Everybody likes to hang out and socialize. We do it with our horses and with our own kind. As a heard animal it is important for the mental health of any horse, young or old. Charles gives us solid tips for going about it in the right way. Ed.

 Socialization of a Young Horse by Charles Wilhelm

As the Labor Day holiday weekend approaches, many will celebrate the lingering days of summer by taking a day r two off to relax or play.

It’s a natural to also take some time to think about how your business can prosper in the last four months of the year.  Your attitude may have more to do with your success than anything else.  Business owners’ attitudes range from unstoppable enthusiasm to abysmal negativity.  You’ve probably experienced this spectrum of emotion at some point in your own business life, too.  I know I have.

If you ever sell horses, you know what it’s like to try convincing inexperienced riders or the non-horseman parents of a youth rider to buy a well trained horse. Unlike a car, a few years of age and miles on the odometer are two great features. While those features may cost more, paying a little more up front is a less expensive investment in the long run than buying a discounted green broke or poorly trained horse.

How many times have you ever heard these reasons for buying the wrong horse for the rider?

My son has been shopping on line for a used pick up truck.  He’s narrowed down his selection to make, model, year and mileage.  There are plenty of online resources for establishing values of used  vehicles.  You probably use these resources as price guides, too.  With printed guides, price is well defined within a range of evaluation factors.  It’s fast and EASY. Best of all, it educates buyers not familiar with values and makes negotiation comfortable.

If establishing prices in your horse business is a struggle, you’re not alone. Often, professional horsemen are selling to customers not fully educated on current value.

At some point, all professional horsemen realize that they can’t keep every good horse that walks into the barn. Buying and selling horses is part of the business.

Becoming fond of your horses is a terrific benefit of being in the horse business. It is also a financial tie down that can ruin your business. The profitable horseman understands the horses in his or her barn are assets; they aren’t pets.

A horse is either appreciating in value or depreciating in value.

As an asset, a horse is generating income as:

“…having some really nice ponies for sale here lately, I’ve had plenty of calls that turn out to be tire kickers- which I expect. However, my problem is people who make appointments to come out and then are no shows, with no calls or emails that they are not able to come.

I know it’s bound to happen on occasion, but was wondering if you knew of anyone that had a way of ‘decreasing’ the odds on that? We spend a great deal of time prepping our horses/ponies for potential buyers to come look at, make sure the farm is presentable, etc. and then set that time aside in our very busy schedule for these people….”

While driving by a construction site the other day, I noticed a framing crew hard at work creating the skeleton of a new house.

Once a foundation is built, the framing process takes just a few days to shape the new house.  The owner sees dramatic results in a short period of time.  However, when the framing is completed the detailed finishing process seems to move slower than a wall clock in an elementary school.

The trades that follow framing like drywall, trimming and cabinet installation, move slowly with results taking much more time to appear.   When the framing contractor has done a sub standard job, time almost stops.  Sloppy work like walls out of plumb, floors that aren’t level and kitchen soffits that are undersized, lead to constant frustration and “fix it” techniques by all of the trades finishing the house.  The lack of a good framework creates a lifetime of patch jobs, jury rigging and tolerations.

Patch jobs, jury rigging and tolerations -sounds like the way some businesseses operate, doesn’t it?

1. Let voice mail answer the phone (and cell phone) for an hour or two. If the message is urgent, it will get to you. Disrupting your activity to accommodate a ringing phone costs you more time than you think when you consider the time for the call in addition to getting back on track with the project at hand.

Change doesn’t come easily in the art business or the horse business; everyone is a critic. In an industry built on tradition, ideas for doing things differently take much effort to put into practice.

One of the reasons professional horsemen are reluctant to make changes in their businesses is that some changes just “don’t feel right.” They are uncomfortable and go against the grain of what we have become accustomed to and are comfortable with doing.

For example, as a youth I learned to ride in a western saddle. Over time, the contact points of my body with the saddle became my points of reference for posture and balance. It all “felt right” every time I sat in the saddle.