On the Job

Suzanne Donovan left the world of New York fashion to work in a barn in Naples. The new manager of Bobbin Hollow Equestrian Center in Naples began riding with Bobbin Hollow at age nine, when the 20-year-old operation was still in Amherst, Mass. She later became an equine surgical nurse—and then a Ford fashion model, fashion-design consultant and lingerie entrepreneur in New York City—before coming "home" to Bobbin Hollow this year.

What does your job at Bobbin Hollow entail?
My job as center manager involves all administrative work, running the lesson program, [creating concepts] and marketing, driving numbers up and keeping money coming in. I’m also an instructor, with a focus on dressage, [a style of riding].

What ages do you teach?
I have a roster of about 22 students of all ages. My oldest student is 72 and my youngest is three.

How do you come up with concepts and market the operation?
We accommodate our program and our curriculum toward the needs of different types of customers. We can accommodate the lesson rider, the show rider, the gal who just wants to buy a horse or the person who’s had an injury and is just now getting back on. We have students who don’t even ride; they just work on groundwork, [taking care of] the horses. I developed a whole program around that, because I don’t believe that people who love horses necessarily have to ride them, which is a slant that not a lot of barns take.

What are you doing to drive numbers up?
What we do—like any kind of commercial or retail environment—is offer people specials: the more you ride, the cheaper it is. We do the groundwork [horse-care program], which a lot of barns don’t do, which increases revenue greatly. We also do "a day at the barn" mentoring program where we allow children to shadow instructors and trainers for a daily fee. Through all of these programs, we’ve been able to increase revenue and numbers.