INNISFAIL, Alta. – Geoff Hoar has found the best of both worlds by turning his love of horses into a paying proposition.
“When I’m checking cows in the summer time, I think, I’m getting paid to ride this horse and I’m getting paid to graze these cows; this isn’t so bad,” he said.
The horse trainer and showman was named Alberta’s 2009 outstanding young farmer, a choice he found interesting because he is not a traditional farmer. Rather, he sells the western lifestyle and recreation.
“I sometimes deal in an industry where it doesn’t have to make sense. Guys who have show horses and keep them in training don’t go around on their property and chase cows. It’s an investment. Some people have Ski-Doos, some have horses,” he said. “I tap more into the recreational side of things, but I do sell ranch horses.”
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He is the fourth generation of an Alberta farm family, growing up on a mixed operation south of Innisfail, where horses and cattle were always present.
He graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in agricultural economics, and though he held various jobs, he was always seeking an opportunity to work with horses.
In 2003, he started to develop a bare quarter-section of land across the road from his family’s farm by clearing space for a riding arena, stables and corrals.
The place is so new his shelter belt consists of 1,000 twigs poking out of snow banks. Manure and shavings from the stalls and corrals are composted and spread on the farm. Spring and seasonal runoff is collected in a nearby dugout.
He has about 30 horses on the place where he and three staff members train them for ranch work, rodeo and competitions. He also raises cattle, which he uses to train horses to work livestock. In summer, he runs a custom rotational grazing program for yearling cattle.
“We are not just using the cattle to harvest grass; we are using them in the training operation as well,” he said.
“Here I am getting paid to ride a horse out and move cows and the people love it because the horses are doing what they wanted them to do,” he said.
Hoar has won the Canadian supreme and world championships for working cow horses, but a serious foot injury last year sidelined him from competition. He slowed his workload and is now almost fully recovered.
Besides training and clinics, he hosts shows in his indoor and outdoor arenas.
The indoor arena has a high ceiling, good lighting and treated soil to prevent dust and mould from flying into riders’ and horses’ lungs. He learned the importance of clean soil after contracting a serious illness from breathing mould while training animals.
He also started a biosecurity program where new horses are quarantined for a week and receive two-way vaccinations and deworming treatments to prevent communicable diseases.
Regular foot and dental care are also provided because he works with young, growing horses that need to be brought along gently.
As a new businessman, Hoar has been forced to learn how to market his stables, write business plans, provide insurance policies for himself, staff and clients and keep the cash flowing.
So far the business has been by word of mouth and has built up slowly and steadily.
Like every person in agriculture with a commodity or service to sell, marketing is the hardest part, he said.
“Marketing and public relations are the worst thing horse trainers are known for. We know how to make the product and train the horse but the next part is difficult.”
His business plan is to offer a variety of horses that fit into different profiles. If a horse does not fit a particular discipline, it can be moved to where it works better.
With that versatility, Hoar has built a business of trust where clients tell him what kind of horse they are looking for and what they want from the training program.
“If you are good at what you do, you keep getting horses,” he said. “If I won the lottery, this is what I’d be doing.”