Have you ever rented a Zipcar, booked an Airbnb, or taken an Uber ride? If you’re nodding yes, then you have taken part in the ‘sharing economy’. The sharing economy is an economic model defined as a peer-to-peer (P2P) based activity of acquiring, providing, or sharing access to goods and services that is often facilitated by a community-based online platform.
So, if we can share cottages, homes, trailers, equipment, rides and more, why not horses?
The internet drives the success of the sharing economy and this model has recently been evident in the horse racing industry via Fractional Ownership, which we could also call Horse Sharing.
LandMark Racing Stables, Ownastandardbred.com and Thestable.ca are examples and they have addressed one of the key factors that has been a barrier to entry for racehorse ownership for many - cost.
Before the launch of these types of groups, racehorse ownership was something that wasn’t really affordable to many and it was also fairly intimidating if you knew nothing about the process, or how to find a trainer, etc. The industry really didn’t have an “entry level” program for prospective owners until groups like this started forming...you were either ‘all in’ or a spectator.
These ‘horse sharing’ groups have models that make racehorse ownership affordable for many. The financial rewards might not be as great but neither are the losses. However, the rewards, or most importantly, the experience of owning the horse in a group can be exactly the same as owning a horse by yourself...or some may argue, much better! The horse sharing groups tend to focus on ‘the experience’ and go out of their way to educate and inform their owners and help them have fun, a lot of fun! Open houses, workshops, video streams of horses training, trips to major racing events, group dinners at the tracks; all of these seem to be a big part of being in a horse sharing group!
The “Horse Sharing” groups have the power and the opportunities to introduce horse racing and racehorse ownership to entirely new groups of people – people who want a hobby to share with their family or with friends or a group, people who want to meet other like minded people, and of course, people who are just plain horse crazy!
Let’s not forget, the industry will always have the major players that prefer to own their own horses, or just have a couple of partners on their horses.
But, we can’t underestimate the power of Horse Sharing. It has the ability to be the gateway to the industry, grow the industry, and create new racing fans and horse owners from a much wider audience than the industry has ever known. It can also rekindle the interest of racehorse ownership from past owners who exited the industry for financial reasons.
In the end, it’s the power of the horse that sells horse racing and racehorse ownership, and it doesn’t matter if you own 1% or 100% of the animal, you’ve always got 100% of the experience!
If you are interested in learning about racehorse ownership, join us at Horse Ownership 101, on Friday, October 18, at the Agriplex in London, Ontario in conjunction with the London Selected Yearling Sale that weekend. We’ll give you the opportunity to learn about racehorse ownership from three fractional ownership groups –LandMark Racing Stable, Ownastandardbred.com, and Thestable.ca.
This free workshop is sponsored by Ontario Lottery and Gaming and Ontario Racing. There are a limited number of seats available. To reserve your seat at this FREE workshop, email [email protected] or contact Kathy at Standardbred Canada at (905) 853-3060 x 207. The deadline to register is October 16.
The views presented in Trot Blogs are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Standardbred Canada.