We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather King. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Discipline is one of the biggest things I think it takes to become successful. I have a variety of sayings, that I have cut out from different places, that I pin up on a bulletin board behind my computer. One of them says “Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most” -Abe Lincoln. When I was waiting tables 25 years ago or so, and just starting my business at the same time, I would get my work done, count my tips, and go home to feed horses or teach lessons or ride a client’s horse or two. My friends would often ask me why I didn’t stick around and hang out with them at the bar, or go out to other places with them. I would just say “I have horses”. With everything else I had going on at home/the barn, and everything that I wanted for myself in the future, as much as I might have wanted to, I couldn’t stay to hang out with them and have a little fun. It can be lonely at times, but Discipline is so important to success!

Heather, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Ever since I was 9 years old I have loved horses. I used to pretend I was a horse, and I’m sure my parents thought that this was just going to be some phase that every little girl goes through. I was finally able to get a pony of my own when I was 12 (Santa brought her), and I named her Shasta. I had never ridden before, I didn’t have a saddle, and my parents couldn’t afford for me to take lessons, so I taught myself to ride/hang on, bareback, and I was at the barn every single day. I was eventually able to have formal lessons, and I was taught how to jump. To me, that was the most awesome thing, and I felt like I was flying!

Growing up and going through high school, and then college, I wanted to be a large animal veterinarian. I kept riding and competing through school. I worked at a variety of other horse barns, and learned how to give lessons and train horses. When I was almost finished with college, I made the very tough decision that I did not want to pursue Vet School. So then I was left with the question – what WAS I going to do? Well, I had been waiting tables, and working at barns, and I did have two ponies, and I COULD teach lessons, so maybe I would see if I could make a go at this lesson thing.

I started by making flyers and posting them, on a daily basis, whenever I had free time, at any and all apartment buildings in my area. I figured that I could reach more people in one spot that way. Eventually, I got to the point where I didn’t have to put flyers out anymore. Eventually, I got to the point where I didn’t have to wait tables anymore too (that was the best part). And eventually, we were able to buy a property, although small, that would allow me to run my business the way I wanted.

One thing that really helped me out, especially in the beginning, is that I was willing to teach anyone – kids, adults, beginners, more advanced riders, hunters, jumpers, dressage riders, eventers. Growing up, I didn’t just stick with one discipline myself, so I had a lot of experience to offer in all directions. I also had a variety of horse and pony sizes to teach from, so I could offer lessons to more types of people. I have also ALWAYS been open to anyone and everyone that wants to learn to ride, no matter your race, ethnicity, gender, height, weight, sexual orientation, neural diversity, etc. None of that matters anyway, when we are all here to learn about, and love, horses! Also, I have been able to meet a lot of neat people from a lot of different backgrounds and places!

Another thing that really helps me out, is that I only offer board to people who would like their horse in full training with me, or to people who would be fine with their horse being used in my lesson program. It’s a win/win for the folks that like that sort of situation, because their horse stays in shape throughout the week, it also usually gains a little extra training, and then it’s ready to go whenever they come out to ride. And it provides me with a variety of horses to offer to my students to ride. It really helps to keep my overhead low as well!

In addition to teaching and training, I also compete in Eventing. My first event partner, JoJo and I, went up to the Novice level, and even went to the American Eventing Championships (AEC’s). My last event partner Butch and I have gone as far as Training level. We also qualified for the AEC’s, but were not able to compete at them due to their distance at the time. We did get to compete at a Three Day Classic, which was an amazing experience! I was hoping to take him up to Preliminary level, but hoof and leg injuries sidelined him. I am currently working with my new partner Gia. Since I can’t afford to buy a fancy Eventing horse (horses like these could cost upwards of $50K), I prefer to “make” them. Gia was born here on the farm, and I have raised and trained her thus far. She has been a tough nut to crack, but we are slowly making progress. Back when I first started with her, I started writing a blog. I write in it every day, basically like a journal of what I did with Gia that day. I started the blog to show people the ins and outs of what it takes to bring a horse up from a baby to …. wherever she ends up going. A lot of the days are monotonous, but a lot of training is monotonous. It’s a lot of doing the same thing day after day, but slowly starting to see it all come together.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Growing up, since as young as I can remember, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Everything I did was focused on that goal. I remember getting to dissect a frog and a worm in fifth grade and I was so excited! In high school, I stayed on a very academic track, and I kept my eye on what the colleges wanted to see as far as classes, extracurriculars, volunteer work, etc. I took Latin in high school, because I knew it would help me with the medical terminology down the road. I spent a “day with a veterinarian” when I was at my grandparents for the summer. When I went to college at NC State, I had my sites set on the NC State Vet School. I majored in Animal Science, since I wanted to be a large animal vet, I minored in Nutrition, I took the extra classes that were needed to get in to vet school, and I took all the equine classes that were offered. In addition to the other four jobs I was holding down in order to pay for everything, I also worked for a veterinarian part time. Because of all the classes I took, I ended up staying in college for five years instead of the usual four. However, it was at about the start of year five, that I started to have a change of heart. There were many reasons. I was getting tired. I was broke. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to pay for vet school, and how I was going to be able to work and study for the very hard classes at the same time. I had already tried to join Air Force ROTC, while in college, to help pay for vet school. I lasted a semester, then decided I couldn’t stand being yelled at. I was getting a little tired of school anyway, and I was afraid I wasn’t going to get in (those last two were hard to admit). But the thing that made me finally decide to throw in the towel, was when I was working at the vet hospital one day. I was just out cleaning one of the cow stalls in the back. Then I noticed them bring a horse in to the back yard, where we usually didn’t have any horses, and where it was a bit secluded. And it looked like its family was there too. And then suddenly I saw it go down. Even now, writing this, it make me tremble. I decided that if I felt that way, about a horse I didn’t even know, that hadn’t even been in the hospital for me to take care of, then how in the world was I going to be able to do that on a regular basis as part of my job?

But now what?

All of my life, for the past 13-15 years had been me preparing to be a vet. There hadn’t been anything else. Except horses.

Hmmm.

I remembered an aptitude test we all took back in high school to help us figure out what we wanted to be when we grew up. I remembered that we had to pick three jobs – our number one choice, our number two choice, and our dream job. #1, you guessed it, Veterinarian. #2, Kindergarten Teacher. Dream job – Horse Trainer.

Well, at this time, when I had just decided that I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life, in addition to waiting tables, taking 15 hours of classes, working at the vet hospital, probably working somewhere else that I can’t remember, I was also working at a barn where I was teaching lessons and assistant training. I had two ponies of my own, so I decided to see if I couldn’t start my own teaching and training business. It started very slowly, but it grew steadily, and continues to do so. I currently have 14 horses in my care, 6 of which are mine. My business has around 100 students and two assistant instructors. I have an assistant manager, I ride and train about 8 horses a day, I have a head groom, an assistant groom, a feed manager, a hiring manager, and about nine other part time employees to feed the horses and perform various farm chores. We go to about two competitions a month, and I am able to take about 2 1/2 days off per week.

It was definitely not what I thought I wanted, or could achieve, but sometimes change is a good thing!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I was fortunate enough to get my first pony when I was 12, but I did not have a saddle, and I did not actually know how to ride, and had never actually been on a horse before. However, that was not about to stop me. I taught myself to ride, bareback. I rode almost every day, fell off a lot, but developed a very good seat and balance.

I did eventually get to take lessons, and I learned how to jump (which felt like flying!) I also went to my first show, and the competitive side of me came out. I was hooked! I decided that all I wanted to do was show my horse. I was gifted another horse, shortly after that. She had a lot of trust issues, but I was patient with her, and worked with her, and was eventually able to take her to shows as well. Finally, I decided I wanted to sell both my pony and my horse, and buy a nicer, show horse, that I could take to the shows.

I knew exactly what I wanted – a 16 hand, 10-12 year old, bay, Hunter type, gelding. I would peruse the newspaper ads (we didn’t have Facebook back then), and had found one that I thought would work. I went to see him, but I didn’t really like him. No worries. The man had another horse for sale – a 3 year old, chestnut, Arabian stallion. He didn’t really check any of my boxes, but I was there, so I agreed to take a look at him. He was very kind, and very sweet, and I fell in love with him immediately! However, practical me wanted to come back a few times to try him again, just to make sure. The man said that would be ok, so I came back several times over the next two weeks. After all that, I had finally decided that this was the horse that I wanted to spend my money on. I collected it all, and went to see him, but he was gone. The man had promised to let me know if anyone else was interested in the horse, but instead he just sold him to someone the day before. I was heartbroken.

My mom’s cousin, who raised horses, found out, and offered to sell me one of the babies that she had. The baby was about a year old, not very tall, and a mare . The only thing she had going for her, that I wanted from my list, is that she was a bay. I was disappointed, but I agreed to buy her.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.castlefarmhorses.com
• Instagram: @castlefarmnc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heather.m.king.31 https://www.facebook.com/CastleFarmNC/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzSGkUb60Xl3MfQ8AqIkWCw
• Blog: https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/947118256819630299

Image Credits
Bob Moseder Chris King Heather King Catrina Williams