EYE ON BUSINESS: New opportunities in East County

Erin Rayner was 8 years old when her Girl Scout Troop in California planned a camping trip that included horses.

To prepare for the trip, she took three lessons so she would at least know how to be safe on horseback. She fell in love from the very first lesson she took at Opportunity Farm, so much so that she now uses the stable’s name for her own business.

Rayner’s old trainer gave her permission to use the name for her own Opportunity Farm, a stable in east Bradenton where Rayner and assistant trainer Ali Wilcoxson teach those from age 3 to the 80s how to ride, jump and take care of horses.

Horses have been a part of Rayner’s life since that fateful Girl Scout camp. She stopped riding when she went to college, but that lasted just one semester.

“I couldn’t live without horses,” Rayner said. “If horses are in your blood, you’re going to get depressed without them.”

She started volunteering at a local stable that held YMCA camps. Rayner became a trainer at the stable before eventually learning enough to start her own company, Royal Oak Stables.

Rayner moved to England about 18 years ago. She still rode horses while living overseas but took some time off from teaching.

When she moved to Bradenton in June 2017, she realized how much she missed teaching. So she started the Opportunity Farm.

Business has taken off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rayner said more parents have been looking for activities their kids could do outside in a social-distanced setting. Riders are not required to wear masks while on horseback, but Rayner asks people at the Opportunity Farm to wear them in all other situations.

Her favorite aspect of the job is teaching beginners how to ride and care for horses. According to Rayner, she usually knows she’s created a “horse-loving monster” within the first two lessons, especially if they start giggling the first time they trot.

Rayner usually keeps small children, who often have short attention spans, on the horse for about 15 minutes at a time. Once they start begging to stay on longer, she knows they’re ready for their first actual lessons.

She said horses teach children about empathy, responsibility and time management. When she was a kid, she would make sure to do her homework as soon as she got home so she could spend the rest of the day at the barn. Her 13-year-old daughter, Rose Rayner, now takes care of her own horses.

“I think it's the relationship,” Rayner said. “You're having to communicate with an animal — a domesticated animal, but still an animal that doesn't speak your language. You learn how to communicate through expressions, movements, the horse's ears. You just kind of get the bond that you just can't really describe.”

Rayner said it’s especially important to teach beginners the basics of horsemanship, such as how to safely handle a horse, basic first aid, nutrition for horses, how to take a tack apart, how to check a bridle and saddle for safety, even emergency dismounting.

“When you're handling them on the ground, you get to know their personalities, what kind of mood they're in,” Rayner said. “And that will get you prepared for what kind of horse you're going to be riding that day. Because ultimately, they're animals. They can wake up on the bad side of the stall as well.”

Rayner has about 20 to 25 riders who take lessons with her, some of whom keep their own horses at the Opportunity Farm stable. She also has a waiting list of about 10 that will join her clientele once her two new horses arrive at the farm, which will bring the total number of horses to 16. To keep a horse at Opportunity Farm, riders must take at least one lesson per week. Rayner provides a half-lease option as well, meaning someone can purchase half of one of Rayner’s horses so they become the only client who can ride it.

Opportunity Farm is a hunter-jumper barn, meaning anyone who owns a horse there has the goal of competing in jumper- or hunter-style jumping competitions. Riders often compete in shows from Tampa to Venice.

“You see a child that was maybe a little nervous to step outside the box and do something that was a little outside of their reach,” Rayner said. “The achievement and happiness when they do it and do it well, and realize that they can do things that are a little bit harder.”