A recreational horse facility in Chatham is pleased with the recent provincial funding to help horse businesses but says more could have been done.
Terry Jenkins, owner of TJ Stables, said she doesn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth but the ceiling of $20,000 at $2,500 per horse will only take care of eight horses and her business needs to operate with a minimum of 15 horses to keep trotting. Jenkins is pleased the provincial government is listening to their pleas and added the money is welcome, but wished the qualifications for funding would have been "on a sliding scale to the size of the operation" to truly help TJ Stables.
The province is supporting horse businesses affected by COVID-19 with up to $3 million to keep animals safe and cover maintenance costs. Jenkins had to sell 20 horses last spring because of the shut down but was able to survive the hardship until restrictions were lifted with the generosity of the community. Jenkins admitted she felt defeated when the pandemic hit and thought she was going to lose 35 years of her life's work until the community stepped up with private donations.
"The spring shutdown was unexpected but we were better prepared this winter," she said. "Our supporters saw the value in what we do at TJ Stables and the service we provide for special needs children and adults thru our 'Acceptional Riders' Program and the joy we bring to the community. They saw that we are more than just a pony ride place. We are a healing place and all the other stuff we do here helps sustain the Therapeutic Riding Program and contributes to the community well being."
Jenkins said the business has had to pivot because of COVID-19 to appeal to smaller same bubble groups. She said school trips and bus tours have been replaced by Experiential Farm tours where a family can come and visit the farm animals, collect eggs, harvest in the garden, and ride ponies. She said you can't keep a cowgirl down and TJ Stables will definitely come out the other side of this.
"We are grateful to our giving community for the amazing support. We also appreciate the guidance we have been given by the Chatham Kent Tourism, Southwestern Ontario Tourism, Ontario Tourism and the Indigenous Tourism Ontario, for showing us the value in what we have to offer. It changed our perspective from being in the horse business to the reality that we contribute to tourism in our community and guided us through that mental transition and opened our eyes to a completely different market," Jenkins said.
Horse experience businesses will be eligible for funding if they earned at least 50 per cent of their revenue in 2019 from horse experience activities, their 2020 revenue was less than half of what was earned in 2019 due to the pandemic, and they prove they are facing hardship as a result of COVID-19 that will make it difficult to care for the horses.
“Animal care is not cheap, and this pandemic hasn’t been easy on anyone,” said Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls. “This funding will help many horse related businesses stay on track and maintain animal care costs to be ready when they’re able to open back up."
