Greenhawk was founded, and is owned by someone I absolutely disrespect. Someone who bullies smaller start-ups that may become a burgeoning business. I realize their franchises are owned and run by individuals, but on principle I avoid shopping there.
3 Likes
I don’t know much about GH head office, as I am in the West. But absolutely they are the Canadian franchise equivalent to Dover in the USA.
They have their own house brands of everything, moderate quality. They have huge sales instore and online and obviously are able to out advertise and undersell the locally owned feed and tack stores even on name brand things like wormers and supplements.
I don’t like their saddles, strap goods, saddle pads, or house brand breeches, or the lines of leather care and supplements they carrybut have used their generic animalintex, brushes, and bought name brand wormers on discount, and Ariat boots online and instore.
But there’s not much at GH for me now that I’m set up. I shop second hand for most tack, and tend to get grooming products and ingestibles at the feed stores when I’m buying grsin, since they tend to have lower prices and overhead than the tack stores.
Anyhow I’m sure you don’t become a market dominant low end franchise nationally in an industry that’s traditionally individual small business without some fairly aggressive “market positioning” and without driving some of those individual businesses to the wall.
3 Likes
Hi everyone, sorry for the late reply, I got busy for a few days.
Thanks to those who advised I judge the products I’m buying by their quality and price instead of completely throwing those considerations away to buy from someone who’s a minority, that’s definitely what I planned on doing. 
To those who wondered if the gender/nationality/sexuality/background/political views (religion was not actually mentioned, btw, I said I wanted to avoid conservatives, but it’s telling about Guilherme that they assumed) of those selling the products I’m buying are actually that important, yes, they are. Like Periwinkle said, big brands don’t get big because they have the best intentions for their customers, or the best business policies, or the best products. Well, sometimes they get there because they have the best products, but they have the best products because they have the necessary money, connections, and resources by virtue of the owner’s privilege that comes with being straight, white, upper class, male etc.
I would like to support businesses that got where they are without part or all of that privilege, because I’ve gotten to where I am without part of that privilege, too.
I also understand that it’s not possible to tell whether the owner of a company is LGBT unless they’re out. I was just curious about whether you all knew of people who are out with business you could recommend.
Thanks for the suggestions!
8 Likes
Well, many horse brands are probably fairly marginal and do less volume than you might think by the importance they have in our lives!
Some high end saddle companies grew out of 19th century family business and some were launched in the past 20 or 30 years by visible individuals. My guess is saddle making trends male.
I think women are more likely to find a niche in clothing. Ariat and Asmar were both started by women, and I am not sure about Arista.
In Canada of course an extra wrinkle is whether they are Canadian companies (even so unlikely to be made in Canada any more). Asmar is Canadian, but is expensive with a limited range, and Arista just got bought up by Americans.
Scleese is Canadian started by a German man, and you either love or hate their product 
and marketing.
Ogilvy is Canadian but I know nothing about the company.
But really how big can most equestrian companies get, given how few folks buy a new saddle in any given year?
2 Likes
I am really confused how someone being LGBT influences the kind of product they can offer.
I can promise you there are a lot of rich, white, gay men in business. The privilege comes an awful lot more from the “white and male” side of the equation than it does from the “gay” side.
And I do sense a chip on the shoulder about expensive horses and expensive shows. I hazard that Charlotte Jorst is not the average business owner.
11 Likes
Feels does not equal reals. I take offence that you must think that the Middle Class (which I am cause I worked hard to be), Straight (I’m straight), Cis gender (what?) Conservative (a lot of people ride and own horse businesses that come from all political backgrounds), white (you’re being racist here) own all the tack stores.
15 Likes
Religion was mentioned because it’s one of the many irrelevancies in making business decisions. It was not meant to stand out, stand down, or stand up, or stand for anything but another irrelevant category.
Spend your money where you want to for what ever reason you want to. If you decide to tell others why you did, or challenge other to do like wise, then you open the field for discussion.
G.
7 Likes
Schneider is a family owned business.
And may I remind you that these big companies do employ lots of people from different horizons?
yeah I had to look that one up…
German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch used the neologism cissexual (zissexuell in German) in a peer-reviewed publication. In his 1998 essay “The Neosexual Revolution”, he cites his two-part 1991 article “Die Transsexuellen und unser nosomorpher Blick” (“Transsexuals and our nosomorphic view”) as the origin of the term.[SUP][3][/SUP] He also used the term in the title of a 1995 article, “Transsexueller Wunsch und zissexuelle Abwehr” (or: “Transsexual desire and cissexual defense”)
this whole thread is just a slap in the face by OP …if I had posted that my bakery didn’t want to sell them a cake then all hell would break out
2 Likes
Wow. That’s pretty offensive. You sound like those people who whine about how they never win at horse shows because the rich people can afford all the best horses and the best trainers and the best tack.
And I think your assumption that all those people are male is wrong. Ariat, Woof Wear, SmartPak, Kerrits, Neue Schule…all started by women. The list would grow if I was willing to spend more time looking stuff up.
You’re also ignoring the obvious. People who get into the business of manufacturing and selling equine products started out as horsemen and horsewomen. It’s pretty unlikely that a person who was never involved with horses would decide, out of the blue to start, oh, say, making and selling saddle pads. Look at Louise Woof, founder of Woof Wear, and Becky Minard, founder of SmartPak. (Female privilege?) They were inspired to develop their products because they were horsewomen who experienced a need in their own horse life.
So, what are the demographics of the equestrian world? According to the “Equine Megamarket Study:”
The average horse owner is a married female, age 35-54, with kids between the ages of 12 and 17. They also enjoy country music, hiking and outdoor activities, read lots of publications, and own cats and dogs.
The majority own multiple horses. Fourteen percent own one, twelve percent own 10 or more and the other 74 percent lie in between. Two thirds keep their horses on their own property. “They own property because they own horses,” Volk said. Twenty percent board their horses elsewhere.
If the owners of all those equine businesses are indeed straight, white, and upper class as you complain, well, what are the demographics of the group from which they are drawn?
12 Likes
This thread and this post in particular is the reason why I have no respect for the LBGTQ “movement”. The idea that everyone that isn’t like you is the “enemy” is supposed to be what they are fighting against. Isn’t that what they are fighting for equality? The idea that you intentionally want to ostracize people who aren’t like you disgusting. You are doing exactly what you don’t want done to your cause. I am a proud straight, white, middle class woman that didn’t have any privilege in starting my two companies. Especially since my companies are in male dominated fields. Instead of putting on the poor woe is me mouth I just focused on busting my a** being the best in my field.
20 Likes
Maybe off topic but wowszers what beautiful browbands!
Unfortunately I don’t think any of the purchases that I normally make are by suppliers that meet your criteria so I can’t offer recommendations… However since the other posts haven’t named many businesses in answer to your original question, I thought I would put up a list of some interesting things that have passed my view on the net lately from businesses owned by women or craftswomen. Perhaps if anyone else has made purchases from them, they can chime in with reviews either positive or negative. The quality on some of the western gear does not look inferior; rather it looks sadly out of my budget.
Western custom saddle maker and past recipient of a TCAA Scholarship, Anna Sever Saddlery: https://www.facebook.com/152465014866490/photos/a.152468004866191.30572.152465014866490/152475181532140/?type=3&theater
Custom rawhide leatherwork and past recipient of a TCAA Scholarship, JLN Leatherwork:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/JLN-Custom-Leatherwork-190357747768676/photos/?ref=page_internal
custom silver work, saddle plates, spurs, and bits: https://www.raymondsilverco.com/gallery/
Biothane Tack, Taylored Tack: http://www.tayloredtack.com/About_Us.htm
Horse Quencher: https://horsequencher.com/about-us/
riding tights, Crazy Legs Tights: https://www.instagram.com/crazylegstights/
custom chaps & half chaps, Turning Point Leather: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Turning-Point-Leather-144581495580585/posts/?ref=page_internal
fancy mohair cinches, girths, and breastplates, wildflower ranch: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mohaircustomcinches/photos/?ref=page_internal
custom western saddle blankets: http://www.lindahaydensaddleblankets.com/gallery.html
fine art prints and photography of champion racehorses, Bronwen Healy: http://bronwenhealy.com.au/winx-street-cry-vegas-showgirl/20171015-winx-altona-beach
helmet brims, Suntec: https://suntechats.com/about/
1 Like
That OP opened all lines of discussion here, not just a direct one to the question posed.
I would say, we need to support everyone’s right to do with their lives, time, energy and money as they wish, including the OP.
Saying that, the OP post quoted above is an example of fighting discrimination with more discrimination.
That is generally not a good idea, not in public or private lives.
Especially when the premise there, that certain business opportunities are only for certain people are not true, as those mentioned there are not.
If we want everyone’s rights upheld, we need to fight for EVERYONE’s rights, not put any one’s rights over the others, in the ways we think and act also.
It is also the sensible way to think and act.
Who needs any more division in their lives?
Then, everyone is also free to disagree, as is their right.
8 Likes
Also off topic but wow is the KJ Creations website abrasive. Full of expletives. Who runs a business like that?
2 Likes
If they are “out”, for me then the business is out for me… simply because I am interested in products not their lifestyle which they can do as they wish but if they are “out” then my association with their products makes me indirectly an advocate of their chosen lifestyle which I am not.
2 Likes
I saw two on the front page and taken in context they didn’t bother me. It seems to be geared towards eventers so maybe the “wild child” vibe works for them.
OP I understand where you’re coming from, I always look for small companies too, as well as companies that take an interest in the environment. I try to only buy personal products that have the leaping bunny logo (no animal testing).
Ah, the folks that pulled themselves up by their boot straps.
2 Likes
Although the OP was a bit clunky with the way she asked her question I don’t get the uproar from some of you. In my city we have some local districts which are chock full of minority or “out” business owners. It’s incredibly common to want to support these business owners in their endeavors and I can’t quite grasp why people are so offended that someone is asking for the same thing with horse stuff.
I also find it very sad the number of posters who have said that they would refuse to purchase products from a business who’s owner is publicly “out” since they think this means they support the whole gay thing. I guess I thought it was 2018. You buy things from people who are open with their straightness. Yet you refuse to buy things from people openly gay? Sounds like discrimination to me.
Or the posters who say that women business owners are a figure head and don’t actually do any of the work.
I guess all those requests that minorities pull themselves up by their boot straps are only valid until they do? Then we want them to shut up, hide their ethnicity, and get back in the closet.
The racist undertones are disgusting from those of you hiding under the veil of “reverse discrimination”
Supporting causes or people you believe in with your money isn’t reverse discrimination, suggesting that it is makes it pretty clear what kind of person you are.
17 Likes
I find that attributing success to privilege (I have to look up the spelling of that word EVERY TIME) is offensive. Running a business is hard work. Every. Single. Day.
13 Likes
