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Lead Out Collective Business Coaching & Advisory For Horse-Based Business

Take out the prize money.Take out the commissions.Take out the horse sales.Is your business still standing? 🐎That questi...
02/11/2026

Take out the prize money.
Take out the commissions.
Take out the horse sales.

Is your business still standing? 🐎

That question had most in the room thinking.

Anna Bennett, Partner Cooper Aitken, spoke openly and honestly about life as a business owner herself, and about what she sees separating the businesses that thrive from the ones that struggle.

A few highlights from yesterday’s lunch:

-Be kinder to yourself. Take the leap and back yourself.
-Pour your time and energy into your good people, and be brave enough to have the hard conversations with those who aren’t performing (sooner rather than later).
-Don’t bury your head. Know your numbers, and know them well.
-Cash really is king. In a horse-based business that’s not always easy, so understand how your core business runs with the non-guaranteed income taken out.
-The businesses that perform are resilient. They expect the ebbs and flows, and they treat the so-called failures as lessons.
-Make time to breathe and reflect. (The one thing Anna wished she’d done more of.)
-Surround yourself with the best team you possibly can.

A big thank you to Anna for being so generous with your story and your advice, to Prism for supporting the event ☕, Alpino for having us in such a great venue and Brittany Fowler Photography for her great snaps of the afternoon.

One more Business Beyond the Barn to go for 2026. Want a seat at the table? Comment BARN and we’ll send you the details.

Monday. Alpino. People. ☕This Monday we’re sitting down with Anna Bennett from CooperAitken. She’s spent 25 years helpin...
25/10/2026

Monday. Alpino. People. ☕

This Monday we’re sitting down with Anna Bennett from CooperAitken. She’s spent 25 years helping business owners turn plans into action, keep compliance sorted and actually understand their numbers.

She’s a trusted sounding board for business owners, and is one herself, so you’ll get the practical version, not the textbook one.

A few seats are left. If you’ve been meaning to get on top of your numbers “after the season”, this is your sign.

Mon 2 Nov · 11am to 12:30pm · Alpino, Cambridge

Still want in? DM us “BARN” before Monday 🐴

What’s the one accounting habit that makes the biggest difference?Anna Bennett is going to tell us. (And no, it’s not “j...
25/10/2026

What’s the one accounting habit that makes the biggest difference?

Anna Bennett is going to tell us. (And no, it’s not “just hand the shoebox of receipts to your accountant in March or June.”)

Anna is a Partner at CooperAitken in Matamata and has 25+ years in accounting. She has spent hours sitting beside racing, equestrian and agri-business owners while they work out where the money’s actually going.

Here’s what we’ll unpack together:

-Where your profit really goes
-How to manage cashflow through the lean months and the long wait between investment and return
-How to use your numbers to price with confidence and plan ahead
-Anna’s own lessons from running a business: what worked, and what she’d do differently

If you’ve ever looked at a busy season and wondered why the bank balance doesn’t match the effort, this one’s for you.

📍 Alpino Restaurant, Cambridge
🗓 Monday 2 November, 11am to 12:30pm

DM us “BARN” for your invite, or email [email protected]

Thanks to our friends at Prism for making these happen 🧡

So pleased to see Sam & Max enjoying many winners lately. They are a hard working couple who are always looking at ways ...
24/10/2026

So pleased to see Sam & Max enjoying many winners lately. They are a hard working couple who are always looking at ways to improve the horse side and the business side of VL Racing which should be celebrated - well done guys 👏👏👏

Business Beyond the Barn ✔️ What a morning.A brilliant, diverse group of women in the room today, plenty of laughs (as a...
05/10/2026

Business Beyond the Barn ✔️ What a morning.

A brilliant, diverse group of women in the room today, plenty of laughs (as always), and a whole lot of honest talk about the thing every horse business owner wrestles with: people.

Huge thanks to Kirsty Dallinger, our HR, change and transformation specialist, for sharing so generously.

A few of the takeaways that landed:

🐎 Be patient. The wrong hire costs far more than waiting for the right one.
🐎 Never interview alone. Always have a second set of eyes in the room.
🐎 Get crystal clear on the culture you're building before you hire into it.
🐎 People need real clarity on what good performance looks like.
🐎 When things get hectic, check in more, not less. Tell your team what's being done and where the finish line is.
🐎 Some of the worst hires are the ones we were sure would be the best.
🐎 You're probably the most efficient person in your business, so build in a buffer when you hand work over.
🐎 Know the unique proposition for every role, and be honest about it. What you promise has to match what you can deliver.

And honestly? That's not even all the highlights. There was SO much more offered in the room today. 🙌

A massive shout out to our sponsor 💛 If you haven't checked out their website lately, go and have a look. They've rolled out so many updates and keep finding new ways to help the farm team and the office work better together, so you can run the most efficient horse-based business possible.

If you don't already know about Prism, you need to. Whatever kind of horse business you run, go and find out about them. You can thank us later 😉

Stay tuned 👀 snippets of the interview with Kirsty are coming soon.

Quick question: what's been harder in your business lately – finding good people, keeping them, or getting everyone pull...
02/10/2026

Quick question: what's been harder in your business lately – finding good people, keeping them, or getting everyone pulling in the same direction?

(Be honest. We hear all three, a lot.)

That's why this Monday's Business Beyond the Barn is all about people, and why we're so excited to have Kirsty Dallinger joining us.

Kirsty is an HR, employment and change transformation expert, with decades of dairy farming experience and deep ties to the equestrian industry. She knows how rural and horse businesses really run. She's also open, real and genuinely innovative in her thinking, so don't expect a dry HR session. Expect an honest, practical conversation about workplaces, culture and what actually makes good people stay.

This one's for you if you have any kind of team and you're wanting to:
✔ attract the right people
✔ retain the good ones
✔ build a culture people want to be part of
✔ navigate a change in your business

🗓 Monday 5 October, 11am–12:30pm
📍 Alpino Restaurant, Cambridge

Want to come? DM us "Barn" with your email and we'll get your invite to you.

Know someone who's short-staffed, stretched or mid-restructure? Tag them, they'll thank you later.

Thanks to Prism once again for supporting the series, another great product you'll get to know more about on Monday 🧡

28/09/2026

Missed the last one?

This is your chance to make sure you don't do it again.

**Staff. Teams. Culture. We all deal with it and it can be extra challenging for horse-based businesses.**

This time, we’re joined by **Kirsty Dallinger**, bringing decades of HR and Employment Relations experience to the conversation. Practical insights, real-world experience and plenty to take away for managing people and building a great team.

📍 Cambridge
🕚 11am – 12.30pm

October 5, 2026

And once again you’ll get the chance to learn about Prism who are kindly putting on the coffee to ensure your mind is sharp.

Not on the invite list? DM us now — this one you don't want to hear about after the fact.

24/09/2026

A few years off, two kids, and now I'm back in the saddle — except it looks nothing like my old competition videos. More like relearning from square one 😅

Meet Gio, my green three-year-old filly (out of my soul horse Cinderella FE). Getting my balance, coordination and confidence back would be hard enough on her own — turns out it's extra fun when your horse is also brand new at this. We're both wobbly, but she's got a lovely nature about it, so we're figuring it out together.

It's not about picking up where I left off. It's about starting again, one ride at a time.

I'll be sharing the whole journey here — the highs, the lows, and the frustrations included — hopefully it's a nudge for anyone thinking about getting back to riding, or a reminder that you're not alone if you're in a frustrating stretch right now. Follow along 👇.

Week made. Knowing you have had a small part in an entrepreneur’s exciting next chapter- nothing better💪
24/09/2026

Week made. Knowing you have had a small part in an entrepreneur’s exciting next chapter- nothing better💪

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