Perthshire horse rider Karen Inkster created her business Equine Unlimited to help people better understand horses.
The Dunkeld woman uses positive reinforcement training and promotes barefoot and bitless riding and techniques.
This allows owners and riders to seek the best possible relationship with their horse without the use of dominance, force or pain.
Equine Unlimited runs courses covering a range of topics from clicker training and trimming horses’ feet, to packing for overnight camping in the hills with your horse.
Karen caught up with our business reporter Maria Gran this week.
How and why did you start in business?
I bought the land in 2020, a week before the first Covid lockdown.
It’s taken a couple of years to get things going so this is my first year of trading.
I started the business to try and raise awareness of equine welfare.
Sadly many horses are kept in unnatural environments, where they do not have the basic needs an equine requires: friends, freedom and foraging.
How did you get to where you are today?
I took on a rescue horse, Connie, with behavioural issues six years ago.
After spending a fortune on vet bills trying to find out why she behaved in such a way I realised it wasn’t pain related.
I started looking at positive reinforcement training such as no use of whips, spurs, bits in their mouths and no fear or punishment.
My mare taught me so much about equine behaviour and how we generally keep and train horses and made me want to improve what I did with my horses and share my knowledge and skills.
Who has helped you along the way?
My mum is my rock, despite not being horsey and having to collect me from hospital more times than I care to remember after horse related injuries.
She is always there for me.
Alan from GrowBiz, who is my mentor has always been a huge help and I often ask him questions or seek his advice, I couldn’t have set up the business without the help from GrowBiz.
What was your biggest mistake?
Thinking trying to put in a planning application would be easy!
What is your greatest achievement to date?
Seeing happier horses and empowering owners to look at alternative ways of training horses that don’t involve fear, force or discomfort.
How has Covid impacted your business?
I’ve been very fortunate that it hasn’t really.
What do you hope to achieve in the future?
My wish is to improve equine welfare by helping people understand horses better.
Horses are herd animals, they need company, they need to be able to roam around and find food and have room to explore with their friends.
We can also choose to use positive reinforcement methods, which means horses learn without fear or discomfort.
It leads to a much more balanced and happy horse, and therefore a better relationship with their owner.
Do you want to recruit in the future?
I have some part time help at the moment, but hoping in the next couple of years to be able to recruit one or two members of staff to help.
What is the hardest thing about running your own business?
The time it takes to keep all your balls in the air all at once. I often wish I could clone myself.
Any advice to wannabe entrepreneurs?
o it. But be prepared for lots of hard work, don’t give up at the first, or second hurdle, if you have a dream and the drive to do it, then you can do anything!
How do you relax?
Relax? I don’t understand the question and don’t have time to Google it!
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