Customer Reviews

Starting & Running Your Own Horse Business

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I felt this book covered marketing of a boarding facility. It offers simple ideas on how to make extra money but I felt this was too superficial. If you need help with marketing, advertising, and promoting this book gives you that but it does not give you the basics of running a horse business. I would reccommend instead, something written by a CPA or lawyer. There are certain things I expected like; layout and design to the best advantage, things to consider when starting a horse business, laws and taxes related to a horse business....this covers none of that so if you are looking for something in depth, this is not it.

I think Mary McDonald's book is full of sound and useful advice. I have boarded horses, bought and sold horses, and taught riding lessons off and on for 20 years. Recently I decided to begin teaching lessons again, having taken about 8 years off. I referred to this book for ideas on organizing, planning and implementing my new riding program. I borrowed from it liberally and feel much more goal-directed and organized than in the past. I recommend this book as a starting point for anyone considering becoming involved in the horse business.

This is a great book to get you started with a horse business. It doesn't go deeply into the legal part of business (taxes, loans, documentation other than liability forms) but it gives you ideas where other business books don't. There are plenty of books out there on business specifics already. She gives good advice about promotion and profit making activities, along with how to get the most profit out of a horse. She also briefly goes over basics, such as buying lesson horses, buildings, land, management, and accounting info (along with a few forms).

Overall, it was worth "it". It gave me lots of good ideas and insights. If you are seriously wanting to start a horse business and have not a clue about it, I wouldn't rely on this book alone; it is a good starting point however.

I have read most of this book and am hoping to manage a horse farm in years to come. It is mostly revolving around a schooling and boarding stable. It has many good ideas about saving money and advertizing. I am not very experienced in running businesses and a horse business, as a loyal friend said, can make you or break you. This would help many people on a budget. It does not however tell you the approx. expenses for building and owning a stable including feed, the farrier and vet bills, and the beddings, probably to the varying prices of these items. I would recommend this book but would get a few more references on right after you build the barn and get it running.

I found this book to be an extremely fun read. I firmly believe that the foundation to any successful business is marketing because if people don't know your business then you have no clients. This book gives some creative ideas to advertise your business along with some fun money-maker activities to plan. However, it is not a very complete guide to starting and running a horse business because there is a lot more to think about when starting a business than colors and horse shows. This is why I find the title to be a bit misleading. I bought this book along with "Business Planner and Bookkeeper for the Horse Enterprise" and found the two books to be an extremely helpful pair. As with any business though, one or two books can not teach you how to be successful. To anyone who is serious about starting a business, I recommend reading as many books as possible about running a business, not just this one.

This book had some good tips. Most of them will apply to *any* business. It is a good reference to have around for whatever business you may have. But the information that was relevant to only a horse biz was a little too light. I'm glad I bought this book and will make good use of it but find I'm having to buy other books on horses to fill in the details.

This is an excellent reference for those interested in starting a boarding and/or lesson stable. Lots of promotional advice, which though overlooked by many horse people, is an intregal part of having a successful business. I only gave the book four stars because I felt the title was a little misleading in that it would be more appropriately titled "Stable" instead of "Business" since the book is geared for a boarding/lesson operation.

This book should only be marketed to those people who have an interest in horses but know nothing about them. This book has absolutely no depth in the broad range of topics that it attempts to address.

It should really have more important information, such as a summery of costs, tips on picking the perfect horse fo lessons, hiring staff, stuff that you REALLY need to know about starting your own business. Other then that, it's really a great and imformative book.

Great book!! Great ideas, gives you alot of things to think about, ways to improve business, ways to save money with things that are easy to accomplish! I recommened it to anyone thinking of starting or that has a horse business.