Don't Look Back

Equine Genetics Seminar Saratoga Springs, NY

Ray Whelihan, Assistant Professor at SUNY Cobleskill's Equine program, has assembled an impressive slate of speakers for the Second Annual Professional Horse Farm Managers Seminar on Equine Genetics in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Speakers and topics:

Dr. Samantha Brooks, PhD
What Can Genome Do For You?
Current and Future Applications of Equine Genomics

Dr. Ernest Bailey, PhD
What the Horse Owner Should Know About Horse Genomics

Dr. E. Gus Cothran, PhD
Lessons in Conservation Genetics From The Standardbred Horse

Ott Adams, a Quarter Horse Breeder from Texas said it well about horse breeding long ago: " You can breed it out of 'em faster than you can breed it in"

Ott probably would have jumped at the chance to hear more about genetics at this seminar.

Get the details at this link: 

http://www.cobleskill.edu/equestrian_secondannual0000834772.html

Horse Show Attendance in 2008

Rick Hodges of Hodges Badge makes a good point about rising prices and their impact on the horse show world.  Here is a link to his post:  http://hodgesbadge.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/wither-the-equestrian-business/

The high price of fuel makes hauling costly, but as a percentage of the total expense of horse ownership and horse shows, it's not so big. 

Unfortunately the leading economic indicators in the U.S. are:

1. The cost of a loaf of bread
2. The cost of a gallon of milk
3. The cost of a gallon of gasoline

All items we are in touch with daily, but not the best resources for a well thought out position on the state of the economy.

You Can Lead Generation Y to Water but...

My newsletter this week contained tips for dealing with Generation Y entry level employees.  If you are a Boomer or Gen X er, you may be frustrated in dealing with the "Y's" if you don't study what things are important to them. 

The saavy employer knows that good managment is supported with good leadership.

Seth Burgess of  Equimax emailed the following note today after reading the newsletter.  He gave me permission to post it here. 

Hi Doug,

Great article on Youthful Employees.  I love the line:

If you've been spending too much time in the shallow end of the think tank of your business, take your thinking to a deeper level. 

Maybe you received and had time to read my article a year or more ago about being a "coach and cheerleader" for your employees.  Unfortunately, I got some angry replies from the people who most need to hear this.  They seemed to think that being a coach and cheerleader meant no longer being the boss.  It's the same with horses and people.  These folks don't seem to understand that leadership is an art that does best when you are in touch with and can accurately read the people or horses you are leading.

Keep up the great work!

Seth

Leadership is key to getting what you want from people and horses.  Well said, Seth.

Horse Manure Management

In a recent phone conversation with Peter Moon of O2 Compost, he informed me that keeping in compliance with building codes and planning boards isn't as simple as it used to be.  Many towns and counties are requiring Manure Management Plans from horse owners.  Even a two horse farm can be required to submit a Manure Management Plan.

I think of manure management as getting it picked up out of stalls and pens.  That is just half the story now.  Where will it be spread or composted and how are questions that need answering, too.

If you're new to the idea of composting your horse manure check out Peter's site:  http://www.o2compost.com/  He is an expert in the subject.

Hiring the Class of 2008

I attended our eighth grader's Moving Up Day program last week.  It's a middle school annual event for commemorating passage from middle school to high school in September.  This was my fifth moving up day ceremony.  They have all been very similar.

On stage and in the audience were bright- eyed energetic kids who were enthusiastic about their futures and had demonstrated their abilities to follow guidance and produce results.  Their excitement and attitudes were refreshing.

I'm not quite sure what happens in high school, but I'll guess hormones, Facebook and negativism are contributors to some dampened work ethics. 

If your younger new hires in you business show up with an "I'm entitled" attitude, you shouldn't be surprised.   

Your challenge is choosing employees who have a good work ethic first, then consider other qualities. Wouldn't you rather train job skills than train work ethic and attitude?

We (all of us over 22) helped shape the attitude. 

I'm entitled means:

It's normal to:

• show up late for work
• whine about how hard you work and how little you get paid
• quit without notice
• ignore the experience of coworkers
• feel sorry for yourself that starting at the top wasn't possible
• believe the lottery ticket is your answer to financial wealth

Granted, these items have been around for close to forever, but the complaints weren't heard so openly by supervisory employees and the boss.  Unlike some of the generations before them, they aren't willing to shut up, suck it up and get the job done for the sake of honest work ethic.

I wish I could bottle that middle school attitude and sell it back to them six years later as an overpriced energy drink.

Exit Strategies in The Horse Business

Professional horsemen spend so much time in their lives concentrating on building their businesses, they often ignore that a day will come when it's time to sell it.

Your life's work and energy to build a business deserve more dollars on your exit than auction price.

Have you been also considering if you are building a business of value for another professional horseman to buy?

My friend Pete Wendel describes a stubborn prospect for succession planning by speculating his will begins, " If I die..."

Low Cost Marketing for Your Business

Morgan horseman Pete Jaeger of Chapel Hill, NC, e-mailed me about a recent Profitable Horseman newsletter and got to clicking the keys about a variety of subjects. His comments below about good phone manners and being easy to talk to are excellent.  He kindly agreed to allow me to share.

"There is one thing to be said for folks who do answer the phone by giving their name first! I was always taught to do this - especially in business relationships! 

Even if you "think" the person you are greeting knows your name I feel it is always "nice" to greet by extending your hand and saying your name - It's one thing to be at a convention with name tags but many times folks who are not in business suit and in a different venue - all of a sudden I forget their name... 

When I organize an event the first thing on my list are "Name Tags: - a $2.99 expenditure at Staples solves a lot of embarrassing moments and (I think) encourages conversation between relatively unknowns - those who have never met or just met briefly once before..."

If you know Pete, you'll agree that his friendly personality makes him easy to remember and probably one of the few who doesn't need a name tag.

Horse For Sale DVD's

I spent some time viewing horse for sale videos on line the other day.

Just like the movie title, there was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good were in focus with a steady camera.  Good lighting, usually outdoors, and walk, trot, canter both directions.  Good equitation riders up.

The Bad were filmed inside poorly lit indoor arenas (or was that a cave?) had Grandma doing the voice over or contained plenty of wind noise on the audio.

The Ugly opened with blasting rock and roll or country music themes, had heavy handed riders and filmed with cameras featuring dust covered lenses.  Oh yeah, after four minutes there was another six left to play.

Ugh.  Selling horses with digital marketing is the future. 

What do you like to see in a for sale video to help you make a decision about the next step?

Recession Effects on the Horse Industry

You probably have had your fill of reading and hearing news of recessionary effects on the economy.  And may be like me, you wonder what it means to the horse business.

Putting some thought into it, recession effects on the horse industry mean:

• Even more depressed prices for "average" horses
• Softer prices for exceptional horses
• Casual horse owners with boarded horses and stretched budgets will sell their horses
• Serious horse owners with boarded horses and stretched budgets will find a way to keep their horses
• Boarding Lesson Training operations that compete with price only, will fail
• Boarding Lesson Training operations offering value at a fair price will survive due to the nature of their clientele
• Some horse owners will come to the conclusion that horses are for the rich, only.
• Some horse owners will come to the conclusion that all sports are expensive and if horses are in their blood, they'll find a way to include them in their lives.

What's your take on less dollars to spend in the industry?

A  consulting client in the machine shop business told me today that a new (used) forklift he recently purchased was due for a paint job with a brush and a gallon of "John Deere yellow" tractor paint at the end of the week.

He joked about his passion for keeping tools and machines clean and painted, a condition he refers to as "auction ready".  When his former employers put paint on machines, the workforce always assumed it was because the business was failing and would be auctioned off soon.

Not the case with my client, but a good practice for all businesses including horse businesses.  The cost of a gallon of paint and a few hours labor is no more than it costs to:

1. Keep tack clean and repaired
2. Trim horse muzzles and ears and pull manes and tails
3. Bathe horses  and maintain "show ready"

While you aren't planning to have an auction in a few weeks either, being auction or show ready all of the time keeps up a good first impression, improves employee morale and attitude and makes your business and horses more valuable.

Spring cleaning is a good four season practice.

Thought Leaders In the Horse Business

I googled the title of this post.  You won't be surprised that the results were disappointing.  The horse industry, deep in tradition, seldom offers innovation at the scale most other industries do.

Sure, new products show up from time to time, but new concepts, marketing ideas, predictions for revenue streams, rising feed and bedding costs, changes in demand and customer needs are topics as hard to find as a $ 2.00 bale of good horse hay.

Who do you consider to be Thought Leaders in the business of horses?  Leave a comment for the rest of us. 

Where Are They?

I thought my knowledge of US geography was pretty good.  Then I bought a US wall map for my office.

Wow, was I lost in more ways than one.  It's been a great resource when talking with people across the States and Canada.

Get one.  It'll help you with distances and time more than you'd think.  And as a bonus, when you get selected as a contestant for Jeopardy! you'll sweep the geography category.

Saving Ten Minutes a Day Pays Big Dividends

I had a conversation yesterday with a contractor who had just taken on a dealership with a post-frame building manufacturer.  In his business plan, he intends to work with horsemen who will be building barns and indoor arenas.  His first step was to learn more about building for horsemen and horsewomen at a 3 day seminar hosted by the manufacturer.

He admitted his brain was full from all of the information thrown at him during the conference.  We talked a bit about traditional small square bale hay storage.  From a fire safety perspective and ease of filling, you can't beat a stand-alone hay storage building built at grade level.

On the other hand, hay storage in a loft above the animals (like the old timers did it) has substantial merits:

1. No further handling and transport from storage barn to animal barn required.
2. No mess to sweep up in the barn aisle if dropped directly from loft into stalls.
3. No concerns about ground water or moisture damaging the first tier of hay.
4. Feeding time reduced significantly with "drop down" of hay through trap doors to stalls.

If you can save 10 minutes a day by using overhead hay storage that translates into real savings over 12 months.   Ten minutes a day equals seventy minutes a week equals sixty hours a year!

That's a week and half of work for someone. (Most likely, you)

What would you do with your extra week and a half of work time?

Great Riders Don't Always Make Great Instructors

My friend and fellow horseman, Jim Palladino, reminded me that in the sports world, including equestrian sports, " Great players don't always make great coaches."  Jim's got it right about the public's assumption that just because you're a top athlete, you are also a top instructor.

Not to talk anything away from great players who are great coaches, some of the best coaches are adequate athletes and exceptional teachers and trainers.

You probably know one, too.

Horse Business Hiring Tip

A reader sent me this tip on hiring in an e-mail the other day and gave me the OK to share it here.

"Thank you for your fine article in the CHA Instructor Fall 2007, "What everyone ought to know about hiring".  …

“I have one added tip to suggest.  Even though job applicants may arrive with a resume, I insist that they fill out an application (one that meets non-discrimination standards) by hand when they arrive.  If I am interviewing for a low-skill job, the applicant still needs to be literate enough to follow written instructions... and I need to know what their limitations/ realities are.  In any event, computer-generated resumes can be very misleading, while hand-writing and attention to the detail of the questions asked on the application can be very revealing. "

Chardy

Savvy advice.  Thanks.