Shop Small – Small Business Saturday in the Horse Industry.

How shopping small can have a big impact the horse industry

by Robyn Duplisea

Today is small business Saturday, a day meant to bring awareness to the small businesses in your area and to bring support and sales their way.

Shopping small in our industry isn’t hard to do. Most of the businesses you see are owned and run by members of this horse community. Your favorite show clothing retailer just might be a mom who left corporate life so she could raise her family in this industry. Your show tack designers are multi-generation family run businesses whose kids and grandkids compete in the show pen next to you. Your ad designers, photographers, stallion owners, fashion designers barn owners and show management companies and so many more are all small businesses.

You don’t have to look far to find the impact of small businesses on our horse industry. These business owners support every facet of horse showing. They are the first to step up with sponsorship and prize donations for their local show club. The money you spend with them likely filters back to the industry in one way or another.

Many own these businesses to support their own horse habit. They pay trainers, entry fees, vet bills and buy horses. The money spent in these small businesses often stays right here in the horse industry.

Show Horse Today and PleasureHorse.com is one of those businesses. Our reach may be huge but the business itself is your typical small business. My husband and I bought this business to secure my ability to be a work from home mom. To raise our Samuel in the best way we could imagine and to work in the industry I have loved my entire life.

I run the day to day business and wear many hats like most small business owners. I can be found writing articles, designing layouts, selling the advertising and marketing our business. I handle everything from managing our talented writing team to chasing payments on a day to day basis.

When I sell an ad package to you, my husband and I talk about it at our dinner table. Every ad, every article and every bump in subscribers is celebrated as this business is a huge part of our life.

The advertising you buy give us the ability to report on the news, horses and people that make this industry interesting, sponsor horse shows and charity events and provide us the opportunity to bring you quality content that we hope improves your life with your horses.

Your ad purchase allows me to have a horse and stay a part of this industry. The pay for diapers and books for Samuel and they allow us to employ writers that do the same for their families.

This small business Saturday, I ask you take a moment to think of a small business in this industry. It can be a stallion owner, trainer, show clothing designer, tack retailer or one of the countless unique businesses that make our industry flow.

Share your support. You can show the love through a purchase or even sharing their posts on social media. Give a shout out to someone working hard to do things the best way they can.  I know I will be purchasing as many gifts this Christmas as I can from small businesses in this industry. We will then continue to support them by using our massive audience and platform to showcase their businesses.

We appreciate all the small businesses, the loyal advertisers and the people who have supported us through the years. You make it possible for us to do what we love. Thank you.

Happy Small Business Saturday!