Discussion of the week Archives

Discussion of the Week: Is Low Professionalism Hurting Equestrian Industry Adversely?

By Stablebuzz, #1 Stable Management Software

This week's discussion revolves around enhancing professionalism in the stable management profession. We hear the CEO of Wisebox Solutions, Colin Schmidt coming up with different ways equestrian as a sport can compete with other similar sports and maintain its niche in the society. With many years as an active member of the Equestrian sports community, Mr. Schmidt responds to our Discussion Topic of the Week. For insights on better stable management and modern-day stable management software read our quick interview with Colin.

Q: Do you think that the equestrian industry as a whole is competitive in professionalism compared to other activities in sports? If Not, is it hurting the equestrian industry adversely?

A: "Well, Unfortunately, we hear that the number one reason that parents take their children out of equestrian sports is because of lack of professionalism that has to do with things like invoicing, receiving your schedule and being in the loop on things. So, the administrative tasks are really important. The unfortunate thing though is that when parents take their children out of equestrian sport then they( the children) may not necessarily come back to the sport. What we can see is that without a positive experience as a child very few come back to equestrian or try equestrian as an adult and therefore are also unlikely to put their children in the equestrian sports. Thus, this is something that can snowball and we need to tackle this immediately. Other sports that we are competing against include things such as of course gymnastics, swimming, dance, martial arts, and team sports. All of these have a higher level of professionalism that is mostly facilitated with software that the equestrian has been slow to adopt. Fortunately, new applications such as Stablebuzz are going to allow you to cut your admin overhead by 50 %, leading to enhanced professionalism and that enhancement in professionalism is shown to be able to increase your customer retention by 30%. "

The topic of discussion was open-ended and Colin provided us with meaningful ways for increasing professionalism in equestrian sports and ensuring that they are taken up fondly by people. Stay tuned as we discuss more topics with Mr. Schmidt concerning the equestrian community next week.

by Gulmehak Kaur

Discussion of the Week: What can the equestrian community do about Urbanization?

By Stablebuzz, #1 Stable Management Software

Returning with insightful stable management tips and advice, CEO of Wisebox Solutions, Colin Schmidt explores different ways equestrian organizations can thrive despite urbanization. With many years as an active member of the Equestrian sports community, Mr. Schmidt responds to our Discussion Topic of the Week. For insights on better stable management, read our quick interview with Colin.

Q:Urbanization is probably inevitable in today’s society, so what can the equestrian community do about this? How are we going to respond?

A: "The two key things we can consider are:

Higher density programs
Marketing the idea that getting out of the city is good for you.

So on higher density programs, what do we mean by that? We're talking about being able to deal with more equestrian activities in a smaller space as well as diversifying the offering of what you have in the program. To consider it as a more complete activity focussed on the athlete of the person and not just the athlete of the horse. Vaulting is a great example of this. For you can have half an arena with one horse and anywhere between 6-8 vaulters or participants in the program sharing that one horse. It allows you to have fewer horses taking up less space with a higher number of participants counts.

The second aspect is marketing how getting out of the city is good for you: Getting into the country is certainly something that most people are going to appreciate is good for them. So, does your making material help bring home that point? It is always going to be a certain distance from the downtown core to where the arena is. So, take advantage of that and make it something that is a destination. So, the destination is not just how you market it but also what happens on arrival/ when you arrive there."

The topic of discussion was open-ended and Colin provided us with meaningful ways for keeping the equestrian sport going in the urbanized world. Stay tuned as we discuss more topics with Mr. Schmidt on other topics concerning the equestrian community next week.

by Gulmehak Kaur

Discussion of the Week: Are Equestrian Sport and Horse Activities Declining?

By Stablebuzz, #1 Stable Management Software

We asked CEO of Wisebox Solutions with many years as an active member of the Equestrian sports community, Colin Schmidt, to respond to our Discussion Topic of the Week. As a highly knowledgeable equestrian, Colin Schmidt provided very insightful statistics and insights on the equestrian industry's growth trends internationally.

Q: Are equestrian sport and horse activities in general growing or declining across societies today?

A: "Sadly in western society, it is a slow decline for the equestrian sport. But we can reverse that if we are willing to adapt to customer expectations and deal with urbanization. Interestingly, China is growing very quickly, by the way, despite becoming more urbanized at the same time itself. From 2017 to 2018 stables and clubs grew from approximately 1000 to 2000. In 2017, existing stables and clubs grew by 68 percent. Also, the total number of people involved in the sport grew to over a million people [in China].

So the core issues come down to not just urbanization [in western society] but increased professionalism and considering how we can compete against other activities and sports."

The topic of discussion was open-ended and Colin provided us with a meaningful understanding of the contemporary changes taking place in the equestrian community and it's evolution worldwide. Stay tuned as we discuss more topics with Mr. Schmidt on other topics concerning the equestrian community next week.

by Gulmehak Kaur