The Relaunch

The idea for the Tennessee Equestrian came about because I needed a place to board my horse overnight during a 15 hour trip that would have us dividing the state from East to West. I searched the internet for days and the closest overnight boarder I could find was in Missouri and just two hours away from our destination which wasn't going to help my horse with stifle problems one bit.


Oh, I had found an on-line directory but it was one page long and that page wasn't full. It listed a few breeders, a few trainers, one farrier and several trailer lots but no overnight boarding. I finally managed to find an overnight boarder and they were five minutes from my own barn door. So, we made the 15 hour trip without stopping and my horse fared just fine luckily but I wasn't a happy camper. For a large portion of that trip, I was thinking about a way to remedy this problem. I realized that from the moment I'd brought home my first horse, I'd had a difficult time locating the services and products that I needed for her care and I'd too often had to rely upon often unreliable word-of-mouth advice.


One day after I'd returned home, I was listening to a web broadcast...horse related of course....and there was a fellow who'd put together a web directory of boarding barns and overnight boarding barns all across Canada. I was inspired and I thought, how difficult could this be; this fellow covered an entire country from ocean to ocean and all I want to do is one state.


That was two years ago and the idea has grown and evolved. I officially started working on the guide this time last year. The plan at that time was to sell ads and listings to horse businesses and then give the guide away to horse owners at stores, shows and events across the state. Not only was that an extremely ambitious plan which was costing me, as an individual taking on this task, too much time and money to try and fulfill but most of my efforts to sell listings and ads were met with, "I'd love to be in the guide but I just don't have the funds to spare right now for advertising." After working through the Summer season with little to show for it but an ever dwindling checking account, I decided to call it quits. I didn't however totally give up on the idea; it was still sitting on a back burner simmering. About a month ago, I took it off the fire and stirred it up.

I came up with a new plan, one that I thought would benefit everyone. First by charging for listings, I was losing the very businesses that I'd set out to help, small businesses like my own that didn't have the means or funds to advertise. So, the first change was, FREE LISTINGS. I also realized that there were hundreds, thousands of great horse businesses and products online that weren't made in Tennessee but would still appeal to or help the Tennessee horse owner. So, second change, add a Web Shopping section for all of the great horse products, shops, services and clinics out there in cyber world. Finally, I realized that, if I made a guide that was as great and comprehensive as I wanted this one to be, people would be willing to pay for it because it would be a useful reference that they'd turn to again and again. So, there will now be a charge for the guide but I'm currently working on ways to keep that cost affordable and also make the guide a reference that people will really want to own and even display in their homes because I hope it will be beautiful as well as useful.

A week ago, I officially launched the Tennessee Equestrian again with all of the changes in place. The response has been phenomenal! I'm getting lots of new listings and fans on Facebook every day but I still need your help. Those listings are FREE so start sending in info on your own business or businesses you use and love as a horse owner. Click on this link to fill out an easy form (You don't have to fill in all categories unless you want to. Just a name and the town the business is in with a brief description will be fine if you don't have the rest of the information or if you or the business you are recommending are online, a web address and email are all that's needed.) or email me (grayhorsedesigns@bellsouth.net) with listing followed by the business name in the subject line. Thank you all so much for all of the input and help you've already given me. I'm putting this guide together for every horse owner and every horse business in the state of Tennessee. I think that is very much needed and will benefit all of us who own, work with and love horses. Visit our new Tennessee Equestrian web site today and send in those listings....remember ALL LISTINGS ARE FREE!