include inspecting and fixing turnout fences, removing weeds, dragging pasture, removing rocks, and filling holes.

Within the facility, this service may include identifying and repairing plumbing problems, fixing damaged stalls or doors, replacing worn fittings, and fixing cracked or damaged concrete. You may also be asked to update or install features or amenities.

Stable maintenance workers may stay at one facility or they may offer services to multiple facilities in the area. As with grooming and stable chores, you can expand by hiring more people to serve more clients.

Manure Removal Services

Facilities that have neither the land nor equipment to spread manure may hire a manure removal service to take care of waste. This is out of the purview of most local waste management services.

Manure can pile up quickly, so manure removal services are a must for both residential and commercial horse facilities. You can provide regular pickup or on-call pickup to haul manure away.

Along with the business requirements, waste removal may require additional state and local licensing or permits.

A tack shop can be a viable business on its own or a valuable revenue stream for a boarding or riding stable. This is essentially a retail store, so you have plenty of options for how to approach it.

Ultimately, it depends on your clientele. Boutique tack shops with high-end products and branded merchandise can do very well with brand loyalty, while a large and diverse tack shop offers a range of products to suit everyone.

You could also offer used or consignment pieces, such as used saddles and pre-owned show jackets or boots, to help clients save on products and give their old stuff new life.

In addition, you can travel to nearby shows with just a few limited necessities. It’s inevitable that a rider will forget a ratcatcher, hoof pick, or hair ribbon, causing a panic for their parents. Having these basic essentials in stock at the showgrounds almost guarantees sales and builds your brand over time.

What to Consider When Starting a Business in the Equestrian Industry

Like any business, starting an equestrian business is a big undertaking. There’s a lot to consider before you make the leap. You have to act like a business owner, not a horse enthusiast .

Time Commitment

Small business owners work 50 or 60 hours a week . You may be excited at the idea of spending your day around horses, but remember that a lot of the work involved in running an equestrian business won’t actually be spent on the horses.

An equestrian business is still a business. Much of your time will be spent handling work that’s more or less the same with every business – accounting, marketing, etc. Unless you hire or outsource that work, it falls on you.

Then you also have to take on the actual horse stuff. If you open a boarding facility, that means mucking stalls, feeding horses multiple times a day, and filling water buckets. If you open a big facility with 50 horses and minimal staff, that’s a lot of hours and balancing your workload and personal life.

Equestrian businesses need multiple contracts to operate legally. Without them, you and your business may not be protected.

Operating agreements: LLCs need to have operating agreements that determine how distributions and losses are shared, how the business is managed and taxed, and more.

Website contracts: If you have a website, you need these contracts for legal protection – a privacy policy, terms and conditions, and clear information at the footer that links the aforementioned contracts, your copyright symbol, and a disclaimer.

Equestrian businesses may need additional contracts, including:

  • Boarding agreement: If you’re boarding animals on your property, you must have a boarding agreement with the animal’s owner that details the timeframe and general terms of the arrangement.
  • Liability release waivers: If you allow anyone to ride your horse, whether one time or for a lease or lesson agreement, you need a liability release waiver to protect you in the event of an accident.
  • Bill of sale: If you’re selling animals, a bill of sale document is necessary to outline the details of the terms of purchase, the animal’s health, and the terms of the transfer. This is essentially a proof of purchase.
  • Breeding contract: If you’re breeding, you need a stringent breeding contract that includes the parties involved, the time of breeding, the fees and expenses, any health or condition guarantees, rebreeding rights, liability clauses, and more.
  • Transport: Transporting a horse is a big liability issue. Accidents can occur on the road or a horse can be stolen, and the business needs a contract for transporting animals for someone else.
  • Employment: If you’re hiring support staff for your equestrian business, you will need employment contracts for each type of employee.

Cities and counties plan to shape the character of communities with zoning and regulations. There’s no requirement for local governments to have similar land use ordinances or planning processes, even in the same county, so it’s important for you to contact the local offices to determine the laws and ordinances that apply to a commercial equestrian property.

Local zoning ordinances and codes can apply to everything from boarding and riding horses to providing lessons and designing and building stables and buildings. Avoid headaches in the future by doing your due diligence before you get the ball rolling on your business.

Once you’ve mapped out the ideas, starting your business is much simpler. The specifics will depend on the type of business you choose, but here are general steps to starting your own equestrian business.

Know Your Market

It’s not enough to just love horses to start an equestrian business. You have to know who your clients are. Without that, you could approach everything the wrong way for the people you’re trying to attract, and you’re dead in the water.

Marketing research is crucial before starting a business. Before you begin with a business plan, marketing strategy, or shopping for horse property, do some research. Check out comparable businesses in the area and see how they operate and what their clients expect, so you can plan accordingly.

Find Your Profit Motive

Often, people get into horse businesses because they’re pursuing a passion. While that’s not entirely wrong, it’s vital to pursue a business for its profit motive. If you want to “do what you love” without concern for money, you’re talking about a hobby, not a business.

A profit motive is the desire for financial gain and maximized profits. This is motivation to innovate and take risks for economic gain.

Worse yet, if you can’t find a realistic way that you can make money with your equestrian business, you may be viewed by the IRS as a tax shelter. You could be subject to an audit, and if you can’t show how you’ll earn a profit, then it’s a hobby and things can get messy with penalties and interest. Always find a profit motive and you can avoid this hassle.

Develop a Business Plan

Many business owners venture into business without a solid business plan. The business plan may be the most important step, since this can show you if your business is destined to succeed or fail.

The business plan doesn’t need to be overly formal or designed like a presentation with fancy graphics and statistics – unless you’re looking for a significant loan or investor. It’s essentially for you to analyze your business idea, costs, and revenue to see if you can create a profitable business.

Do your research and include information like:

  • The size and location of the market
  • The competition
  • Fixed and variable costs
  • Market availability

With these numbers, you can forecast how much money your business can make against your expenses each week, month, and year.

Structure Your Business

All businesses need a well-formed business plan that includes market analysis and evaluation of income potential and likely expenses. Is there a need for your business in the current market? Will you have potential clients? Can you make your business profitable?

The more research and effort you put into this in the beginning, the more stability and security you’ll have moving forward.

You also need to determine what business structure is the best for your needs and protects your personal interests from liability. Whether you choose a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation will also determine the record-keeping and tax requirements .

Know Your Insurance Requirements

Whether it’s required in your state or not, insurance is a key component of an equestrian business. Horses and equestrian activities are inherently dangerous, and you may need multiple types of insurance to make sure you’re covered.

General liability insurance, or small business liability insurance, provides coverage for claims that result from normal business activities. You may also need commercial property insurance, which protects your business’s physical assets, such as a stable, from fire, burst pipes, storms, vandalism, theft, and explosions.

In addition, you may need liability release waivers . These agreements outline the risk the rider is taking when they ride your horse or ride in your facility. Depending on the type of business you have, these liability waivers may be general or specific to the activity.

Determine Fixed and Variable Costs

At the end of the day, businesses need to be profitable to succeed. Being profitable means you’ve covered all your expenses and you have money left over to pay yourself and continue putting money into the business.

To start, list all the expenses your business will have. This may be trickier than you think, especially when you consider fixed costs and variable costs.

Fixed costs will remain the same regardless of how much you produce. These include your rental or mortgage payments and insurance. Variable costs are costs that change based on the amount of output you produce. So, if you have a boarding facility and bring in more horses, the expenses you’d see change would include labor costs and feed, hay, and water costs.

Identify the Unique Selling Proposition

A lot of businesses fail because they can’t differentiate themselves from their competitors enough to get a foothold in the market. Whatever your business idea is, you have to find a way to be different.

With an equestrian facility, that can be more challenging. You could be surrounded by competitors, so think about what you have to offer that’s different. Maybe your stable caters to a different discipline, or you offer a more down-to-earth alternative to the snobbier, upscale facilities nearby.

Come up with reasons that your company is different from everyone else and why a client should give you their business. Once you have this, it can inform the rest of your marketing strategy.

Develop a Marketing and Branding Strategy

Marketing is a must in the modern business world. No matter how great your equestrian business is , without marketing, no one will know about it.

Marketing strategy starts with a goal. Sure, your overarching goal is to make money, but focus on goals for your campaigns like boosting brand awareness, getting more prospects, or increasing your audience on social media pages.

Then, consider your audience. Think about who they are and what appeals to them. If your audience is diverse, you can segment it and deliver more targeted campaigns. For example, you might take a different approach to attract kids for riding lessons compared to their parents. Creating segments ensures that you’re keeping your message tailored to the audience.

From there, develop ideas for your campaigns that reflect your brand. Start small with just a few marketing channels, such as email, social media, and paid search ads. Test and tweak your campaigns regularly to determine what’s working and find areas for improvement. Once you get the hang of it, you can scale your campaigns to more channels and broader audiences.

Also, consider marketing more than just your business. If you have a riding stable, think about marketing your instructor or trainer as well as the facility. If you’re breeding, you’ll need marketing campaigns for your studs, mares, and foals.

Once you have your business up and running, raking in clients, you can think about how you can grow your business to become more profitable.

Content Marketing

Content is a very useful and versatile tool in the equestrian industry. Horse owners and riders are always looking for information, and there’s so much to choose from.

You can promote content about your business, your background, and your employees. Some equestrian businesses are successful with highlighting professional riders or trainers in features, sharing stories about horses throughout history, or writing humorous articles about success and failure in the competition ring.

For niche businesses, the content can be a little narrower. For example, a professional grooming business could write content with tips and tricks for braiding, the new trends for horse show style, and guides for how to properly body clip a horse.

It’s important to be creative and understand what your audience is looking for. If you deal with beginner riders, it’s best to keep the content introductory and basic to support learning. If you’re working with high-level professionals, avoid simple topics like “how to tack up a horse.”

The way content promotes a business is by putting it in front of the audience in a less intrusive way than an ad. When a client searches for information in Google, such as “things to look for in a professional horse trainer,” they will see your content. If what they read offers value, they may seek out more content from you or look into your site and what you have to offer.

Over time, prospective clients come to view you as an authority. Then, when they need similar services, your business is top of mind.

Social Media

Virtually all consumers expect brands to be on social media, even an equestrian brand. Building an online following takes time and dedication, but it can have a significant impact on your sales and exposure.

Start by creating business accounts on the social media platforms that contain most of your audience. Share content regularly that’s appropriate for the platform, such as short video clips for TikTok and industry-focused articles on LinkedIn.

As people like or comment, be sure to interact with them and answer any questions they may have. You’ll increase the engagement of your followers, encouraging more shares and exposure to a larger audience.

Affiliate Marketing

Content not only benefits you with more authority and exposure, but it’s a wealth of opportunity for affiliate marketing. This type of marketing is performance-based and rewards businesses for traffic or leads they generate.

For an equestrian business, you have numerous products that you can review and promote in your content. For example, talking about a new hoof oil in a blog post about hoof care encourages visitors to click on the link, driving them to the affiliate site and earning you money in the process.

Email Marketing

Despite the rise of other marketing techniques, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to get your message out there. People subscribe to an email list, so you have the benefit of an audience you already know is interested in what you have to share.

Your email campaigns can include promoted content or helpful tips and tricks for your clients, product recommendations, event reminders, updates, and more – it all depends on your business model.

To gain subscribers, create gated content for your site. This is high-value, downloadable content that subscribers can access by providing their name and email. It has to be something they can’t get elsewhere, however, such as an in-depth interview or case study.

Referral Program

Referral programs work a lot like word-of-mouth recommendations. You set up a program that incentivizes your clients or non-competing businesses to refer people from their network to your business. In exchange, one of both clients get a free gift, discount, or special perk.

While the incentive doesn’t have to be expensive, it must be worthwhile. Branded merchandise, a discount on services for the referrer and the referred, or gift cards are all good incentives to recommend your business to other people.

Diversification

Equestrian businesses are subject to the state of the economy. As a luxury, horses, riding lessons, or extra services may be among the first to leave out of the budget for many people in tight times.

Diversifying or expanding your services creates more opportunities for income streams and gives you some cushion for lean periods. Boarding facilities have a wealth of options to diversify, including offering short-term boarding, renting the facility for parties or events, offering transport for shows, or adding grooming or training services to the offer.

You can get creative when coming up with new income streams. Selling equestrian products, creating your own branded merchandise, affiliate marketing, leasing horses, and horse photography are all options to inspire you.

At some point, your business will grow past the point where you have time to handle everything on your own. You may want that control, but that’s a fast track to burnout and making mistakes that can harm your reputation in the long run.

If things seem overwhelming, consider hiring to support your business’s growth. You can start with stable hands or other support staff, or keep those hands-on activities yourself and outsource your boring business tasks like accounting and marketing.

With businesses like professional grooming or facility maintenance, you can grow easily and accommodate more clients by hiring employees to take on your overflow work. The biggest aspect of this is maintaining your standards across the board. You spent a lot of time building your reputation and client loyalty, so make sure your employees are up to those same standards.

Is Your Business Scalable?

Some equestrian businesses are scalable and others are not. The idea of scalability is that whether your fixed costs are high or low, if you can add a significant number of customers without increasing your costs proportionally, the business is scalable and becomes more profitable as it grows.

Boarding, training, instruction, and breeding are not the most scalable businesses. As you take on more clients, your costs for food, water, etc. will generally increase proportionally. Conversely, a boarding facility can offset these costs by having more paying tenants, which cover more of the cost of the rent or mortgage on the facility itself.

Consider if your business is scalable, and if it isn’t, how can you diversify what you offer to gain more growth potential?

Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a Business in the Equestrian Industry

Is the horse business profitable.

With the right planning and research, any business can be profitable. It’s less about horses than it is about being prepared and educated to develop the most successful business plan.

Where Can I Find Equestrian Businesses for Sale?

Real estate listings and websites often provide both hobby and commercial equestrian properties. You can search anywhere you’re looking to go and compare the information about the land size, existing structures, zoning, taxes, and more.

Are There Equestrian Business Awards?

The United Kingdom has Equestrian Business Awards to recognize small equestrian businesses and their care for animals and contributions to the economy. These awards include veterinarians, farriers, equine dentists, instructors, riding schools, grooms, and any other equine professional.

What Should You Know Before Buying an Equestrian Business?

Few types of property or businesses require as much knowledge as those related to horses. Before you buy an equestrian business, be sure to thoroughly evaluate the property and land to ensure it’s efficient and safe for horses to avoid future headaches.

Are There Equestrian Business Apps?

There are plenty of apps designed to help equestrian business owners succeed. Apps like CRIO help facility owners and managers track boarding, training, and breeding, while the Horse Report System offers performance tracking for equine athletes to monitor body condition, training, and health. Stable Secretary is a helpful tool for barn management and tracks horse health sheets, breeding records, and payments.

What Is the Definition of an Equestrian Business?

An equestrian business is a broad term that includes businesses that focus on horses, horsemanship, horse care, and equestrian sports or leisure activities.

Starting and running a business is no small feat. When you’re starting an equestrian business, you have the added legalities, care, and challenges of horses added to the mix. This may all seem overwhelming, but as long as you have the passion, y ou can make your equestrian business a reality !

Mentioned in This Post

  • The Contracts Equestrian Businesses Need
  • How Equine Liability Waivers Protect Your Equestrian Business

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Horse Training Business Plan Sample

Published Sep.21, 2014

Updated Apr.23, 2024

By: Cynthia Turner

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Horse Training Business Plan Sample

Table of Content

Horse training business plan for starting your own business own

A business plan for horse training is very important for the success of a venture as specialized businesses like this require not only significant investment for finance but also for land, equipment, and trained personnel. It can also be hard to make sure that the business ends up as a success as it has a relatively smaller target market.

Folks who are naturally drawn to the horse training business are often animal lovers that want to turn their passions into a business. However, this business requires much more than a person’s ability to care for a horse. Hence, you must develop a comprehensive business plan for angel investors who would offer funds for the startup.

You may use this horse training business plan sample designed for Majestic Gallops as a reference point. It will address your queries about starting a horse boarding business plan .

Executive Summary

Majestic Gallops caters to the needs of different horses through specialized training and breeding programs through which the horses can get maximum benefit. In this horse training business plan template, you will find tips related to starting and running a horse business.

2.1 The Business

Majestic Gallops began as a part-time interest and effort while Brianna Holland, the owner, completed her studies side by side. Focusing on horse breeding and training, Majestic Gallops will try its best to fulfill client requirements for top training of their favorite equines.

2.2 Management of horse training business

Because of changes in Pennsylvania’s thoroughbred racing program, the demand for quality services has increased dramatically. Developing a business plan helps a business owner to think about the business in more overall terms concerning finances and logistics as well. This horse training schedule template highlights the importance of strategic planning, documentation, and specialization, which are the keys to a horse training business’s success.

2.3 Customers of horse training business

Irrespective of whether you have a business consulting services company or a working on a business plan for pet photography , you need to know who your target audience is. Majestic Galloping has the following customer groups as its target market:

  • Horse Owners
  • Riding Clubs
  • Horse Buyers

2.4 Business Target

The long-term objective of the company is to be included in the best 10 horse training facilities in both the US and Pennsylvania. Defining goals for the business will answer most of the questions regarding how to start a horse training business, as it will help you analyze what steps you need to take to meet those goals.

Horse Training Business Plan - 3 Years Profit Forecast

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

The owner Brianna Holland, being formally educated in equine science, has also worked within the equine industry for over 20 years.  Majestic Galloping was officially formed as a thoroughbred facility two years ago.

3.2 Reason For Starting the Business

A horse training business can prove to be very lucrative provided that you love equines with a passion to train them. A lot of people own horses but don’t have the time or skill needed to train them. Since Brianna spent her childhood in the countryside and also has a great love for equines, starting a business catered to horses was a natural step for her.

3.3 How the horse training business will be started

horse business plan template

Compiling a horse training facility business plan is the setting stone for a company. It requires an analysis of all the available and needed factors of production. It highlights the steps necessary to start a business, listed below as a part of the horse training business plan sample.

Step1: Organize your ideas

Your horse training business plan should look atthe startup of the business through a minimum of five years of projections to consider all income and expenses your business will create. This helped Majestic Galloping to set up successfully and present its plan to its stakeholders such as lenders, attorneys, financial advisers, etc.

Step2: Define your Mission Statement

A mission statement highlights the inherent values of a company as well as the goals it wants to achieve, both short-term and long-term.  For instance, a pet hotel business plan would have a mission statement to provide utmost care to the pets their owners are boarding. This is not something crucial to the legalities of a business but it is an essential part of a company’s brand identity. Majestic Gallops’ mission statement is to provide top-notch training to every horse on board.

Step3: Brainstorm ideas for your Marketing plan

To develop a marketing plan that fulfills all the requirements of your business, you will need to understand both your target market and all of your competitors. In this horse training business plan sample, you will find the marketing strategies developed for Majesty Gallops that will last the business at least for the next five years.

Step4: Establish a Web Presence

Today, having a web presence as one of the sales strategies in your horse trainer business plan is essential. Web presence will help Majestic Gallops’ business connect with horse owners and buyers from different demographics and increase sales potential.

Step5: Build your resources

Another important item that you should focus on while developing a new business is to find helpful resources which can help with business logistics such as an accountant or a lawyer.

This sample business plan for horse training gives an overview of personnel management that will guide you on how to sort your resources.

Horse Training Business Plan - Startup Cost

Services of horse training business

Before starting a horse business, you must streamline the services you are planning to offer. This helps position your brand correctly and effectively reach out to potential customers. Under this sample business plan for horse training, Majestic Gallops will provide the following services:

  • Boarding Facilities

Under its horse training and boarding business plan, Majestic Gallops aims to provide a trusted center where you can leave and take your horses anytime. Free transportation will be provided to transport horses from your location to our center. The facility will charge its customers based on the number of days they want to board their horses.

  • Breeding and raising horses

Equine breeders plan horses’ mating or assisted reproduction in improving or maintaining specific breed characteristics over several generations or produce offspring with desired traits, like speed, strength, color, or behavior.

  • Horse Training

Using a comprehensive horse trainer business plan, Majestic Gallops will hire the training experts to assist horse owners. Horse owners usually love riding their equines but have neither the patience nor the skill to actually train their horses. Thus, they need a business to cater to this need.

  • Consultancy services

Majestic Gallops will offer consultancy services for new owners or those returning to the joy of horse ownership later in life. Consultancy services will focus on developing and managing horses to optimize health, well-being, and safety.

Marketing Analysis of horse training business

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5.1 Market Trends

The horse industry forms a huge part of the US’s economy as it engages 4 million people and there are about 9 million horses in the US alone that needs care and training regularly. A few decades ago, only the affluent and wealthy could afford horses. However, now, even people with an average income of $60k-$70k own horses. Given the market trends, the idea to start a horse business is a good idea.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

Common characteristics of a market segment include interests, lifestyle, age, gender, etc. It is essential to identify them to determine your target market. In this sample equine business plan powerpoint, the following are the customer groups that are identical to those identified while starting dog training business plan :

Horse Training Business Plan - Marketing Segmentation

Business plan for investors

5.2.1 horse owners.

Majestic Gallops will target horse owners who lack the expertise needed to train their horses. Our professional staff will help train the horses that are fit for riding and are accustomed to listening to the owner’s command. We use a equine business plan that is holistic.

5.2.2 Riding Clubs

Various riding and saddle clubs in the city will purchase their horse from our horse farm. We will be well-known for having top-notch breeds available at our boarding facility. We will negotiate with these clubs while starting an equestrian business

5.2.3 Sportsmen

All those who want to do horse riding by profession will come to us for consultancy services. We will offer comprehensive advice on what sort of breeds suit them the most and what steps they need to take for the well-being of their horses – that will lead them to win the races.

5.2.4 Horse Buyers

Regardless of their profession and interests, horse buyers from various areas visit to check out the crossbred and pure-bred horses we have in our boarding. We will advise them on what breed suits them the best and then help them purchase amongst the best options. Horse buyers are important customer groups for equine business plans.

5.3 Business Target

  • Expand our boarding facility by 15% in 2 years
  • Acquire resources for various cross-breeding techniques within one year of business operations
  • Capture 25% of the market share within two years of operation
  • Sign contracts with all of the leading riding clubs in the city

5.4 Product Pricing

To gain the needed customers for the first few months of our business and increase attention, equestrian center business plan employs an introductory pricing strategy. But time, pricing will adjust with the market rates.

Marketing Strategy of horse training business

Marketing is the backbone of every business as it is the thing that generates the finances needed to run the business and scale it. Since marketing is vital to the survival of a business, Majestic Gallops will take multiple routes towards the use of this asset.

To engage the market, Majestic Gallops will analyze its customer base as well as its competitors to gain insights into the best ways to penetrate the market. This will help the business do well not just in Pennsylvania but also in the general equine market of the US. These details will be a part of the horse training business plan for Majestic Gallops.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

  • As per this equine business plan sample, Majestic Gallops will invest in employees that put customer satisfaction at the top.
  • Our programs are specialized for each horse so that they can get the best support and training for the best results.
  • Our expanded facility will offer world-class amenities in a conveniently accessible location for local and East Coast regional commutes. Our location is our equestrian facility business plan’s USP.
  • We will provide excellent customer support to engage in a long-lasting business-customers relationship. We will also try to cater to all of our customer’s requirements in the best way possible.

6.2 Sales Strategy

This horse training business plan sample includes the following sales strategies:

  • Ensure that the business has exposure in the horse training industry
  • Ensure that the customers can easily find the business on the web and in other directories
  • Engage in direct marketing
  • Advertise the business on social media, through posters, newspapers, magazines, etc.

6.3 Sales Monthly

Horse Training Business Plan - Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

Horse Training Business Plan - Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Horse Training Business Plan - Unit Sales

Personnel plan of horse training business

Since the business requires trained personnel to care for horses, Majestic Gallops will either hire competent people who can adequately train horses or train employees themselves for the best service. Hiring trained employees comes at a cost, as mentioned in this horse business plan, but the business will try to achieve a balance.

7.1 Company Staff

Under this business plan for horse training, these positions will be hired for:

  • Training Instructors
  • Barn Farriers
  • Customer Care Executives

7.2  Average Salary of Employees

Financial plan of horse training business.

As per this horse training business plan sample, Majestic Gallops will build on its profits by scaling up the business. One way of expansion would be to offer more services in the current business. Another way is to open more branches of Majestic Gallops across the US. Majestic Gallops currently only provides services so it can also be expanded for more revenue by including inventory and long-term care services.

This information on the horse training business plan helps financial investors decide whether they want to invest or not. Majestic Gallops horse riding business plan is quite like a business plan of dog walking .

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 break-even analysis.

Horse Training Business Plan - Break-even Analysis

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

8.3.1 profit monthly.

Horse Training Business Plan - Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

Horse Training Business Plan - Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

Horse Training Business Plan - Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

Horse Training Business Plan - Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Horse Training Business Plan - Projected Cash Flow

8.6 Projected Balance Sheet

8.7 business ratios, other ideas for revenue generation.

Horse Training Business Plan Sample

Besides animal instruction and selling tack and suppliers, stable owners have other options for increasing revenue. For example, some owners buy and sell horses, in addition to instructing riders. In that case it is important to identify the breeds and sources, and where they will be sold.

Another option is to train the animals, as well as riders, for recreational riding or for participation in equestrian events. To earn extra money, there are also trainers who travel and personally compete in events for money, and they use the experiences to enhance marketing. Being professionally recognized is valuable to the marketing efforts. Customers must put a certain amount of trust in trainers and like knowing the trainer has been recognized by others as professional and competent.

It is important to consider each operational detail with great care when preparing the marketing strategy for horse training. How much insurance is needed? Who will manage the website design and maintenance? Who will maintain social media sites? Is there room for expansion in a few years? Who will provide the veterinarian services in the event an animal develops a medical issue?

  • How do I start a horse training business plan?

Becoming a horse trainer usually requires specialized training or a degree related to equine care and sciences. Once you fulfill this requirement, you can work on your business plan for horse training with the help of a business consultancy firm. Its like starting a doggie daycare business plan .

  • How to write a business plan for a horse training?

This horse training business plan sample gives an idea of what headings to take care of while writing a plan. You may refer to a business plan writing expert to take care of the details.

Download Horse Training Business Plan Sample in pdf

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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  • Rural Business Advice
  • Planning for your Business

We all know writing a business plan has huge benefits at the start of planning a new business. Sometimes its just for yourself so you can understand your business better, sometimes you will have to do a business plan if you seek funding or finance. Importantly you need to write your plan with the reader and the purpose in mind, so before you start writing your plan ask yourself two questions:

Who are you writing the plan for?

  • Yourself / your parents
  • The bank / other lenders
  • Grant applications

What is the purpose of the plan?

  • To get a better understanding for your own use
  • To persuade others to let you rent/loan / have an asset or resource
  • To get a grant
  • To source finance

Structuring a written business plan – template

Summary of the business

  • An overall summary of your business – these are your first impressions on the reader, make it snappy and engaging.
  • Make it concise, and easy to read. Try to imagine you are explaining your business to a stranger on the street – would they understand it?
  • Include a handful of your main goals or objectives, you may find it better to split these into short-term goals (up to a year), mid-term (1-3 years) and longer-term.
  • Highlight key facts and figures including a financial summary which reflect your budgets
  • It should be no longer than two pages of A4, shorter is fine if it says it all
  • Because it is a summary, you should write this section after having finished the rest of your plan.

About you/your situation

  • This section is the opportunity to explain why you think you have the experience, ability, knowledge and commitment to be able to make this a successful business.
  • You should set out your relevant experience and relevant qualifications. This is particularly relevant if you are teaching. Experience doesn’t have to be in the same sector, for example, you could have customer relationship or sales experience from a different role.
  • Provide some detail, avoid relying on particularly emotional reasons, as to why you want to start your business.
  • If you want to really impress, you could also attach your CV.

The business opportunity

  • Clearly describe the service/s you are going to provide.
  • Where are you going to provide them from?
  • What facilities do you have? What do you need?
  • How are you going to differentiate your service from others locally?
  • What is it about your service that will make people choose you?
  • If you need planning permission, tell the reader where you are in that process.
  • Why do you consider there is a gap in the market?

Who are your customers?

  • This is your first opportunity to demonstrate you have really done your research and understand the market.
  • Be specific and set out your target market, specifically the actual people you hope will be buying from you, not a general commentary about those type of people.

See also: Identifying your target customer

  • If your business has already started, include information about who and what you have sold so far.
  • When describing your customers, break them down into individual consumers. Age, gender, location?

Industry knowledge

  • This is your opportunity to demonstrate you understand how your service fits into, and where within the wider industry.
  • You should give an overview of the industry you are entering into, and highlight any relevant facts and figures. Use economic facts and trends where available.

See also: Useful resources for market research

  • You should set out the market research you have undertaken and what your conclusions are. This includes research on the internet, from industry sources and from your own research such as surveys.

Sales and marketing plan

  • Provide a detailed overview of your marketing and sales strategy. How are you going to inform your target market about your offering?
  • What type of marketing are you going to undertake and why do you think it will work? Include traditional marketing (advertising, business literature, direct marketing etc) as well as digital marketing (AdWords, paid advertising, social media).
  • Are you also going to have your own website? Will you be able/do you need to be able to take bookings and payments online?
  • Don’t forget that whatever marketing you say you are going to do, the costs should then be included in the cash flow and budgets.

SWOT analysis

  • This shows you have considered the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that face your business.
  • Strengths – good things about your business plan that gives you an edge on competitors.
  • Weaknesses – anything that might affect how well your business will work. This could relate to the industry, the product or you as a person. Where you identify a weakness – put an action point how you are going to address it.
  • Opportunities – anything which poses you with an opportunity within the industry.
  • Threats – what external factors could affect your business plan? For example, new regulation, your competitors.
  • Outline how you are going to set up your business.
  • Talk through who is going to undertake the work
  • What processes have you got into place to take bookings, card payments and online payments?
  • Who are your staff, what are their skills?
  • What legal or regulatory requirements or obligations are there and how and you are going to deal with them?

Financial budgets

  • You should prepare a full set of budgets that accompany your business plan, including a list and amount of capital start-up costs, cash flow forecasts and profit and loss forecast. For a new start-up venture, you should look at forecasting at least three years cash flow.
  • In the main text of your business plan, you should provide commentary on why you have used the figures you have and justify how you arrived at those figures.

See also: Feasibility budgeting for new businesses

  • You have to undertake and then show detailed research on how you arrived at your forecast sales.
  • Include any assumptions you have had to make.

And that’s about it. If you are approaching the bank or a lender for a large amount of money they will expect your business plan to contain sufficient detail that they can make a decision on the risk involved, so your plan will need to be pretty robust and detailed. If you are starting a small business with little investment required you may not need to go into so much detail, but even just spending some time working through each section will help you question the business plan so you can get it right in your own mind.

Finally, below are a few handy hints for your business plan:

  • Put a front cover on
  • Write it in report format, and number your paragraphs for easy reference
  • If it is to be emailed, PDF it
  • If it is to be printed and posted, print on good quality paper and bind it if possible
  • Write a cover letter or email
  • Check for obvious things like spelling
  • Check the format. A good font like Arial in size 11, formatted with paragraphs and numbering
  • Get someone you trust to read over it impartially, and for areas that are not understandable

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Buying a Thoroughbred racehorse is not a complicated process. But like many new matters, there needs to be enough planning and thought process beforehand to be sure you understand your goals, budget, timelines and overall objectives.  The best way to accomplish this is to develop a business plan. It doesn’t have to be a complicated plan. A simple document that establishes key elements of your horse ownership will do the job.  But many new Thoroughbred owners forget that their ownership should be approached as any business and having a plan is critical to your success. Manage your equine investments as you would manage any other investment or business activity, including exercising good, sound business judgment.

horse business plan template

  • Lay out your objectives from the start

Establish your budget

Lay out your timetable

Decide where you plan to race & what type of racehorse you plan to own (colts, fillies, classic runners, claimers, etc)

Evaluate your ability to invest at the level you prefer and if you have any doubts about your ability to participate at this level, scale back. You can always move up once you learn more about the game.

Identify how & where you will purchase your racehorses

Decide if your horses will be insured

Select a qualified advisor(s) that understands your objectives.

Always establish what fees (if any) your advisor(s) charge for their services

Be rational not emotional and remember Thoroughbred ownership is a business

horse business plan template

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Horse Boarding Real Estate Business Plan

Start your own horse boarding real estate business plan

Equine Acres

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

EquineAcres is a recreational real estate development project. It is not a horse business. That said, …

Who in business today does not know and love the story of a poor migrant gentleman by the name of Levi Strauss? But just in case, and since it holds such a striking resemblance to the future story of EquineAcres, a short recap of that story is presented here.

Levi Strauss arrived in California during the great gold rush. He, along with tens-of-thousands of others, had their sights set on bringing in the “big strike” and living wealthy for the remainder of their lives. But Levi was an observant man. While the pull to the gold fields was powerful, he could not help but notice the 1,000 who came back penniless for every 1 who came back with gold. He also noticed that there was a shortage of supplies and that, to the last, those who were supplying those headed for the gold fields made their “big strike” without ever leaving the comfort of the city. One of the commodities in particularly short supply was canvas. Levi wired his “grub stake” back to relatives in the East with instructions to purchase all the canvas they could and have it shipped to him in San Francisco. His canvas arrived and he sold it at an incredible margin in mere days. He ordered more, sold more, and ordered more still. Soon he was supplying all sorts of supplies to those headed for the “gold.” Levi never did seek his fortune in the gold fields. Rather, he found his fortune supplying those who were going. The rest, as they say, is history with the Levi Strauss Company now a member of the global Fortune 1000 with more than 100 years of profitable and successful business.

EquineAcres will follow this same simple business concept. The equine industry is a multi-billion dollar American industry with Oklahoma ranked 4th in activity. The writer of this business plan has already “gone to the gold fields,” and come up wanting, i.e., already participated in the typical form of equine business and found it (as so many have) without financial reward. But as we all know, blessings can often be mixed, and thus is the case with this business proposal. The EquineAcres business plan presented here is the direct result of experience in the equine business which has identified the real, “big strike.” EquineAcres is not directly involved with the horse business. EquineAcres meets the needs and desires of those who are. Thank you, Mr. Strauss.

In short, and to be validated throughout the content of this business plan, EquineAcres will utilize the business knowledge and experience of a 20-year successful professional career, while leveraging existing business contacts, target market knowledge, and relationships, to penetrate a grossly under-served market in an extremely lucrative industry, with an attractive set of products and services in a format virtually unavailable heretofore, thereby creating an extremely profitable and expandable business entity ideally suited for exponential expansion.

The reviewer of this business plan is hereby invited and encouraged to review it’s content in the greatest of detail. Upon recognizing the potential, to then contact the originator for further discussions in route to establishing a mutually profitable and rewarding business relationship.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, executive summary chart image

1.1 Mission

EquineAcres is a clean, attractive, well run resort community dedicated to horses and their owners.  Primary focus for horses is placed upon exceptional care and 24-hour monitoring, health, safety, and security. For the owners, primary focus is placed upon providing a community atmosphere, professional and reliable business operations, competitive pricing of a complete range of equine products and services, and a full service facility ideally suited to meet all of their equestrian needs.  Above all, customer service, professional staff and business operations, and the good of the community, will supersede all other issues at all times.

1.2 Keys to Success

The primary keys to the success of EquineAcres are as follows:

  • Providing a return on investment substantial enough to fund the opening of two additional EquineAcres facilities, one each serving the Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets.

1.3 Objectives

There will be five primary objectives by which the success of EquineAcres will be tracked:

  • Percentage of monthly services sales goal of $1,450:  75% ($1,075) = minimum,  90% ($1,300) = acceptable medium,  110% ($1,600) = primary goal.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

EquineAcres is a unique community environment catering to the unfulfilled needs of the equine owner.  It is not a new concept, it is only new to the equine market which is massive, particular in Oklahoma.  Golf communities, tennis resorts, and weekend retreats are all commonplace, but this well established theme as not been applied to the equine owner even though this special interest group is every bit as affluent and passionate as any golf or tennis player. 

Until now, the equine owner has been forced to go to a variety of sources to accomplish what EquineAcres will put into a single, well run, facility.  EquineAcres will provide a single source for the boarding, care, representation, serious practice, and playful enjoyment of the owner and their horse.  In addition however, it will provide a community atmosphere designed to meet the emotional and social needs of the owners.

2.1 Start-up Summary

Important notes about the Start-up Table:

An overview of Start-up Requirements follows:

  • Includes six months operating capital: owner salary + loan payments + monthly expenses.
  • EquineAcres hopes to secure funding for the full amount = $150,000.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, company summary chart image

2.2 Company Ownership

The final legal business entity format of EquineAcres is yet to be determined.  Lender/investor preferences, along with legal/financial counsel, will make this final determination prior to, and as a condition of, funding.

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

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The 160 acre tract will then be developed to incorporate:

  • Gravel road from entry gate throughout facility.

The entire facility will be landscaped and coordinated to express the community retreat theme.

Products and Services

EquineAcres is designed to provide, first and foremost, a single source for the equine owner.  It will provide everything from a place of equine boarding, practice, and enjoyment, through a full range of products and services necessary to support the horse, to a community atmosphere designed to meet the emotional and social needs of the members.

3.1 Product and Service Description

The following is a detailed listing of the initial products and services available to EquineAcres members and guests.

Membership Lease

  • Access to EquineAcres products and services.

Feed and Hay EquineAcres (EA) will offer feed and hay for purchase by members. Current business contacts and volume purchase capability will provide the ability for EA to purchase well below market cost. Since the feed and hay will be available at EA, this will also allow for the resale of these products to EA members slightly above average retail cost.

Tack and Supply EA will also offer tack and horse supply in the same scenario as cited above. However, EA will also continue the resale of tack related items via the Internet. The Internet resale of these products has been well established in past and present business operations.

Web Service EA will offer website design and hosting to its members. This will be available at a low cost as an additional “page” on the EA home page, and at a higher cost as a completely independent website. EA possesses the business contacts and necessary technical expertise to conduct this business.

Contract Services EA will contract with local horse services. This may include “vet on call,” farrier, trainers, and more to-be-decided services. EA will contract to receive a percentage of revenue from contractors in exchange for marketing their services to EA members.

Close Care EA will offer four stalls in the central barn for close care of member horses for an additional per night fee. Uses might include sick horses, foaling mares, and horses being prepared for show/sale.

Horse Sales EA will offer a service by which a horse may be featured on the EA home page for sale. EA will also be available to field calls about the horse, show the horse to prospective buyers, and provide a “show room” for horses being offered to sale. A separate resale service contract will be executed with a commission paid to EA upon sale of the horse.

Food Vendor EA will contract with a local mobile food vendor (event style) for weekends and special events. A percentage will be paid to EA.

Special Events EA will host special events on a regular basis (one per month). These may include clinics, play-days, and barn-dances. Each of these will provide an opportunity for additional incremental revenue from guests and hosts alike.

Barn Rooms   EA has contracted with a local builder to design and build these unique Barn Rooms for resale as an external product. EA cost to purchase these pre-fabricated kits is $1,000 each and the market will easily bear resale at $2,000 each.

To-Be-Decided Additional Products and Services will be added to the EquineAcres menu as sources and demand are identified.

3.2 Sales Literature

Sales Literature for EquineAcres will exist in three forms, each pointing to the primary website:

  • Extremely active and professional website: the core of the EquineAcres sales literature (website will be designed and maintained by Edward Graves).

3.3 Fulfillment

The ownership of EquineAcres has established substantial business contacts over the last five years while conducting a small, related “side business.”  These relationships are now prime to be leveraged into larger, more formal relationships.  In addition, the unique and varied set of skills possessed by the EquineAcres ownership allows for almost no externally hired expertise or contract service.

Due to these existing relationships and previous business dealings, and with an established history, the average profit margin on all products can be reliably placed at 100%. Please refer to the Product and Service Description section, for a fuller description of the sourcing for each EquineAcre product and service. 

3.4 Technology

Yet another way in which EquineAcres will differentiate itself from other related businesses lies in technology expertise.  The experience and background of the EquineAcres ownership allows for the introduction of full computerization (primarily recognizable in reports to members and member Web pages) to an otherwise typically non-computerized market.  The affluent target market for EquineAcres will instantly find comfort (and appreciate) in this level of technology which is generally unavailable from most any of their other equine related vendors.  It is important to stress here again, that the ownership of EquineAcres possesses the knowledge and ability to implement and execute these technologies without external assistance (or expense).

3.5 Future Products and Services

The equine marketplace offers an almost endless array of products and services.  EquineAcres will remain in constant contact with suppliers, seeking new products and services to offer through EquineAcres.  In specific, the largest equine trade show in North America, “Equitana USA” will be held this June 14th – 17th.  EquineAcres plans to attend this event to gather additional product and service ideas and contacts.

Of greater impact however, is the EquineAcres product itself.  Future plans call for expansion of EquineAcres in two capacities: 

  • Second, and of the greatest potential, is for the expansion of EquineAcres as a whole to additional markets.  Tulsa and Oklahoma City are located equidistant (less than 60 miles) from the initially planned EquineAcres.  EquineAcres*2 and EquineAcres*3 (etc.) are planned within easy access to each of these much larger markets upon successful implementation and refinement of EquineAcres*1.

3.6 Competitive Comparison

Market analysis summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">.

Everybody knows, and it should come as no surprise, that the Oklahoma market is extremely “equine-centric.”  However, the statistical facts supporting it’s level of equine activity are surprisingly impressive none the less.  Oklahoma, while ranked 27th in state population, is ranked 4th in total total equine inventory (165,000 equine inventory) and 4th in total equine inventory sold ($30,000,000 in value of sales) according to the U.S. Census and U.S. Agricultural Census. 

In addition, and of great significance, is an unpublished but well known observation of the target market.  “The Triangle” is an area known by all Oklahoma equine industry participants as the center of activity for the Oklahoma equine market.  This area is loosely identified by an area outlined by Oklahoma City to Bristow to Stillwater.  EquineAcres will be situated near the heart of “The Triangle”… the most active geographic equine market, in the 4th most active equine market, in the United States.

4.1 Target Market Segment Strategy

Within this target market, EquineAcres will target three primary customer groups:

  • Non-equine owners who have long desired to become an equine owner but have not done so due to the time, care, risk, expense, and/or knowledge requirements associated with equine ownership.  EquineAcres is the only entity (known) in existance that is specifically positioned to address these needs, and therefore able to tap this previously untapped marketplace.

4.1.1 Market Growth

Market growth, as related to EquineAcres, is an interesting subject.  While Oklahoma population growth is among the top 1/2 of U.S. state’s growth (at 9.7% per annum), and an increase in populate will yield a statistically relative growth in equine ownership, EquineAcres market growth will not primarily come from this source.  Neither will it come from industry growth, the equine markets is perhaps one of the longest and most stable industries in America.  Rather, the growth of EquineAcres will stem directly from the offering of a unique, attractive, and profitable solution to an existing unmet market need.  Market penetration, rather than market growth, will form the foundation for EquineAcres growth.

4.1.2 Market Needs

The American equine love affair runs throughout our history, has never faded, and never will.  There are few people who have not, at least once in their lifetime, dreamed of equine ownership and enjoyment.  Especially in Oklahoma (and other similar “western”) states, the population is constantly bombarded by pleasurable equine exposure spanning everything from television commercials to the sights encountered while driving any distance greater than 30 miles.  However, from personal experience, the true ownership and care requirements are daunting.  EquineAcres solves those most basic challenges opening up the possibility of equine ownership to those who have previously desired, but have been unable or unwilling, to do so.

However, simply providing the place and service is not enough.  EquineAcres will utilize a lifetime of business experience and acquired skills to operate in a clean, safe, upscale business manner.  This in itself is extremely unique among most every other equine related business in operation.  “Cowboys” don’t know or care much about good business operations.

Building upon the previous statement, the existing Oklahoma equine market ($30,000,000 in annual sales) is served, to a large extent, by “the Cowboy.”  While they typically do not (or will not) implement solid business practices on their own, they readily recognize the potential benefit of doing so.  EquineAcres will offer the existing equine business owner (aka, “horse-trader”) with the powerful business and marketing power they have always dreamed of being able to execute on their own.  To these businesses, EquineAcres will be akin to a neighborhood used car dealer having the sales and marketing power of a major car dealership at their disposal.

4.2 Service Business Analysis

As mentioned throughout this business plan, EquineAcres is an extremely unique business and therefore there are no direct, “apples to apples” competitors.  EquineAcres assembles a complete line of products and services, all needed and desired by the target market, but not available to them from a single source anywhere, until now.  A brief overview of these product and service sets follows:

1. Equine Boarding EquineAcres offers a never before available equine boarding facility.  This unique approach surpasses every currently available boarding option in every possible way…a safer and healthier living environment, greater individual space, total care and monitoring, all at a price point substantially below that available from any other source.

2. Equine Products EquineAcres will offer a complete line of products available for resale both to members, guests, visitors, and over a fully functional website with online shopping capability.  These will initially include: all feed and equine care products, support equipment, complete line of saddles, and tack.  Additional products will be added as the market dictates.

3. Equine Services EquineAcres will assemble a complete list of service providers, available to members on an individual contract basis, at a reduced rate than that available individually.  In addition, these service providers will provide their services on-site, under the direction of EquineAcres, thereby eliminating the need for the equine owner to be present.  These services will initially include: 24-hour veterinarian on call, farrier, groomer, trainers in a complete range of disciplines, and equine photography.  Additional services will be added as the market dictates.

4. Equine Facilities EquineAcres will offer an amazing mixture of facilities designed to meet the pleasure and training needs of the owner.  These facilities will initially include: lighted arena suitable for event training, round-pens for training purposes, interior close care stalls for intensive equine care, 80-acres of open pleasure riding terrain, isolation pens for individual care, and standard equine support equipment.  Additional facilities will be added as the market dictates.

5. Business Services EquineAcres will also offer a complete range of business services designed to augment the equine owner’s business needs.  These services will initially include: creation of an equine history report (detailing past pedigree, training, show, and medical history), upkeep of a running equine report (detailing all breeding, training, medical, feed, and show history while residing at EquineAcres), personal Web page or website including private email address, EquineAcres mailing address, and “tell, show, and sell” services for equine sellers.  Additional business services will be added as the market dictates.

Offerings #2, #3, #4, and #5 above are each individually available elsewhere.  Offerings #1 and #6, in their EquineAcres format, are virtually unavailable but much desired by the equine owner market.  Nowhere however, are all six of these super sets, with their full range of subsets, available in a single location.  While common to other special interest groups (boating, golfing, fishing, etc.), this concept does not exist anywhere for the equine enthusiast.  Yet, the equine enthusiast is every bit as passionate about their interest, affluent, and desirous to spend as an equine owner as are any member of any other special interest group.

4.2.1 Distributing a Service

Equine owners are accustomed to maintaining a long list of individual suppliers for their equine related needs. Some are local, some distant, some businesslike, some “shady,” some cash, some credit, some on-site, some they must visit, over the Internet, at retail outlets, mail order, auction, and remote locations. This presents a daunting and expensive proposition to the new or casual equine owner until they find the best source or outlet for each of their needs. To the experienced equine owner, this presents a time consuming and difficult to manage set of relationships requiring each product or service to be purchased individually.

While EquineAcres members will be welcome to purchase all of their support needs individually, it is certain that the vast majority will choose to purchase the EquineAcres offerings. This will be due to the convenience factor of a single source and reinforced because of the competitive pricing available through EquineAcres volume purchasing ability and strategic business relationships. More convenient and less expensive; most will choose EquineAcres products and services.

4.2.2 Competition and Buying Patterns

Equine owners make purchases based on three priorities: *Price, *Convenience, *Quality. The individual importance of these three priorities depends on the owners position as an owner.

  • Business owners may prioritize as 1) Price, 2) Convenience, 3) Quality.

EquineAcres however, has the unique ability to meet all of these buying patterns:

Price Strategic business relationships, volume purchase capability, and sales and marketing ability will allow EquineAcres to provide all products and services competitive with any other source while maintaining an extremely attractive profit margin.

Convenience This advantage can not be over stated. A single source for the purchase of products and execution of services, coupled with the total care approach thereby releasing the equine owner from daily responsibilities, provides for maximum convenience.

Quality Existing business relationships have identified sources for a quality of products and services unsurpassed by any other source or vendor. As newer, higher quality, products and/or services are identified they will be added to the EquineAcres list of offerings.

4.2.3 Business Participants

Equine Boarding Current boarding facilities in the area offer two forms of boarding as follows:

  • “Full Board” slots are currently completely booked, with a two year waiting period.

Equine Products, Services, Facilities, and Business Services These products and services are available from a variety of industry participants, in a variety of formats, however nowhere are all of these products and services available through a single source.

Retreat Community With absolute certainty, no entity of this sort exists anywhere in the local region.  In addition, none have been identified, anywhere else, nationally.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

The strategy behind the sales, marketing, and implementation of EquineAcres is elegantly simple and ready for execution:

Utilize the business knowledge and experience of a 20-year successful professional career, while leveraging existing business contacts, target market knowledge, and relationships, to penetrate a grossly under-served market, with an attractive product and service set virtually unavailable heretofore, thereby creating an extremely profitable and expandable business entity ideally suited for exponential expansion.

5.1 Value Proposition

Our value proposition is simple, clear, and most importantly, achievable:

EquineAcres provides a convenient single source to meet all of the product, service, and emotional needs of current and prospective equine owners at a competitive price in a unique community environment backed by solid and innovative business operations.

This may seem to be a very common “dream-goal” to most every business, however one of the key aspects of the EquineAcres Business Plan is to demonstrate that, in this case, it is a realistic goal. That said, upon realizing this goal in an underserved and vital market, EquineAcres will also achieve and surpass its financial goals.

5.2 Competitive Edge

Several of EquineAcres competitive edges have been identified, validated, and extolled throughout the content of the business plan:

However, one other major competitive advantage, perhaps the most important, has not been previously identified, the owner, Edward A. Graves. Edward Graves brings a unique and valuable set of skills, experience, and contacts to the forefront of EquineAcres overall competitive advantage:

  • In-depth understanding of the equine owner and marketplace to know what is needed and desired by the average owner.

5.3 Marketing Strategy

The EquineAcres market provides a very convenient target for several reasons:

  • Are computer-literate, relying on the Internet as a primary source of information.

The overall marketing strategy of EquineAcres will leverage these four critical patterns to capture the attention of the market at a bare minimum of expense. Once captured, the customer will encounter sales expertise to garner their business, presenting a unique and desirable product and service set, which will retain and expand their business through exceptional business practices and customer support.

These factors will in turn lead to pent-up demand for EquineAcres beyond its capacity which, in turn, will lead to future expansion of EquineAcres*2, etc.

5.3.1 Positioning Statement

As alluded to throughout this business plan, EquineAcres provides a convenient single source to meet all of the product, service, business, and emotional needs of current and prospective equine owners, as well as equine business owners, at competitive prices in a unique community environment backed by solid and innovative business operations.

5.3.2 Pricing Strategy

The foundation of EquineAcres is the sale of retreat leases to 100% of capacity. Pricing will be as follows:

  • Compare to “Full Board” competitors at $350/equine/month, or three equine at Full Board at competitors = $1,050/month.

The secondary foundation of EquineAcres is the sale of products and services to members direct, and non-members primarily via Internet shopping.

  • Margin on all contract services is “total” since contractors pay a percentage of revenue generated to EquineAcres in exchange.

5.3.3 Promotion Strategy

Because our entire customer base will come from a local geographic area, our promotional strategy is simple and cost effective:

  • For those involved in the horse business, today…
  • Local newspaper classified ad’s will be regularly placed in the “Livestock” sections (regularly studied by everyone with an equine interest) with a sufficient “teaser” directing inquiries to the website.

5.3.4 Distribution Strategy

EquineAcres will rely on direct selling for the sale of retreat leases and follow-on products and services. Additional sales activity will take place through an effective and active Internet shopping website. Existing business relationships will also be leveraged to gain maximum exposure to the target market and yield maximum margin from resale products and services.

5.3.5 Marketing Programs

The EquineAcres website will be at the center of all marketing (and much ongoing business) activity. External direction to the website will be provided through our chosen ISP with monthly submission to all major search engines. Internal (target geographic market) direction to the website will be provided through our brochure, teaser cards, newspaper classified advertising, and strategic partnership referrals.

A (confirmed) budget of $1,200 is all that is necessary for implementation of the website. This website will be operational within 14 days after securing the funding sought for this project. Brochures and teaser cards will be self-produced and distributed within 30 days after securing funding. Leverage of strategic partnership referrals and newspaper classified advertising will commence 60 days prior to the planned opening date of EquineAcres.

5.4 Sales Strategy

The sales strategy behind EquineAcres is simple:

  • Sell “Retreat Leases” to 100% of capacity.
  • Provide products and services with a sufficient value proposition as to insure the purchase of these products and services by the membership through EquineAcres.

5.4.1 Sales Forecast

Important points about the Forecast:

  • This forecast is based on experience.
  • Four years experience having developed, implemented, and controlled a $7,000,000 forecasting model for an international software company.
  • Forecast does not address additional products and services to be identified during the course of operations. Interesting note about resale items–virtually every product or service utilized by EquineAcres automatically becomes a candidate as a resale product or service from EquineAcres. This allows the initial purchase at a discounted “resale” rate and eventual revenue stemming from that purchase.

The following table is provided to accompany the sales forecast offering descriptions and assumptions about the sales forecast.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

Initially, EquineAcres will be wholly owned and operated by Edward A. Graves. However, it is important to note that while the tasks are daunting, this is a level of effort and production that the owner has maintained for several years. The only difference between this level of effort and previous years’ efforts is that with EquineAcres all of the owner’s efforts will be focussed on a single project, rather than between employment and home business. Current associates will testify as to the owner’s extraordinary organizational and prioritization skills that have, and will continue to, provide for this level of task assumption.

Following a sufficient period of successful operation, with enough time “at the helm” to allow the business entity to settle-in, the owner will hire a “manager trainee” to begin learning the EquineAcres operation with the potential of taking over as on-site manager. This on-site management concept will be utilized in the future expansions of EquineAcres*2, *3, etc.

Extensive business and personal contacts will also be utilized as needed, on a contract basis, to assist with labor as needed. As the Internet shopping aspect of EquineAcres increases, additional part-time staff will be added to handle various shipping and handling tasks.

6.1 Organizational Structure

The legal form of the company will be determined in conjunction with, and consideration for, the desires of the funding source. The concept is to have a single business entity, with two sub-entities operating under the umbrella company.

The Graves Company–Parent Company

  • Graves Farm eXchange–Equine business conducted “off-premise.”

This structure has been chosen because of its ability to meet with potential business opportunities as they are identified.

6.2 Management Team

The key Management Team member will be Edward A. Graves, owner/operator of EquineAcres and author of this business plan. Resume overview:

  • Outstanding contacts both in general business and equine activity.

In addition, EquineAcres management will be backed by a strong “family team” in complete support of this endeavor. The owner’s wife is well versed in computer and Internet use and possesses an extremely strong equine knowledge. She is my partner and is equally hopeful for the implementation of this business plan.

6.3 Management Team Gaps

Identified gaps, and their resolution, include:

  • Personal study and dedicated effort to increase personal knowledge in these areas.
  • Sufficient disability and death insurance to protect lenders and family.

6.4 Personnel Plan

The personnel plan for EquineAcres, Years 1, 2, and 3 is simple.

Year 1 : Salary to owner/manager of $3,000/month to cover all personal living expenses.

Year 2 : Salary to owner/manager of $3,000/month + hire of assistant staff (on-site manager in training) at $16,000/year.

Year 3 : On-site manager salary of $36,000/year + assistant staff (on-site managers in training) at $16,000/year.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

A note of critical importance to any potential lender or investor reviewing this business plan:

  • Upon securing funding for this project, EquineAcres will utilize almost 100% of the funding to purchase undeveloped land, and then develop that land. The development of the land will be done in such a way as to vastly improve the value of the land to a point at which the entire loan/investment amount is entirely recoverable, perhaps even profitable, through resale of the improved land, buildings, and equipment (worse case scenario). This funding request should therefore be considered as “secured.”

The financial plan for EquineAcres is presented herein for your review. From a high level it reflects several key factors:

  • NOTE 2: The EquineAcres concept has every potential to quickly expand into multiple facilities serving multiple markets, however these opportunities are not reflected in this business plan. Once the initial EquineAcres (*1) is open, operating, and confirmed, additional facilities will be considered in direct cooperation with the initial lender/investor. Creation of these additional facilities (EqineAcres*2, EquineAcres*3, etc.) create the opportunity for exponential growth, profitability, and investor return. It is even within the realm of reason to envision a “franchise” approach spanning the United States.

The financial plan for EquineAcres has been assembled from a variety of sources which include:

  • See section on Management Gaps. The writer of this business plan, and future owner of EquineAcres, has identified a knowledge gap in basic accounting principles (to be resolved through external consultants and self education). Any apparent errors in the following tables and charts should be attributed to this knowledge gap. Professional assistance in reformatting this table to accurately reflect actual calculations is welcomed.

7.1 Important Assumptions

Important notes about the General Assumptions table: All calculations contained in the attached table are those recommended by the software program (Business Plan Pro) used to create this business plan. Future reformatting of this table based on actual values will be welcome and completed with the assistance of potential lenders/investors.

7.2 Key Financial Indicators

Important notes about Benchmarks:

  • This is a self-calculating chart; future modifications in cooperation with lender/investors will automatically update this chart to reflect changes made elsewhere in this business plan.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, financial plan chart image

7.3 Break-even Analysis

Break-even Analysis explanations:

  • Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost–Calculated by Owner Salary + Loan Payment + Average Utilities.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, financial plan chart image

7.4 Projected Profit and Loss

Important notes about Profit and Loss:

  • This is primarily a self-calculating table; future modifications in cooperation with lender/investors will automatically update this table to reflect changes made elsewhere in this business plan.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, financial plan chart image

7.5 Projected Cash Flow

Important notes about Cash Flow:

  • This figure is a gross estimate based on conventional repayment of a long-term business loan. Should funding come from a private investor, this line item will be dramatically altered.
  • These are self-calculating tables and charts; future modifications in cooperation with lender/investors will automatically update this data to reflect changes made elsewhere in this business plan.

Horse boarding real estate business plan, financial plan chart image

7.6 Projected Balance Sheet

Important notes about the Balance Sheet:

  • This is a self-calculating table; future modifications in cooperation with lender/investors will automatically update this chart to reflect changes made elsewhere in this business plan.

7.7 Business Ratios

Important notes about the Business Ratios:

  • Standard ratios from Industry Profile SIC code 7032, Sporting and Recreational Camps is provided in the table.

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Horse Boarding Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

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Horse Boarding Business Plan Template

If you want to start a horse boarding business or expand your current horse boarding business, you need a business plan.

The following Horse Boarding business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning Horse Boarding business plan.

You can download our Business Plan Template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

Below are links to each of the key sections of your Horse Boarding business plan: I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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Horse Boarding Business Plan Home I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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Calculators and Tools

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things" - Peter F Drucker

It's simple - Horse business owners that implement a written budget and track key business indicators like profit margins and marketing responses are far more successful than those that don't.

Whether you need to better manage your hay and bedding expenses, develop a marketing or business plan, set prices or make an important decision on a horse purchase or facility - You'll find a calculator, worksheet or budget here to help you quickly find the answers you need.

The online tools and how-to videos below can help you run your business both more efficiently and more effectively.

Note: You will find two basic types of budget planners in a variety of formats.  One for more complex horse businesses that need to calculate their cost of goods sold (for example: some boarding and breeding businesses) and one for more simple businesses that do not (for example: some lesson and training businesses). Also - because the budgets have a lot of information on them they can be slow to update. If you are not seeing totals - tap the total column until the total appears.

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VIDEO: How to Use the Equestrian Professional Marketing Calendar

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Equestrian Professional's Marketing Calendar Tool

Equestrian Professional's Online Marketing Calendar tool enables you to easily create and implement an investment approach to marketing your horse business.... More

Taking an investment approach to marketing simply means you look at your marketing as an investment and require each strategy to make a decent return on your efforts and money spent in order to use it again. This marketing calendar lets you examine the ROI - Return on Investment of your marketing dollars so that you can get the highest return.... More

Equine Business Operational Cash Flow Calculator

This online calculator will help you catch cash flow crunches before they happen. It will enable you to more accurately (and accuracy is important when it comes to cash) forecast the times you will have the most cash available so that you can maximize it!... More

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One thing that is super helpful when planning your upcoming show season is being able to provide clients with an estimated budget. Use this handy pre-filled calculator to estimate show expenses for both yourself and your clients. Know your optimal numbers for each show and how that effects both the affordability for your clients and your businesses profitability..... More

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Watch this short video to see an example of how to use the Horse Business Break Even Analysis Calculator. Break Even Analysis refers to the point in which total cost and total revenue are equal. A break even point analysis is used to determine the number of units or dollars of revenue needed to cover total costs i.e fixed and variable costs.... More

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The concept of Breakeven is important to horse business owners because it is the point at which your Income equals your Expenses. Until that point you will need extra capital/cash on hand to pay your bills. However, once your business reaches breakeven your business is supporting itself. After you surpass breakeven, your Income/Sales (or a portion of them) then become Profit. Knowing your Breakeven point is especially important if you are looking for investors or funding for your business because most investors will want to know when you expect to reach breakeven. This calculator is also very handy when you are looking to expand your business or purchase an asset.... More

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ProfitableVenture

Horse Breeding Farm Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Agriculture Industry » Livestock Farming » Horse Breeding

Raising Horses for Profit

Are you about starting a horse breeding farm? If YES, here is a complete sample horse breeding farm business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a horse breeding farm. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample horse breeding farm marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for horse breeding farms. So let’s proceed to the business planning section .

Starting a horse breeding business is a hard business that can be quite lucrative once certain factors are in place. This business is not only hard but risky because not only do you require courage, you will also require having enough money that will sustain the business for a long time and also about horses, their genetics and what kind of breed you will want to concentrate on; this is a business that requires intense knowledge, practical experience and expertise.

You also must have great passion for the business that will enable you sustain the business for a long time especially when you might encounter frustrating periods.

It is very essential before starting this business that you seek the services of a reputable consultant who has thorough knowledge and expertise of the business you intend going into so as to offer expert advice on how best you should run your business and strategies that are likely to work for you in helping to not only achieve your intended goals and objectives but to also sustain your business for a long time to come.

The business consultant will not only look at your business concept but will also determine how much financial resources you are going to need to run your business and if it will even be worthwhile to start the business at all.

The other thing you will need is a business plan. A business plan is a document that allows investors know if you are serious about your business and if it will be a profitable venture for them and for you. Below is a sample horse breeding farm business template for you;

A Sample Horse Breeding Farm Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The horse industry has an economic impact of $112.1 billion, with over 9 million horses in the united states of America, and has more than 7 million Americans involved. Out of this 7 million Americans, over 4 million are horse owners, service providers, volunteers, employers and employees, while millions more participate as spectators.

The direct economic impact of the horse industry on the United States is $39 billion annually with the multiplier effect on the economy amounting to $102 billion; and according to the United States of Equestrian Federation, the median income for horse owning households was $60,000.

Out of the over 4 million people involved in the horse industry, with 2 million horse owners, only 238,000 are involved in breeding. The remaining are involved in competing, and other activities. According to facts, 1 out of every 63 American has a direct involvement with horses.

The direct jobs provided by the industry amounts to 460,000, and spending by employees and suppliers in this industry generate an additional job that directly affects 1.4 million jobs.  The tax paid by this industry to all levels of government amounts to $1.9 billion.

70% of horse owners live in communities that have a population of at most 50,000 people or less. However, it is worthy to note that every state in the United States of America has horses and that 45 out of the 50 states have at least 20,000 horses each.

This industry produces goods and services of $38.8 billion that has a direct impact amounting to $101.5 billion on the economy of the United States of America. The industry employs over 700,000 people directly with part-time and seasonal employees amounting to over 400,000.

Globally, more than 100,000 Thoroughbreds are produced annually with only a few actually being groomed into maturity. The top 10 breeding countries account for 87% of all the Thoroughbreds foaled every year.

2. Executive Summary

Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC is a leading and standard horse breeding farm that will be located in Dallas – Texas, USA and will be involved in the breeding of quality horses for our customers and the various purposes they intend to use the horses for.

We also apart from our core service, will offer other services as well in order to meet up with the various requirements by our clients whilst also gaining a huge share of the market.

Our location here in Dallas – Texas is very strategic as we are close to various race courses and other horse sports-related activity centers. This will afford us the opportunity to be able to network effectively and raise the much needed awareness for our horse breeding farm especially as we intend to raise some of our horses to participate in these races.

Our vision is to be known and referred to as the top provider of quality bred horses both foals and mature horses here in Dallas – Texas as well as all over the United States of America. To achieve this, we intend to invest in and hire the best professionals and ensure that we have also created the right environment for the horses we intend to breed as well.

We are running a business that is transparent and according to world’s best practices. This means that all our clients will be told all the truth upfront about any horse or foal they are interested in. This means that we will be very careful about the kinds of horses we breed and also how we care for them so as keep our reputation as the best horse breeding farm in the industry.

We know how important having the right publicity is to our kind of business, and so we have made plans towards that by ensuring that we will groom certain horses that will bring the right publicity for our farm. We will also partner with renowned trainers, and horse riding sports personalities as well as famous race courses so as to garner the right publicity for Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC.

We have sourced for and hired the best and competent professional staff, who do not only understand the industry thoroughly but also are committed to our vision and will work hard to ensure that we attain our desired goals and objectives.

Our staff will always undergo trainings that will not only enhance their skills but will enhance their productivity for the farm.

We intend to ensure that our employees are well paid better than similar start-ups such as ours across the entire industry. This we believe will make them put in their best into the farm. We will also ensure that we make the farm conducive enough for all our staff.

Our employees will also be trained in ensuring that all our customers receive excellent customer care, this is so that we can retain a high level of loyal clients that will help refer us to others. Finally, our owners, John and Jack McGuire have grown up in the ranch all their lives and have worked with their father in caring for and breeding horses.

Both have more than 20 years experience in this business. Also, John has over 10 years managerial experience, while Jack has several certifications in equestrian management. The two men have what it takes to ensure that the farm achieves its intents and purposes.

3. Our Products and Services

Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC has been established to breed foals and groom them to maturity in order to fulfill the needs of our various clients here in Dallas – Texas. However, we do not intend to just breed horses, we intend to ensure that we create multiple sources of income in addition to our service.

We will also offer intangible services such as consultancy services and trainings. Our intention here at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC is to make profits as is legally permissible under the laws of the United States of America. Therefore some of the products and services that we intend offer are;

  • Sale of mature horses
  • Hiring horses out for racing purposes
  • Hiring out horses to professional horse jockey players
  • Training personal horses for individuals
  • Consultancy and Advisory Services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to be referred to as the top provider of quality bred horses both foals and mature horses all over the United States of America.
  • In achieving our vision, our mission is to ensure that we seek out only quality horses that are registered, a purebred with good bloodlines. We intend to also build a solid business structure that will allow us achieve our goals and objectives more easily.

Our Business Structure

Building a business structure is very vital especially if we intend to build a standard horse breeding farm here in Dallas – Texas. Our plans are that we get it right from the beginning by going the extra mile o ensure that we get competent and hardworking professionals in all the available positions in our company.

In employing the right people to work with us in achieving our goals and objectives, we intend to source for and hire only those that are not only ready and available but also ensure that they are committed to helping us reach our intended goals and also have the necessary experience in this industry that will allow us succeed.

Our wide range of products as well as the services we intend to offer will lead us to hiring more than a conventional horse breeding farm would.

All our employees will be suitably paid and allowed to undergo continuous training that will not only see their skills enhanced but also allow them be more productive. Below therefore is the business structure we intend to build at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC;

Chief Executive Officer

Farm Manager

Horse Trainer

Veterinary Doctor

Human Resources and Admin Manager

Sales and Marketing Team

Purchasing Manager

Truck Driver

Customer Service Executives

Security Guard

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

  • In charge of making all the right decisions that will affect the farm
  • Reviews already made decisions and removes or modifies ineffective ones
  • Meets with worth clients on behalf of the farm
  • Identifies prize horses on behalf of the farm
  • In charge of all that concerns horses on the farm
  • Ensures that the standard of the farm is maintained at all periods
  • In charge of grooming the horses and carrying out the necessary training
  • Knows which horses to break and which needs more time
  • In charge of checking the medical conditions of the foals that are brought to the farm
  • Carries out medical check-up from time to time on all the horses at the farm
  • Treat sick horses and refer complicated cases to a veterinary clinic
  • In charge of sourcing for the right employees on behalf of the farm
  • Drafts and implements policies that would affect the employees and their welfare in the workplace
  • Ensures that all administrative functions work well and that paperwork is effectively handled on behalf of the farm
  • Carries out direct marketing and sales on behalf of the farm
  • Drafts marketing strategies and policies in line with the company’s core values
  • Researches new markets in order to gain new clients for Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC
  • In charge of sourcing for trusted vendors and suppliers on behalf of the farm
  • Ensures that the right breed are purchased on behalf of the farm according to company’s policies
  • Prepares contract and purchase documents and reviews same on behalf of the farm as at when due
  • Prepares all the accounting information and statements on behalf of the farm
  • Ensures that all tax documents are correctly prepared and submitted to the tax authorities as at when due
  • Ensures that the farm stays true to its re-payment plan so as to be free from debts
  • Handles the transportation of foals and horses to and from the farm
  • Ensure that the horses arrive at their destination on time
  • Carries out light maintenance on the truck as at when due
  • In charge of attending to clients physically, online and via phone calls and ensuring that they get the right information at all times
  • Is updated about industry trends as well as company policies in order to give customers the right information at all times
  • Keeps an accurate customer database on behalf of Gallop Horse Breeders Farm
  • Patrols the property and ensures that predators and intruders have not entered the farm
  • Checks the perimeter of the farm and determine what security measures will suit the farm
  • Carries out any other duty as might be determined by the farm manager
  • Ensure that the premises is kept clean at all times and that cleaning supplies are always in stock
  • Ensures that the horses stalls are cleaned as at when due with the right supplies
  • Carry out any other duties as might be determined by the farm manager

6. SWOT Analysis

In determining if we are well suited to start and run this business, we intend to hire reputable business consultants to help look through our business concept and determine if it would be worthwhile for us to start this business, run and also compete favorably against other competitors here in Dallas – Texas as well as round the United States of America.

Due to this, the business consultant took a strict look at our business and took stock at our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that we were likely to be exposed to here in Dallas – Texas as well as round the United States of America. Below is a SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC;

There are several strengths that are available to us and they are the fact that we are careful about the sort of horses we are breeding here at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC. Also, we sourced for and hired only competent and professional employees who understand the business and are willing to work to ensure that we attain our goals and objectives.

We are also strategically located and are easily accessible to all our customers. Finally, our owners, Jack and John McGuire have the necessary experience to ensure that we attain our goals and objectives.

There are several weaknesses that are likely to crop up when we start or run this business. Some of our weaknesses are that we are not starting off with a huge capital as we would have liked, this has therefore affected certain aspects of our business, such as marketing and not getting the amount of employees that would run all the various services that we intend to offer.

  • Opportunities

There are several opportunities that exist for us in this industry as there are more activities that require the use of horses, thereby ensuring that there will always be demand for horses. Also, opportunities are available at sporting events, fairs and sporting activities to allow us network with potential clients.

There are certain threats that we expect to be exposed to while running our horse breeding farm here in Dallas – Texas. First, the fact that we are located here in Texas means that we would be facing a whole lot of competition from already established horse breeding farms as well as start-ups.

Also, our business is likely to be affected by a downturn of the economy, which will cause customers to spend less. We however have certain strategies in place to combat whatever threats we are likely to face.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

Horses are used for a whole lot of activities and according to a study, these horses are used for a number of activities such as racing, showing, competition, breeding, sport, work, recreation and a whole lots of other activities. These other activities can be referred to as farm and ranch work, polo, carriage horses, police work, and certain informal competitions.

This therefore shows that the industry is highly diverse as it combines rural activities of breeding , training, riding and maintaining of these horses to the urban activities of horse shows, racetracks, public sales as well as other such activities.

Even though there is a huge misconception about horses and the industry is mainly for wealthy people, several studies have dispelled have dispelled this fact as statistics show that 34% of those who owned horses have a household income that is less than $50,000, 46% horse owners have a household income of between $25,000 to $75,000, while only 28% have an annual income of over $100,000.

The trend as regards horses is that it is best for them to be outdoors; this is why starting a horse breeding business is not only hard and capital intensive but also risky as well. Horses cannot be kept in stalls always, and so need to be out for training and for other purposes as well.

8. Our Target Market

There is a wide range of customers available to us here at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC. Our location here in Dallas – Texas, is very strategic and will therefore ensure that our target market will be easily reached.

We have conducted a thorough market research that will enable us have an idea of what we should expect from our target market so as to allow us draft the right strategies. From our research, it is evident that we are in business to cater to the following people;

  • Race courses
  • Horse sports men and women
  • Other horse breeding farms

Our competitive advantage

Our intention of starting a business is to ensure that we produce and breed quality horses for use by our different customers for various purposes and be the preferred horse breeding farms for all our customers here in Dallas – Texas and all over the United States of America.

We intend to offer various services that will enable us gain a huge share of the target market at the expense of our competitors. Another competitive advantage is that our facility is of a high standard that will ensure that the qualities of our services are high.

We intend to employ competent and professional employees that have vast experience and are also attuned to our policies to our management team and also ensure that our policies are well implemented. We also intend to source for and employ only the best employees that are ready and committed to ensuring that we achieve our intended goals and objectives. All our employees have an excellent customer service culture.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC has been established with the aim of maximizing profit in the equestrienne and horse industry here in Dallas – Texas with the intention of providing the intended products and services to our wide range of customers. Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC will therefore generate income via the following products and services;

10. Sales Forecast

One certain fact is that there will always be use for horses either for sports, recreation or some other purposes, which means there will always be a demand.

Our location in Dallas – Texas means we are strategically positioned in order to be able to take on the available market locally as well as nationally all over the United States o America. Our strategic positioning also means that we will generate enough revenue before the end of our loan repayment year.

Our act comes from the critical evaluation that we have conducted on the horse breeding market here in Dallas as well as all over the United States of America. Our analysis has led us to come up with a sales forecast after analyzing our chances in the industry.

Our analysis was based on certain facts and assumptions that were gathered from similar start-ups such as ours and located here in Dallas – Texas. Below therefore is the sales projection for Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC based on certain assumptions and facts;

  • First Fiscal Year-: $250,000
  • Second Fiscal Year-: $350,000
  • Third Fiscal Year-: $700,000

N.B : The above low sales projections come from the fact that we won’t have bred horses to a standard where they will be sold but that our revenue would come from other sources of income that we would have created.

Also, the sales projections are based on the several assumptions such as there won’t be any major economic downturn and that there would not be an arrival of any major competitor within our location during the period of these sales projections.

It should be noted that should there be any changes in the above factors, it would affect the sales projections, and might lead to an increase or decrease in figures.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

There are several factors that are important when it comes to marketing a horse breeding farm. Even though marketing is very important for every business, it is more important for a horse breeding farm business because lack of marketing the business will lead to people not being aware of the business and invariably loss to the business.

However, in order to have the best strategies or the business, it is best to conduct a thorough market survey that will allow one know what the target market requires and how best to penetrate the market and gain a huge share of customers as well as favorably compete against other competitors in the same location.

In order to perform a credible market survey, information and data has to be utilized from not only similar start-ups but also already established horse breeding arms in and around the locality.

For this purpose, we are seeking the services of a reputable marketing consultant who has a thorough understanding of the market to help us develop marketing strategies that will help our business gain a large share of the available market here in Dallas – Texas and throughout the United States of America.

We also have empowered our marketing team to collaborate with the marketing consultant and ensure that the strategies drafted are in line with our core values and principles as a business.

We understand the huge role technology has come to play in today’s world especially for businesses such as ours. We would make massive use of the internet to promote and raise awareness about our horse breeding farm. We will promote certain promising foals and bloodlines so as to stimulate the interest of existing and potential customers in our horse breeding farm.

Finally, below are some of the strategies we would adopt in order to market our products and services at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC;

  • Throw a grand opening party when launching our business in order to stimulate interest and raise awareness for Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC
  • Introduce our horse breeding farm formally by sending letters and brochures about our farm to famous racecourses, horse sports men and women and also other stakeholders in the industry
  • Attend fairs, auctions and events in order to mingle with other horse owners while also marketing our horse breeding farm
  • Advertise Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC in local based newspapers, and on local radio and television stations
  • Engage in direct marketing and sales
  • Ensure that our horse breeding farm in listed on offline and online directories

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Having the right publicity is very vital for our business because as a horse breeding business, we need to be visible at all times if we intend to not only generate revenue that would boost our bottom line but also be able to favorably compete against other competitors whilst promoting Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC.

In order to ensure that we draft the right publicity strategies, we intend to hire the services of a brand consultant that understands the horse market and is experienced enough in promoting brands of our kind to our target market.

We intend to build on several publicity strategies that will not only promote our brand beyond the borders of Dallas – Teas but also positively communicate Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC round the whole United States of America. Some of the platforms we intend adopting to effectively promote Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC are;

  • Effectively use our social media platforms to actively raise awareness and stimulate interest about our farm. We will use platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and other popular platforms to engage our audience
  • Participate in and sponsor certain social events, sporting activities and fairs here in Dallas – Texas and nearby cities as well
  • Install bill boards in strategic locations all around Dallas – Texas
  • Distribute handbills and fliers about our farm in target areas
  • Place adverts in local newspapers, as well as on radio and television stations
  • Ensure that our truck is well emblazoned with our logo and that our staff wear customized tee-shirts especially during certain functions and events

12. Our Pricing Strategy

In setting a price for our horses, it would depend on a whole lot of factors such as the quality of the breed, the bloodline and what purpose the horse will be used for. We are aware that our prices will also vary depending on if the customer intends to buy or hire our horses. We would create a strategy that would allow for a blanket pricing depending on what package our clients are looking for.

However, due to the fact that we are just starting out in this business and in order to attract more customers to our business, we intend to for the first few months when our horses are mature give out discounts and other incentives to our various customers.

Because we would be offering other services and products during this period, we would like to state that even though we would run on a low profit margin during the few months that we would be offering this discount, but we would not run at a loss at any time.

  • Payment Options

Due to the fact that we would be offering several services here at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC; we intend to ensure that we give our various customers the options of having different payment policies that will suit them. The payment options that we will therefore make available to all our clients include;

  • Cash payment
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via bank draft
  • Payment via credit card
  • Payment via online payment portal

In view of the above, our payment options were chosen after careful deliberations and will work conveniently for us and our customers without any hitches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Starting up and running a standard horse breeding farm business can be very capital intensive due to the several things that the bulk of the capital will be going into spending. For a start, one would need to spend most of the capital on purchasing foals, paying salaries as well as utility bills.

Also, much of the capital will go into building certain facilities, purchasing a land (if the entrepreneur doesn’t have one) as well purchasing a truck that will be used. The key areas where we intend to spend the bulk of our start-up capital on are;

  • Total fee for registering Gallop Horse Breeders in the United State of America – $750
  • Obtaining certifications, licenses and zonal permits as well as accounting software – $1,250
  • Cost of hiring a business consultant here in Dallas – Texas – $3,000
  • Insurance coverage (general liability, property insurance , workers’ compensation) – $5,000
  • Cost of building several facilities (stalls, barns, paddocks, offices) for use at the farm – $30,000
  • Marketing promotion expenses (general promotion expenses and grand opening promotion expenses) – $30,000
  • Operational cost for the first three months (employees’ salaries, payment of utility bills) – $100,000
  • Start-up expenses and purchases and medical expenses – $20,000
  • Other start-up expenses (stationeries, phones, computers, business cards, signage, tools and equipment) – $5,000
  • Cost of launching a website – $1,000
  • Cost of throwing a grand opening party – $5,000
  • Miscellaneous – $9,000

From the above breakdown, we would need the total amount of $200,000 to be able to run a standard horse breeding farm here in Dallas – Texas.

It should however be noted that the bulk of the start-up capital will be used to build several facilities on our land, pay employees and utility bills for a certain period of time and also purchase the necessary tools and equipment that will make sure we are able attain our desired goals and objectives.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Gallops Horse Breeders Business

Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC is owned and operated by two brothers, Jack and John McGuire. The land on which they intend to use for this business has been in the family for decades and due to this, they do not intend to bring in any eternal investors to partner with them on starting up their horse breeding farm.

This decision has limited the sources where they intend to generate capital from. Therefore, the major areas where we intend to generate our start-up capital from are;

  • Generate part of our start-up capital from personal savings
  • Source for soft loans from family members and friends
  • Apply for loan from commercial bank

N.B : From the above three sources, we were able to generate the sum of $30,000 from our joint personal savings. We got the sum of $20,000 from our family members and friends.

In order to get the full amount necessary for a successful start-up, we approached our commercial bank for the sum of $150,000 to be repaid at an interest of 4% in 7 years. All the approving documents have been signed by our bank and we have been told that the money would be credited to our account by the end of the week.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Because we are in business to succeed, we have deployed strategies in place that will ensure that our plans are geared towards ensuring that the business remains for a long time and grows at a planned pace. In order to ensure that we suitably sustain our business, we intend to hire competent employees, ensure that we offer excellent services to our various customers and also ensuring that we have a solid reinvestment plan in our business.

Building a solid business structure is very important to us here at Gallop Horse Breeders, LLC. Due to this, we intend to ensure that we source for and hire competent employees that do not only have the necessary knowledge and expertise but are also attuned to our core principles as a business and are committed to ensuring that we attain our desired goals and objectives.

All our employees are also well trained in not handling the horses but also ensuring that they positively project our business and communicate our values at all times. We also intend to ensure that our employees work in a conducive environment that is easily accessible.

Offering excellent services is a must for us as a business as we take great care in selecting the breeds we mate and then groom for recreation or sports purposes. Our purchasing manager as well as our farm manager are very experienced in identifying and knowing how well to ensure that our farm breeds only the best, thereby bringing customers for us from far and near.

Finally, we intend to ensure that 50% of the profit made in the farm is reinvested back into the farm; this is so that the business will be able to pay for itself and not have to continually seek for loans from external sources. We believe that applying these different measures will allow us sustain and also expand our horse breeding business from Teas to all over the United States of America.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check: Completed
  • Business Registration: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
  • Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
  • Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
  • Generating capital from family members: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
  • Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
  • Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
  • Purchase of trucks: Completed

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