Keeping Your Equine Business a
Vibrant Part of Rural America
Kathy Anderson, PhD, University of Nebraska
Chris Skelly, PhD, Michigan State University
NC Equine Business Overview
• North Central Region Horse Industry
Over 1 million horses
162,000 horse farms
Over 70% of horse owners live in rural
communities of 50,000 or less
• Breeding, training, boarding, etc
Spectator events – Urban settings
• Race, show, etc
The EBN Conference
• Partnership of 4 Universities
• Targeted to NCR, nationwide application
• Simultaneous conferences, 4 locations
Interactive webinar
Various business related topics
• Equine Business Network Facebook page
• Equine Business Blog
• Equine Business web page (eXtension)
Purpose
• Enhance rural equine businesses
Profitability
Sustainability
• Develop organized business management
resources
Equine Business owners & employees
Purpose
• Increase equine business knowledge
Exploring employment opportunities
Horse industry business development
• Enhance efficiency
• Increased revenue
• Expand industry
What we did
Collaborators
Equine Business Conference
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Michigan State University
University of Nebraska
Iowa State University
University of Minnesota
Hosted concurrently
One live speaker each
location + 3 webcast
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Liability/Legal issues
Marketing
Insurance
Accounting/Business
structure
Pre-Conference webcast
 Promotional
 6 weeks prior to conference
Equine Business Conference
Live conference
Archived webcast viewed
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Conducted February, 2012
Total attendance – 130
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MI – 50
MN – 40
IA – 20
NE – 20
November 2012
 56 views
Equine Business Network
 December, 2012
 Over 600 fans
What we did
Equine Business Conference
Online Social Network
 Equine Business Network
 Affordable program
 Archived webcasts available
• Facebook page
• Launched November, 2011
• My Horse University
 Horsebiz Blog
 Round table discussions
 Program Evaluation
• Post- program
• 6 month post-program
impact survey
• Launched September, 2012
 eXtension Resource Area
• HorseQuest
• Launched November, 2012
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Road blocks
 Coordination
 Technology challenges
 Clientele challenges
Benefitting the Management of Horse
Operations
•95% -68% of the conference participants agreed or strongly agreed the information
obtained from each topic would benefit the management of their horse operation,
with Equine law being the most beneficial
Topic
Percent of attendees agreed or strongly
agreed
Equine law
95%
Promotion, marketing, advertising
91%
Equine insurance
74%
Taxes and finance
68%
an=117
Making Changes in their business
•All participants indicated they would make at least one change in their horse
operations following the conference
•Nearly all (95%) would make changes related to legal issues
Topic
Percent of attendees agreed or strongly
agreed
Equine law
95%
Promotion, marketing, advertising
81%
Equine Insurance
53%
Taxes and finance
51%
an=117
What Changes are the making?
Topic
Changes
Equine law
 Documentation needed
 Wording and use of releases
 Ways to avoid liability
Promotion, marketing, advertising
 Using social media to promote events
and businesses
Equine Insurance
 Changes in policy on horses
Insurance needs for facility and events
Taxes and finance
 Ways to lower taxes
 Setting up a more “protected” business
 Move from sole proprietor to LLC
 Move from “hobby to business”
an=117
Increasing their knowledge
•The pre-conference knowledge of conference attendees was lowest on Equine Law and
Insurance with each of those having the greatest gain in knowledge (150% and 138%
respectively) following the conference
•However, conference participants indicated their greatest post-conference knowledge was in
the areas of promotions, marketing and advertising and equine law (4.0 and 3.9).
Topic
Pre-Conference
Knowledgeb
Post-Conference
Knowledge
Percent Increase in
Knowledge
Equine law
2.6
3.9
150%
Equine Insurance
2.6
3.6
138%
Taxes and finance
2.9
3.5
121%
Promotion, marketing,
advertising
3.3
4.0
121%
an=117
b1
(very little knowledge) to 5 (very much knowledge)
New Information
Topic
Equine law
Promotion, marketing, advertising
Equine Insurance
Taxes and finance
What did they learn about?
Liability laws
Contracts
Releases
Contracts
Branding
Tools to try
Use of social media
Coverage for horses
Coverage for events/ activities
Types of business structures
Tax issues
Ways to lower taxes
Number of Views for the Archived
Webinars
Title
Structuring Your Horse Business to
Succeed in the Future
# Views
28
Legal Liability and Contracts
11
Promotion, Marketing and Advertising:
Tips on Social Media and Low- and NoCost Promotion
Using Insurance to Protect Your Horse,
Yourself, and Your Equine Business
10
7
Expected Changes to Equine
Businesses in One Year
Area of change
Modify current practice
Start this in near future
Improve handling taxes &
finances
20%
35%
Implement new marketing
strategies
35%
15%
Develop or improve liability
waivers and contracts
20%
50%
Purchase or change equine
insurance policy
15%
50%
N = 21
One-Three Year Benefits of the Equine
Business Conference
•60% indicated they would have increased profitability, in part due to their enhanced
understanding of how to reduce their risk of liability and improved insurance.
N=21
Area of change
Somewhat to very likely
Decreased liability risk
86%
Improved insurance plan
81%
Improved marketing
70%
Increased profitability
62%
EBN Facebook Timeline
Fan
Photos
in
Timeline
Photo
Equine Business Network Facebook Insights October 13, 2012
Q/A for Multi-State Conference
EBN Informational Post
EBN Promotion Day/Most Popular Post
EBN Program Promotion
Horsebiz Blog
eXtension EBN Resource Area
eXtension EBN Articles
EBN Archived Webinars
Upcoming EBN 2013 Program
EBN Upcoming 2013 Program