Amy Heidbreder

I had this beautiful idea years ago—at least I perceived it to be beautiful—but I never even came close to getting it off the ground. It was an idea to give back to equestrians like me. What do I mean when I say that?

I’ve been riding horses for a long time and up until 2018 was regularly competing in horse shows where I could. If I had the option, I’d ride horses for a living. I love this sport, and I hate that I love this sport. It is absolutely a world that favors people with money, and money is something I still struggle to obtain in the quantities I need to do this sport right. There are so many riders out there like me, struggling to make ends meet and advance. I had this idea to start an online store that sold t-shirts and couple that with a freelance business offering my skillset as a designer and developer. A percentage of what I made would go into a sponsorship fund and I’d give away small pieces of opportunity to a chosen applicant. Naive me thought the idea would sell itself.

I didn’t sell a single shirt and hit a wall freelancing. I fell flat on my face for a multitude of reasons. Why I think I failed was because I started the business for selfish reasons. I started it to pay my horse’s monthly expenses and for me to go to more shows. I started it so I didn’t have to sell this horse because I had high hopes for him at the time.

While I’m embarrassed I failed, I’m glad I did. Looking back, even with money, I don’t know that I could have achieved what I wanted to with that horse in that situation. I learned from that failure. It was a fun experiment and through it all, I prevailed and still have the horse.

I have a renewed hope for Oscar at the moment. I don’t think the world has seen the last of this 13 year old Thoroughbred or my idea of giving opportunity to riders like me. However, I think the world has seen the last of my CSS Oscar business. It was fun while it lasted. Take a look at the link below to see my old site and business.