NRHA Professionals find themselves on the road more than ever. How can you manage your business, string of horses and customers when you’re constantly away from home?
By Jennifer Paulson
With opportunity comes new puzzles to solve. As more and more high-money events pop up on the reining calendar, you probably feel like every single one of them is a can’t-miss chance to win a big check, demonstrate the success of your program, and promote yourself to gain new customers. While it’s time to make hay while the sun shines, that can leave your business at home—from your accounting and marketing to your billing to your string of horses—in the shadows and your customers wondering where they fit into the puzzle.
We consulted with three NRHA Professionals situated in different corners of the U.S. to get their insights into how to manage your time more efficiently. Here, Jordan McBurney, Matt Palmer, and Andrea Fappani share what they’ve learned as they’ve built—and expanded—their businesses during reining’s boom.
Part 1: Matt Palmer, The Constant Traveler
Part 2: Andrea Fappani: The Central Veteran
Part 3: Jordan McBurney: The Working Parent
The Working Parent: Jordan McBurney
Jordan McBurney and her husband, Sean, are integrating a new phase of life into their professions as reining trainers: parenthood. Their Business has always been based in the Pacific Northwest at Rhodes River Ranch, so hauling long distances to shows is familiar territory.
Get Picky. With our location and family, we have to be very smart about what shows we go to and which ones we skip. We base these decisions on what we have available to show.
Hire Good Help. They’re hard to find, but when you hire good help, it can ease your workload, especially when you have to be away for long periods of time. When we’re on the road, we have trustworthy help to turn out the 2-year-olds, longe the studs, and keep the horses happy and safe. We have good office help, too. She knows her job, and we can rely on her. Our relationship with mutual respect for everyone keeps things running smoothly, even when we’re at a show.
Be Open With Your Customers. Talk about your plans, be clear and consistent, and be open to what works best for your customers. We have some who might take their horses home for a few weeks if we’re away, and we do our best to accommodate that.
Choose Quality Over Quantity. We’re a smaller operation, and we only take on as many horses as we can handle. I see a lot of young trainers taking on more horses than they can manage. It can seem like the only way to make money, but if you have 25 in training and can only ride 12 a day, you’ll have disappointed clients who might go to a different barn.
Educate Your Owners. As professionals, we know that not every horse needs to be ridden every day, and that strategic breaks are necessary for development of young horses and to keep more experienced horses happy. Take the time to educate your owners so they understand that when you’re away, their horses are still being cared for, but are on a necessary break to get the most out of their training.
Communicate. Some trainers communicate only via text message to keep things quick. I prefer a phone call so we can have real conversations about how horses are doing. Your customers invest a lot into these horses—financially and emotionally—and they like to hear how their horses are doing and what you see for them in the future. Don’t be afraid to talk about problems and how you’ll resolve them.
Read the rest of this article at the links above.
