Going Home

Wrapping up my swing through New England today and returning home has left me with lots to do and lots to think about in the weeks ahead.

After working with three of our four Best of the Best Award winners, I'll have to tell you, I think the equine trade industry is in good hands. These people are smart, forward-thinking, good business operators and generally interested in what happens in the industry today and in the future.

We'll be writing more about all three, plus the fourth who is not from New England (just geographical coincidence) in the May issue of Tack 'n Togs. You won't want to miss it.

Being on the road is exciting and challenging at the same time. Having been behind the wheel much of this trip, I've become intimately familiar with maps and the reading thereof. I survived four days hustling between Philadelphia and Boston with only one wrong turn. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Traveling also means eating restaurant food and sleeping in someone else's bed, as a friend of mine terms it. The nights I spent in lodging on this trip were extremely pleasant. Nice rooms, very clean, quiet and exceedingly comfortable.

When I'm traveling for work, the first question I ask prior to making reservations is about Internet service. If they don't offer a high-speed hookup, either by wi-fi or cable, I just check them off and move on.

It's amazing how much work you can get done in a motel room when there really isn't much else to do.

Next week, I'll be back at my desk -- considerably less exciting than being on the road, but close to hearth and home and hopefully some outdoor riding weather.

Treeless Saddle Comments

In the most recent edition of Tack 'n Togs, we published a fairly long piece on treeless saddles. The purpose of the story was to provide our predominantly retail readers with information they need when their customers come in and ask about treeless saddles.

We always welcome comments on what we publish. Sabine Schleese of Schleese Saddlery Service Ltd. in Canada sent the following response. If you would like to have your say, click the "comment" link below.

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It was with great interest that we read the article concerning the advocacy of non-treed saddles in the last issue of Tack 'n Togs. This is a subject which is extremely controversial, with impassioned supporters of both sides. However, based on pure and simple logic treeless saddles don't make sense, nor are the really good for the horse in the long run! Some of the reasoning behind this is as follows (and forgive my long-windedness, but this is a topic which just lends itself to ranting!)

There was apparently a recent case won in Europe when a $500,000 dressage horse had to be put down because a treeless saddle had been hitting the horse on the spine and had caused neurological damage. They proved that it was in fact the saddle that had been the trigger and the saddlery paid up; dearly. Only a tree can keep you off the horses spine.

The horse has a horizontal spine, man has a vertical one. You may think that to a horse 180 lb or so of rider is no big deal, but it is. Your horse's centre of balance is directly behind the wither. (Trust me, you will be singing a serious amount of soprano if you sit there!

Because a tree-less saddle sits so close to the horses back you can't get far enough forward and therefore are behind the movement. Not to mention the risk of being past the horses last supporting rib. Also (especially for a man) your seatbones are closer together and tipped on a steeper angle. Which means everytime you sit those bones are digging into the horses back. How long before that becomes terribly painful?

Okay maybe for a rider who goes on a 1/2 hour hack twice a week it wouldn't have a lasting effect. But when you are talking about an upper level dressage horse that has a rider 120 lb and up pounding on their back for upwards of 40 min 6 days a week? It just doesn't make any sense! Yes you will definitely get more freedom in the shoulder through the scapula than you would get with a rigid tree, but there are a lot of other trees out there now that have more flex.

A ton of scapular damage has been done by tree points, which is why you need a saddle with longer tree-points that actually point backward! Yes, a tree can be very detrimental if it is not made correctly, but no tree at all causes pain as well.

There is a reason why the majority of saddles still have trees - and the important thing is that the tree fits the horse both along its length and especially over the withers (the 'vice-grip' of the saddle!). You especially don't want to have too much pressure put directly on the spinal processes of the horse, nor on the ligament system that runs along side the spine.

This may work for a while, especially if you have been riding in a badly fitting treed saddle, but eventually constant pressure will cause long-term damage. This has been proven with the use of thermography.
As far as buying one saddle that you expect to fit forever without adjustments, this is just paradoxical!

In a well-fitting saddle your horse should begin to muscle up and change conformation so that you do need at least annual adjustments to accommodate this growth! If you continue to ride a saddle without having it reflocked or refitted, either you're doing your horse a disservice, or there's something wrong with the saddle. Using different types of pads to 'fix' the fit is a bandaid solution at best. A pad should be used on well-fitting saddle simply to protect the leather from sweat, and should be no more than a thin cotton layer.

Read any book on equine anatomy and you will find back up information to this statement (check out especially any reference to the supraspinous ligament system). We see probably 2000 + clients a year with saddle fitting issues of one sort or another, and we work together with various US veterinary colleges on the issue of saddle fit, because even sometimes veterinarians are at a loss to explain equine "problems" -- often related to using the wrong type of saddle, or a badly fitting saddle.

The unfortunate truth is that treeless saddles go against the logic of equine anatomy - they may work for a few years, but as has been reiterated, there is a reason that there so many more treed saddles on the market. Could it be that it's simply a fad?

Not many people today have the luxury of time to learn to ride as well as the native Americans did -- with or without saddles. Many people still need to use a saddle to even stay on a horse, (including me) so you can't really compare the two. We do use quantitative measurements and I would hope that our years of training and experience as not 'just another saddlefitter' will lend some credence to these statements also.

Nothing would make us happier as saddle makers and saddle fitters than having bareback pads/treeless saddles universally accepted. They're much faster and much cheaper to make, and little skill is required to sew what is essentially a leather pad. If this is truly the best thing for the horse, why have none of the long-established traditional saddle makers jumped on the bandwagon?

Think of this analogy. Why do you not find high level athletes pursuing their sports barefoot? For three reasons -- support, comfort, and protection that a shoe can give. There only maybe a handful of riders (from all over the world) at higher levels riding a bareback pad/treeless saddle.

Elite (equine) athletes require support, comfort and protection to perform optimally. Without a tree, a bareback pad/treeless saddle, cannot protect the horse's spine, support the curvature of the rider's spine, and be comfortable for both horse and rider. The rider needs to sit softly (only achievable with correct posture and support of the four curvatures of the human spine) and the horse needs to keep the longissimus dorsi loose, so the back can rise, the hindquarters can come underneath, and the weight come off the forehand.

We have heard lots about how wonderful the horse moves in the shoulder with a bareback pad/treeless saddle, yet this "freedom of movement" in the shoulder is ineffective and long-term damaging if the back is hollow because the back muscle tightens due to the sharp seat bones of the rider. There is no support to the rider's spine and no protection to the horse's spine.

The result is that all the weight is on the forehand, which is an undesirable consequence. The majority of people riding have horses larger than the Indian pony, and as everyone knows, the bone density usually only holds up for an 800-pound horse. (most horse weigh much more than this). If you don't ride your horse off the forehand, damage will result to the ligaments, joints, tendons, and musculature.

At the past World Championships for Endurance riders; in the upcoming ****CCI in Rolex, or at the Kentucky Derby, you have not, and likely will not see a bareback pad/treeless saddle. (race saddles, although tiny, do contain 1/2 trees to protect the spine). Of course, a saddle fitter will always state his/her opinion, such as the owner of the bareback pad/treeless saddle also has his/her opinion -- we live in a free society where everyone is allowed to state his/her opinion -- however, for further input to form an opinion, I would urge you to buy the book "The Horse's Pain Free Back and Saddle Fit" by Dr. Joyce Harmann, DVM.

She has made saddlefitting her focus -- especially the chapter on Saddle Construction, p. 37 -- Treeless saddles. She mentions how important it is to keep the weight off the horse's spine. More and more veterinarians concur and investigate saddle fit, with research and evidence collected with MRI's, fibreoptic or thermographic cameras, and computerized saddle pads. (Equus magazine has published a number of articles on this topic in the past year.)

Although some of the bareback pads/treeless saddles have incorporated a gullet into their design, without the tree you cannot bridge the spinal processes nor the spinal ligament system properly, and therefore end up not providing your horse with the protection a properly fitted treed saddle will provide. That's why flexible, adjustable trees are an alternate choice to traditional wooden spring trees to provide horse and rider with what they need to prevent longterm damage.

There is nothing wrong with going barefoot, (or 'bareback') but to ensure the health of athletes (human or equine) the educated consumer will choose the product which provides the best support, comfort and protection. Obviously no one is going to convince anyone of anything they don't want to believe in. Bottom line is you should ride in whatever you are comfortable in, because no matter how well your saddle fits your horse (bareback pad/treeless saddle or treed saddle), your horse will never move optimally if you as the rider are not comfortable as well, because your discomfort will translate down. I don't think anyone would argue that point.

My point is that you should consider that the reason treed saddles have been around for so long is because they serve a distinct purpose -- to protect, support, and provide comfort to both horse and rider. But you should use whatever works for you -- just be aware that sometimes products appear on the market that seem to be a lot better than they really are, given the logic behind the manufacturing.

But I still say, IMHO that a properly fitted treed saddle is far superior (any properly fitted treed saddle). Sometimes things that appear to be perfect solutions in the short term will prove to have less than satisfactory outcomes in the long term. If you tap the top of your hand, it doesn't hurt much the first couple of minutes, but if you continue tapping for an hour or so, your tendons will become very sore.

We should take emotion out of this discussion, and it should be based on fact. With today's increasing technology in veterinary medicine, such as fibreoptic cameras, thermography, ability to x-ray the spine from below, computerized saddle pads, and MRIs, more and more veterinarians are specializing in saddle fit and evidence will become more and more apparent to support my "opinion." Beyond that - I'm not trying to convince you that I'm right and you're wrong; like I said, to each his own. Time will tell.


Sabine Schleese, B.Sc., MBA
Schleese Saddlery Service Ltd.
Saddlefit 4 Life
1-800-225-2242

Reality Insanity

When I watched the first "Survivor" television show, I figured it wouldn't be long before someone brought reality television to the horse world. Well, it's happening in spades.

Perhaps the most popular manifestation is the riding challenge format, in which four trainers are handed four horses and given a specific amount of time to work their magic.

While it may make for a good show, I'm not sure how much good this is doing the equine industry. There are already abundant misconceptions about horses, training and riding in the general public. To some extend, the riding challenges tend to foster those misunderstandings.

Not every horse can be taken from untouched to saddled and ridden in an hour without suffering sometimes irrepairable brain damage. The fact that it can be done doesn't necessarily mean it should be done.

Anyone who has ever trained horses knows that an easy pace determined primarily by the horse works best long-term. Obviously, producing a "show" means considerably less thought placed on long-term success.

To their credit, there have been trainers involved in these competitions who have stepped up and said the horse he was working wasn't ready to be ridden. Kudos to those trainers.

Unless and until the trainers step up and say the one-hour-from-wild-to-mild approach isn't a great training concept, these competitions will continue to flourish.

I'm the furthest thing from a PETA member you can find and my horse does occasionally get a spanking with a crop. I am concerned that we as the smarter species (perhaps?) in this instance step up and be leaders.

Up From The Basement

I spent time today with our BEST OF THE BEST Equine Trade Award Winner in the manufacturing category. Theirs is an interesting story.

It started where so many profiles of companies in our industry start ... in the basement. If I had to guess, I'd say about half the companies that provide everything from saddles to tack to clothing had their start in a corner of the garage or the basement.

It's a true testament that the American system of free enterprise is alive and well. Anyone who is willing to take a good idea and work hard can be successful.

I know several retailers in our industry who started the same way. One even began the store on her front porch and today has a large and beautiful facility.

There are any number of lessons to be learned from these people. First of all, don't look down your nose at someone whose company isn't the size of Wal-Mart. Almost everyone started out small. Some people choose to remain small.

Second, no matter how skilled you are, a little bit of luck never hurts. Many companies in our industry can point to that one break where they were pushed over the top and onward to great success.

Third, recognize the roll computers play in helping people start businesses large and small. It makes things so much easier and cheaper. A small equine business with a computer and one good program and track just about any aspect of bookkeeping, inventory ... even marketing.

Our hats are off this week to everyone in our industry who started small and grew to be big -- or at least as big as they desired to be. It's not easy, but it can be done.

On the Road Again

I'm on the road this week, working on feature pieces for our BEST OF THE BEST Equine Industry Awards. The stories will be published and the winners formally announced in our May edition.

Several of BEST OF THE BEST honorees live on the East Coast, so that's where I am. Today, New Jersey. Then Connecticut and Massachusetts the following day.

I'll have to admit to not being the world's biggest fan of the North Eastern part of the United States. Having been born and raised in the completely flat plains of North Dakota where a car and two cows was as close as we ever got to a traffic jam, I don't have a frame of reference for Turnpikes.

We have traffic in Minnesota, but the freeway system there makes sense. If you miss an exit, go up to the next one and turn around. If try that on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, it could take you two hours to get back to square one.

So I've planned my trip very carefully. I ran all the maps through two different online mapping programs, including AAA's TripTix. Today, no wrong turns. Knock on wood.

I'm always amazed at how many horses there are these parts. I guess horses grow accustomed to the din or traffic and the whoosh of cars going by. They seem quite contented and you don't see many that don't have the show horse look to them.

Today my interview was with our English Retailer BEST OF THE BEST Award winner. Wait until you see the photos of this business!

More thoughts from the road tomorrow.

Customer Service Insight

Have you ever heard of a coffee shop that ran out of coffee? You have now.

One night last week, my wife attended a seminar on the other side of town. We were going to run errands in that area after her class, so I tagged along, laptop in hand, and headed for a nearby coffee shop.

I dropped my stuff at a table and went to the counter to order my coffee. After making my selection, the clerk turned to pour the coffee, only to get a spit and sputter from the machine.

"Sorry, we're out of that one," she said lamely.

No problem. The one next to it will be fine. Nope. Out of that one, too.

Turns out all four of the "pots" were empty. Mind you, this is a COFFEE shop.

I checked my watch. Two more hours to go to closing. Maybe they would make some and I could get a reallly hot fresh cup?

No, they were done for the day.

"If we make some now, we'll just end up throwing it out in two hours," said the assistant manager who by this time had joined our conversation.

No kidding. Well, I suppose it is possible that this particular coffee shop (which also serves sandwiches and other things) gets really dead after 6 p.m. and it's an economics thing. Both employees agreed it seemed strange for a coffee shop to be out of coffee, but there was little they could do about it.

"So neither of you can physically insert coffee into the machine and collect it when it comes out the bottom?" I asked.

Oh, they could ... but they can't. Management orders.

So your management orders you not to provide your customers with what they want when they come into your shop? Strange management.

They were fully prepared to leave me standing there while they went about their cleaning and closing process (two hours prior to closing). I actuallly had to suggest to them that I'd take tea, noting a good selection of teas behind the counter.

I collected my tea bag and hot water and retired to a table in the back of the eatery. Steadily, the place filled up with dinner-time customers, until almost every table was taken. The talk among the patrons was about the fact that they'd "run out of" coffee. Several people could be seen leaving when they were told there was no coffee.

What type retail insanity was at work here? Unfortunately, a type of insanity that's prevalent in too many sectors of retail, including our own on occasion.

Obviously, in this case, someone was taking an order from headquarters a wee bit too seriously. Someone should have stopped the insanity, poured some coffee grounds into the machine and churned out some hot fresh coffee. This was, after all, a coffee shop.

How much empowerment do you as a retailer give your employees? Would they be afraid to brew another pot if that's what a customer wanted for fear of retribution, or would they say, "hey, they're the customer and I'm here to give customer service." Would you back them up if they took matters into their own hands?

Successful retailing doesn't work without empowering the people on the front lines to give the customers service we all say we want.

An hour later, the place was beginning to empty out and I was still there working and waiting for my wife. Mind you, the coffee shop was an hour from closing, but chairs were nosily going up on tables and mops and buckets were brought out.

Finally, I was the last person remaining in the coffee shop. My table was the only one that hadn't been cleaned and the chairs placed on top. The floor around my table was the last to be swept for the night.

Eventually, I had both employees standing in front of my table, one leaning on a mop and the other looking disturbed. I truly wish my wife would have been another hour and I could have stayed until closing time, but alas, she arrived moments later. I collected my things and left. The lock on the door snapped shut behind me. I double-checked the "hours" sign on the door. Yep, they'd closed an hour early.

Sometimes, you just shake your head and walk away.

Let Your Fingers Do the Paying

Purses. Wallets. Loyalty Cards. All clunky remants of the past thanks to the faster, easier, more secure way to pay.

That's the guts of an advertisement in a national retail magazine this month. The company is Pay by Touch -- The New World Currency. You may have already seen it in operation. A large grocery chain in our part of the United States is using it.

You simply enter your pin number and allow the scanner to ready your fingerprint and voila, your groceries are paid for and you're on your way. Futuristic? Yes. Not to mention a bit unnerving.

I consider myself fairly progressive when it comes to technology. I can work my way through most any computer challenges. I have a cell phone. I can get into the back side of a Web site and post changes and additions. I bank online.

But paying by touch is something that's going to take me a bit to digest. I'm sure many retailers in the equine trade industry feel the same way. But few of us have the ability to stop the march of progress (if that's what you want to call it).

Flipping the page ahead from this full-page advertisement you'll find a story about Radio Frequency Identifidation (RFID). That's a topic we've written about several times in Tack 'n Togs Magazine. Eventually every product in your store will have a small radio device attached to it rather than a UPC code. Scanning will simply be a matter of waving a wand over a line of selections with a receipt generated in seconds.

RFID also sounds futuristic and yes, also a bit scarey. Some pundits are saying it will be the saviour of retail. For instance, someone comes into your store and looks at a stack of jeans wondering if their size is in that stack. In today's technology, the customer has to hand-sort through the stack and read each label. In an RFID world, a miniature reader installed on the shelving unit will automatically display which sizes are in that stack. Think of how much time is saved at inventory time.

Two years ago, the best guesses were RFID tags at the item level would come about in five years. Turns out it's already here. A store in New York is using it on their jeans with a goal of enahcing inventory management and improving service.

The times they are a changin' indeed.

Someone once told me that your mental age is closely linked to your ability to accept and thrive in a world of new technology. I'm trying my best to stay young mentally. I figure if I hold out long enough, someone will invent something I can insert into my ear that will remind me what I had for lunch yesterday! Now that would be a technological advancement worth embracing!

How do you smell?

I've been talking to a lot of people recently regarding what it is about tack and saddle shops that make them addicts. These are people who are prone to stopping by their favorite retailer for no reason other than to hang out with the wonderful array of equipment and products available.

To a person, they've mentioned one thing ... smell. They love the smell of leather, cleaners, sawdust. There are any number of studies to prove that shoppers are guided by their noses. Undoubtely, smell (in a positive way, of course) is one thing equine retailers can make work to their benefit.

For most customers, that tack shop smell was ingrained in them from their early childhood. I know it was for me. Most of us probably don't know exactly what we were smelling, but it's like smelling a pot roast cook. It brings back fond memories and makes us want to come back again and again.

Leather products have a unique smell that suggests bold, tough and enduring. In shops where repair and cleaning take place, toss the smell of leather cleaners into the mix. Footwear made of leather has a pleasant odor, as well.

If you're a retailer trying to create a shopping experience for your customers they can't find on the Internet, think smell. One thing the Internet doesn't offer shoppers (at least at this point) is the ability to "click and smell." You have to physically get out of your chair and come in to a shop to have that olfactory experience.

Next time you walk into your store, take a deep breath. What do you smell? Obviously, if someone forgot to take out last night's garbage, it may not be the most pleasant experience! But think about how your store smells. If it doesn't smell like leather and cleaners and sawdust, you might want to think about how you could enhance those odors.

In this instance, it might be a good thing for customers to tell other customers your store smells!

Statistically Speaking

We've talked about this issue quite a bit over the past few years. Anyone looking for accurate statistics on the equine trade industry is mostly out of luck. The bulk of the companies are privately held and don't report their sales or earnings to anyone but the IRS. For some sectors of the industry, you can come up with a good guess, but that's all it is -- a guess.

Wouldn't it be nice to have an accurate statistic? Wouldn't it be nice to say that last year in the United States, $3.5 billion worth of Western saddles were sold in the country? Or $2.8 billion worth of English saddles?

Although it would be difficult, it's not impossible to conduct a study that would produce at least supportable statistics, if not completely accurate. The key is that it would cost money. Lots and lots of money.

There are organizations out there who do nothing but these kinds of studies. In the $250,000 ball park would be my best guess at what such a survey might cost. That's huge money in the equine trade industry and a very large hurdle to jump.

If we start touting this process now, perhaps in another decade it will be ripe for happening. If we never begin talking about it, it certainly will never happen.

How about you? Would such a study on the size of the equine trade industry be valuable to you in your business? How would you go about raising support and finances for the idea?

Maybe if we all put our heads together we can move this to square one.

Renewal and Spring

The first of the new crop of babies was born at the ranch where I board my horse this past weekend. A perfectly formed baby girl -- happy, healthy and full of life.

It's amazing to watch a mother horse with her foal. Willow is a good mom and has a really mellow personality. She wasn't so sure she was all that thrilled about the crowd of people outside her stalling looking in and oohing and aahing. If she felt we were all getting too close, she'd nudge the baby back under her to protect her from prying eyes.

The baby, of course, was fascinated with everything going on around it and somehow seemed to sense it was the center of attention. A day old and already has her own distinct personality.

Sometimes the drudgery of daily life wears all of us down. I know magazine editors go through those periods. I know retailers experience the same feelings. But then something happens that make you realize the world is bigger than the scope of your personal problems.

It's that ability to look beyond the realm of challenges and see the miracles of life all around us that allows all to survive.

If you want to experience something life-affirming, find a horse barn where foals are being born. You can't help but come away moved and inspired to live life to its fullest.

Your Feedback

Each Friday, I'd like to spend a bit of time in this blog sharing the responses that have come in over the week to what has been written. Slowly the response wave is beginning to build, but not nearly fast enough. I'd love to hear from many, many more of you. Responses to this blog are submitted anonymously, so we don't let anyone get too carried away. You are, of course, free to disagree with any comments posted and respond in kind.

In response to comments about markets and trade shows in the equine industry, we received the following:

Paul, I agree with all your comments. I am looking forward to change. Our industry really has gotten stuck in a few ruts. We don't like change. But it happens all the time no matter how hard we try to fight it. And it's TIME! We used to have Millers, then Eisers, now ERS and WeatherBeeta ... Ariat was a small company...THINGS change! I am really looking forward to going to Orlando and hope every one else will too. Why does the biggest English market have to be in the Northeast? The Southeast is much more appealing!

And then there was this ...

Have you ever been in Florida in August? You can't even breathe! The humidity will stop your lungs. I guess that will be OK, especially if you are really going to be inside, in an air-conditioned building actually spending money for your shop. I think January is excellent. Air tickets can get a wee bit pricey and hard to get that time of year. Seems all the northerners are trying to thaw out down there. All in all, I have avoided the winter Stanley/KOP for years after spending 14 hours driving a six-hour drive home in a snow storm once.

We asked whether this blog should contain rumors we've heard or only confirmed information. Here's what one reader had to say:

Yes, I would like to know the rumors. We can always wait to hear the truth but it is more fun to guess about what is about to happen. The Indy Market was once the best in the Midwest. Dennis Finn and the others kept that show going from 1981 to about 1998. Then some of the new era reps decided that their cost was too much so they reduced their expenses by moving this show futher away from a major city that would draw from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentrucky, Michigan and Tennessee. I would guess that their expenses are so low that now their incomes have also dropped ... now we have no Indy Market. So let the rumors fly and tell what you know. I know that if the market comes back to Indy, you will see a lot of old and new faces there.

And to quote Walter Cronkite, "That's the way it is ..."

March Madness Driving You Mad

Does it seem like things are getting done more slowly than ever in your shop these days? It may be the impact of March Madness. According to one study, the NCAA men's college basketball tournament costs businesses in the United States almost $4 billion annually in lost productivity.

While your employees are reviewing bracket sheets, they're not reviewing the 100 other things that need to be done. Employees organizing and monitoring betting pools, scouring the Web for updates and even watching games on company time are running up quite a tab, productivity-wise.

For years now, business gurus have been telling us to make the work-place fun. Well, as you can see from the numbers amassed by the outplacement consultancy firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., fun comes with a price tag.

To lessen the impact, labor consultants recommend estbalishing a particular spot in break rooms where this activity is allowed -- on breaks. Those office betting pools where money changes hands? They're probably illegal in your state and should be discouraged.

March Madness isn't the only productivity drain out there. Any office setting where employees have access to the Internet has the potential to become a black hole for talent and time.

There's a fine balance between being the Grinch and keeping a keen eye on the bottom line. While no one suggests you rule your shop with an iron fist, it's up to you to see that things like March Madness don't drive you mad.

Coffee Wars

If you're near a Starbucks this morning, you can get a free cup of coffee between 10 a.m. and noon. It's part of a promotion to counter McDonald's release of their new high-octane coffee. Let the coffee wars begin! Maybe a two-dollar latte is in our future.

Some of you reading this are old enough to remember when a cup of coffee meant Folgers or Maxwell House. Today, the market has gone designer. Here at work, we drink Gevalia. Well, it helps that they threw in a free coffee pot for signing up to buy their coffee, a good marketing move.

Every equine retail shop I've ever been in has had the coffee brewing, strong and black. It just seems to be a natural fit ... the smell of leather and the smell of coffee equals "tack shop" for me anyway.

Do you serve coffee to your customers? If you don't, you should consider it.

There are even companies within our industry that can supply coffee for your store or you can go out to a roasting house and have your own brand produced.

That's what the folks at Hamley's in Pendleton, Ore., did. I don't think I've ever had better coffee anywhere (including the haute coffee houses). You can buy it in the store in Pendleton and I think their plan was to have it available on their Web site at some point.

Of course, you don't really need the expensive stuff to serve in your store. Just about any coffee will do, as long as it's hot and offered with a friendly smile. It's amazing how something so simple builds customer loyalty.

It's just one more way to make your store a destination -- a place where someone would want to come, hang out and shop, instead of shopping online.

Retailers Make Markets Successful

An awful lot has been said about markets and trade shows over the past few months. Most of you already know all the stores. What you may not know is that there are several more people out there attempting to put markets together. Eventually, as a good friend of mine says, it's going to be like "carving up a Twinkie with a chain saw." How many slices of the pie can we make here?

While I certainly don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to live their dream -- after all, that's what America is all about -- I do think that everyone so far in the mix seems to have forgotten one thing.

You can get as many vendors committed to a location as you want, but if you don't have the retailers showing up to buy from them, a market will never be a successful. Retailers are the missing link.

To that end, I'd like to ask: How many retailers have been polled by anyone currently trying to establish a market? Does anyone care what the retailers think or have the trade show organizers and vendors simply taken the attitude that if they build it, they will come?

To our knowledge, no one has yet polled the English retailers of the United States to ask them where THEY would like to go to attend a market.

As near as I can judge from the hundreds of retailers I speak with, the frustration level is high, and many are simply saying: "We're not going to anyone's market, we'll just stay home." English retailers are also becoming more numerous at the WESA Denver Market.

I had this discussion yesterday with another industry colleague. Why couldn't WESA host one big market that would be both? Perhaps it could run eight days. The first four days would be devoted to Western. The second four days to English. Retailers who stock both could come for two days of one and two days of another or whatever combination suits their needs.

No one does a better job of working with retailers than WESA. Whether the current venue for the Denver Market could accommodate such a move would have to be analyzed, but it's a big city ... surely something could be worked out.

Whether it be Orlando or Atlantic City or Indianapolis or Kanasas City, a market isn't going to make it unless folks show up to buy. Wouldn't it seem common sense to ask their opinion?

Horse at the window

Did you watch ABC's "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" last night? If you don't watch anything else on television, you should make a point to see this show.

It is probably the most redeeming thing to be broadcast since "The Beverly Hillbillies."

The show scours the country to select a family that's in need of a home makeover. Last night's edition featured a pastor's family in Oklahoma. The husband had died and when they were forced out of the parsonage, they really had no place to live.

In steps ABC and voila, a 5,000 square-foot home complete with bedrooms for each child and a chapel is built.

One of the daughters is interested in horses and ranching, so her room was done in Western style. It was quite beautiful. And as a surprise, ABC had a horse waiting outside her window. They had also built a barn and a beautiful place to keep it.

What great exposure for horses and all things horsey! I'm always thrilled when someone else discovers horses and riding. And when they do it on national television, well that's even better!

Kent Checks In

For months, the entire equine trade industry has been waiting to see what Kent Hopper would do now that he had resigned from Stanley Expositions. This morning, we know. Read the story here.

Hardly anyone thought for a minute that starting another market wasn't Kent's plan, but I don't think too many figured he'd start two, particularly one so close to an existing market. If Hopper is successful, either the Atlanta Market or the Indy Market could be in serious jeopardy. Perhaps both.

To his credit, Kent didn't decide to go head-to-head with Stanley Expositions in the Atlantic City area. That would have created a mess many of us have already lived through. Hopefully, the other entities looking at starting markets will be discouraged by this announcement.

Can the industry handle four new markets each year? The jury is out. Certainly competition is healthy for all concerned, but how far can the dollars vendors and retailers have to spend on trade shows in our industry be stretched?

Personally, I'm looking forward to going to Orlando in the dead of winter and escaping the cold and snow of Minnesota. I think a lot of people will think accordingly. Many of us didn't understand why Stanley Expositions didn't move from Ft. Washington, Pa., to Orlando in the first place.

For me personally and for the magazine, the feelings are mixed. For years, we worked with Kent and Morey Stein as one entity, the Heckle and Jeckle of trade shows, the Tom and Jerry of trade shows. We grew to appreciate and enjoy the friendship of both.

Now with them as competitive entities, we clearly will strive to continue to provide whatever assistance, help and coverage each market needs to be successful. We wish Kent the best in his new endeavor.

www.nobody

For the nearly five years I have been part of the equine trade industry, I've been hearing retailers and manufacturers tell me that online-only tack, apparel, etc. stores are bad, bottom-feeders, unfair competition and a few choice names I wouldn't share in a family-rated blog.

Similar scorn was reserved for those who operate mobile-only sales units. Sometimes, one entity qualifies for double-bashing, since they operate online and out of a trailer.

While I have all the sympathy in the world for traditional retailers in our industry and consider myself their foremost defender, I have to wonder whether we've not pushed the matter a bit too far.

Here's an example. I had a poignant email from an Internet-only retailer a few weeks back who did an admirable job of explaining the differences and similarities between her operation and a more traditional store.

When I contacted her to get permission to use her name and publish her comments, she refused, saying she feared reprisals. Reprisals? What is this, "The Sopranos?" She was dead serious.

We don't generally let people hide if they've got something valid to say. Our readers have a right to know who's making allegations and whose opinion is being expressed. But the thought that someone in our industry was afraid to speak out -- and sign his or her name -- because of fear frankly made me ill.

The stories of manufacturers selling to a retailer only to find out they're online only and then pulling the plug have been heard many times. The stories of consumers coming into a brick-and-mortar to try on clothing and find correct sizes and then ordering the same items online for less also out there. I just heard that one again last weekend.

Somehow in all of this discord I can't help but think there's room enough for everyone. A brick-and-mortar operator can very easily add the online retail channel and compete in that fashion.

There has to be a reason (other than price) that the online-only merchants survive and flourish, even the ones who use Ebay as their online portal. Apparently, it's what at least a segment of the buying public wants.

It's fine to have an opinion and even a strong opinion on topics like this, but there's a fine line that can easily be crossed into intimidation and fear and that's not something the equine industry should tolerate or condone.

Losing Our History

This week, those of us in Minnesota and baseball fans across the globe are mourning the death of Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. He was beloved for his smile and his love the game. Although his image wasn't completely untarnished, he found a warm spot in the hearts of the Norwegians, Swedes and Germans of Minnesota (not an easy thing to do!).

With his untimely death, a large body of knowledge and insight into the world of baseball disappeared forever. There's probably enough on-the-record quotes from Kirby to get a good idea of where he was coming from, but not a full accounting.

The same thing happens when some from the equine industry passes away. Their knowledge and take on things also disappears and we are made lesser by it.

For some time now, a group of us have been batting around the idea of an equine trade industry oral history project. In its most pure form, we'd take a tape recorder to some of the stalwarts in our industry and record several hours of their personal thoughts. Then we'd produce and catalog them and maybe even put something in written form one day.

Each time someone whose knowledge and insight I have benefitted from personally passes, I get that sense of urgency about this project. Then it just seems to fall onto the list of things to do "someday ... when there's nothing else to do." We all know that day never comes.

We've already lost a number of people in our industry who would have been perfect candidates for the oral history project. Maybe it's time to move this to the top of the "to do" list.

Remembering Iowa

This past weekend, my wife and I made quick trip to Des Moines, Iowa, where I conducted an interview with our featured retailer for an upcoming edition of Tack 'n Togs and then we had a mini vacation. I won't give away the secret and tell you who we profiled, but I will say that if have an interest in the equine trade industry, you won't want to miss this piece.

Iowa has always amazed me. We lived there for a short time while I attempted to poke a weekly newspaper out of the ash heap (and didn't succeed). Although I grew up in nearby North Dakota, I had never spent any great amount of time in Iowa.

About all I knew about Iowans I learned from Meridith Wilson and Prof. Harold Hill. "We can stand touching noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye ... but we'll give you our shirt and a back to go with it if your crops should happen to die."

"But what the heck, you're welcome, join us at the picnic. You can have your fill of all the food you bring yourself. You really ought to give Iowa a try. Provided you are contrary."

Wilson was poking fun at Iowans long before Garrison Keillor was skewering Minnesotans. There's a thread of authenticity in Wilson's words. Iowans certainly have a way about them that sometimes makes you wonder whether you're about to be slugged or whether they really like you.

To conduct business among these folks, you have to be one of them. "Not fancy or fine," just one of them.

Maybe that's not unique to Iowa. Most retailers I know who are successful do a good job of being "one of them" no matter where they grew up or what their background. It's all part of the idea that customers don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Traveling to Iowa, even a city as large as Des Moines, is always a good reminder for us of how accustomed we've become to living in the big city. Despite its roughly 200,000 inhabitatants, the city comes off more as a large small town than a metropolis. I suspect that's intentional.

For us, when we get out of the vortex of the Twin Cities -- with its restaurants on every corner and a shopping center every two miles and busy centers of commerce -- we go through withdrawal.

That lack of buzz may be why Iowa has as much difficulty as it has keeping its college graduates down on the farm. Many of them were following us home Sunday afternoon, back to the continual hum of the Twin Cities.

Different strokes for different folks.

Tuning Up

We spend the winter riding in the indoor arena to avoid the cruddy weather. By this time of the year, both horse and rider are sick of the indoor and long to be out in the open air.

My American Quarter Horse, Jack, put on quite a bit of weight this winter. My travel schedule meant he went weeks at a time without being ridden, while parking himself beside the round bail feeder. When I have ridden, I've been a little lax. I'm usually tired. He's fat and huffing and puffing. Geez, I don't want the old guy to have a heart-attack.

So over the last couple rides, his behavior has gotten progressively worse. He'll try something and I'm too out of it to catch it and correct him, so he gets away with it and files that away in the pea-size horse brain for future reference.

It's amazing how many bad habits a horse can pick up in a short period of time if you allow it. Refusing to stop. Changing gaits whenever he feels like it. Refusing to turn or go forward.

Last night, I decided it was time to begin the spring tune-up process before things deteriorated beyond my control. I strapped on my chaps, attached my spurs and clamped my helmet on extra-tight.

The first signs of bad behavior were met with instant and swift response on my part. Boing! Ears went up. Head went up. Tail went up. Amazing how good he can listen when given a reason to listen.

Fortunately, Jack is at heart a very good horse and very eager to please, so once he figured it out, it became a game. You could feel the anticipation in him when he figured "canter" was the next cue. A flick of the heel and he was off. Two nights before I had to smack him with the end of a rein to get him to canter.

Jack even did something he's never been able to accomplish before. A complete 180-degree turn on his haunches in one big leap! He was quite proud of himself.

When it was over, he was soaked in sweat and I wasn't much drier. I gave him plenty of time to cool off and dry out, brushing every inch of his body, worked his tail and mane. He got an extra ration of grain later. All was well with the world.

Driving home from the barn, I couldn't help think about how many of us need an occasion session of Spring tune-up. I know I do. On occasion, I have to take a spur to my side (or have my wife do it for me!) and jump into high gear. And just like Jack, each time I do, I discover I can do something that I never thought I could do before.

Amazing what you can learn from a horse.

The Rumor Mill

Blogging is kind of a mixed bag for an old-school journalist like me. For the past 30 years I've been trained to give dispassionate accounts of things, confirmed by as many sources as possible and presented in as unbiased a fashion as possible.

Blogging, however, seems to be more about just spilling your guts in stream of consciousness fashion, whether it's based on fact, fiction or something else.

A situation I often find myself in as editor of Tack 'n Togs Magazine is rumor control. Obviously, we don't want to fan the fires, but we want our readers to be informed. Sometimes, we are accused of holding back on information folks in the industry consider "gospel" that we haven't had a method of independently confirming.

Such is the case regarding the market situation on the East Coast this morning. As many of you know, the Stanley KOP show moved to Atlantic City and became Stanley Atlantic City. Kent Hopper, a former Stanley higher-up, quit the company and according to many reports, is in the process of attempting to start his own market.

In addition there are at least two other organizations actively pursuing trade shows on the East Coast. I suppose if they all come to pass, we could have three new markets to deal with twice each year.

So here's where the difficulty comes in for me. I have some very reliable information on the situation but at this point, all unconfirmed. So do I wait until we have the full story and then print it here, or do I share what I've heard -- with the information clearly labeled "not gospel?"

Waiting means we probably will get it right, but someone may beat us to the punch.

The last time I was in a similar situation was the night of the 2000 Presidential elections. I was on the desk (which means I was in charge of every word that went into the Wednesday morning edition) as the Associated Press, CNN and others began declaring first Gore then Bush then Gore then Bush the winner.

With the presses ready to roll and the production manager breathing down my neck, I finally went with "Too Close to Call." Seemed benign enough but it could have very easily become the worst headline of my life, were something major to surface between the midnight release and the next morning when everyone sat down to read the newspaper. For that reason, a number of my brethren in the newsroom were advocating we call it one way or the other.

You'll remember something similar happened with the mine accident in West Virginia when a number of newspapers ran with headlines declaring all the miners had been rescued and were safe. That wasn't true, of course.

So I'll leave it up to a vote of those who read this blog. If you'd like to be privy to what I know, with the caveat that it's strictly blog fodder and not "gospel," or if you'd like to have us avoid the rumor mill and only report what we have confirmed, look over to the bottom right where it says "comments." Click there and send me your comments.

I'll give it a couple days and then address the subject again.

Spring is Springing

March 1 is always a milestone in the life of the chosen frozen who live on the tundra in Minnesota. Although this has been a mild winter, we always breathe a sigh of relief on March 1 that old man winter will soon be locked back into hibernation, the air will warm, the snow (what little we have) will melt and the sun will shine again.

For those of us who ride, there's a heady sense of adventure in the air. For months now, we've been cooped up inside of indoor arenas, and both horse and rider are becoming weary of the routine. There's only so many circles you can practice before you begin yearing for the great outdoors.

I don't complain too loudly, mind you, because I know there are people in our part of the world who don't have access to indoors. Personally, I don't think I'd be able to live through winter without the outlet riding provides.

But one day soon, we'll swing open the big door on the barn and head out into the fields and forests, trails and tunnels that provide the challenge and excitement for both horse and rider.

For equine retailers, spring also means gearing up for the onslaught of consumers looking for such things as clippers. Several month's worth of hair growth has to be trimmed away. This is especially important for people who show their horses.

Clippers are often a sore spot for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers in our industry. Many have told me that the price they're quoted to purchase them wholesale is often less than what consumers pay retail on Web sites and in catalogs. Clipper makers say there isn't much they can do about the pricing practices of Web site and catalog operators.

Two years ago, I discovered a day before I needed my horse all trimmed and ship-shape that my trusty clipper had committed suicide over the winter. I rushed off to the closest tack store to get a new one, only to discover the shelves bare. So I rushed to the next shop. Same story.

Finally ended up borrowing one from a friend and then ordered one online, sorry to admit. My personal practice is to purchase from traditional tack and saddle shops, but if it's not possible, I'll take another route.

This year, I trust retailers will have a full stock of clippers, shampoos, and all the other things we horsey people tend to need when the calendar page turns from February to March. Now, let's get ready to ride!