I’ve always loved horses, I’d do every school project on them and would cut pictures out of magazines and tape them to my wall (yes, I was that kid). When I was 10, I began riding lessons, I started off by riding once a week, this is when I discovered my heart belonged to horses. I started asking my coach if I could come out to muck stalls, feed and clean tack. I did this every chance I got. In return I got to watch my coach teach various lessons and help her start some green horses! This is when I realized I loved the process of training horses to be brave, expressive and relaxed.
I always told myself that when I turned 18, I would buy an OTTB that I could retrain myself. I saved up all my money for over 8 years to achieve this. In September of 2020, I turned 18, had a full-time job and my goal of buying and retraining a horse was in sight. A month later, I was scrolling on facebook and saw an ad for a OTTB. Something about this horse spoke to me and I bought him sight unseen that day.
On October 3rd 2020, the trailer dropped my horse off and I quickly realized this horse was in need of lots of TLC. He showed up very underweight, with a pretty nasty eye infection and terrible ground manners. I decided to name him Mickey because Disney has always been about following your dreams and my partnership with this horse happened because I followed mine! This 16.1hh bay gelding was a lot of work, for months he hung out in the field acclimatizing to his environment and gaining some weight. I did solely groundwork in his paddock with him for the first 6 months of our partnership as he was absolutely terrified of going into the indoor arena. In true Canadian fashion, I just decided it was easier to hang out with him outside in the -40 degree weather than to try and trek through the deep snow and ice with a terrified horse just to get him into the arena. Now that we’ve gotten some warmer weather, I’ve restarted him under-saddle and he’s coming along very nicely!
Mental health has been a big part of my life, especially when It comes to riding. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at a very young age, This has definitely been a big challenge for me to overcome. Bullying in the equine industry is a huge issue, I’ve had to leave barns that I absolutely loved due to the overwhelming amount of negativity and bullying that happened to me which led me to be too anxious to go to the barn for my lessons. Throughout this rough time in my life I always told myself I just had to push through till I was out of school and could jump into a career in the horse industry, this was my motivation and I was beyond excited.
When I graduated high school, I started to look around for my dream job! I got hired at a local riding school and was thrilled. One major thing I’ve sadly realized about this industry is how much power people feel they have over those trying to find their career path in horses. I’d work day and night, put blood, sweat and tears into what I did and it never seemed to be enough for higher ups. This is not okay and has definitely been far too normalized in our industry.
This excitement of working in the industry quickly left as I realized the environment I was in was very detrimental to my mental health. Instead of letting this experience ruin my happiness, I found myself trying to find ways to make the equine industry a better place for those starting out.
Being a plus sized woman, shopping for clothing can be very triggering: the sizes at most stores don’t even come close to fitting me. I found this a huge issue when shopping for riding equipment, the boots didn’t fit my large calves, the breeches wouldn’t go past my thighs, and I couldn’t even get half the shirts in the store over my head.
This got me thinking about the need for an inclusive tack store in my area, a store that welcomes all body types, sexual orientations, gender identities and races.
My plan is to open a store that truly supports and empowers the equestrian industry. Not only do I want to ensure that the store itself is a welcoming and safe environment, I want to support various small businesses by carrying their products rather than just supporting the large corporations. Another one of my plans is to run sponsorship programs that provide funding and products to help bridge the gap through the sharing of knowledge, opportunities and solidarity (Just like OYES is doing).
I’m currently working at a small locally owned pet store to learn about running a successful pet related business. My favorite part about working at a pet store is getting to talk to people about their animals, seeing how their faces light up when they describe all the amazing things animals have done for their health really pushes me to work towards my goal of opening my own store.
I’m also taking Equine Business at Guelph University. This has helped me write a full business plan and given me great insight into the business market. I plan on taking various other courses Guelph has to offer such as Equine Science and Equine Welfare, these will definitely build onto my knowledge of the industry and horses as a whole.
If I was awarded the money I would start off by buying some products that I could sell (like saddle pads, brushing boots, and bell boots) to help me save up for the cost of renting a retail location to open a physical store. I am also budgeting for packaging and shipping labels and the business registration fees in Canada.