We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hillary Schneider a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hillary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I was 32 years old when my dream property came into my life by chance. I had a successful online business and was leasing a property.

It was a risk for me as a single woman to take on an 80 acre 1.2 million dollar property and trust that I would be able to grow and sustain my vision to create a retreat space where people could come and experience the teachings of horses. I would have to take on another branch of my work into hospitality by renting out my facility while I wasn’t running retreats and take on staff to help me which I had zero experience in.

I had to within myself find the courage to say yes, knowing that it was possible it was too much for me to take on, a big risk financially when I could have stayed where I was for a few years and continue to grow my business.

The first two years were really hard, the first one especially and I had countless times where I wanted to quit because I didn’t think I had it in me.

It was risky but it has paid of 7.5 years later I am still here and I was able to stay in the discomfort of the first couple of years and continue to grow and sustain my business.

Hillary, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since I was a young girl I had a passion for horses, there was something unique and special about them I felt, and so my dream was to find a way to have a career where I could be with them.

Initially I thought it was as a horse breeder, I went to college to get a degree in equine science and worked in the thoroughbred breeding industry for 2 years, it was here where I found i wasn’t fulfilled and I didn’t really like what I saw in terms of how horses and also humans were treated.

My dad was an executive coach and I had had a coach of my own since I was 17 and I felt that perhaps a fulfilling path for me was to help people the way I felt my life coach had helped me.

I left the breeding industry and did my coaching training, this was in 2006 when I was 23 years old, but I still felt the void of not being with horses.

It was in my coach training that I heard about this path of coaching with horses that felt like it was meant for me.

I spent 3 years doing training in the field of equine guided coaching, until I started to build my own practice.

In 2012 I leased my first property my step into seeing if I could create a career around my passion of helping horses and humans, and in 2015 I bought my dream property an 80 acre retreat facility north of kamloops BC where I now run retreats with my herd of 29 former rescue horses.

My clients are primarily women that are in a space of wanting to deepen into their self potential and growth that feel drawn to what horses reveal for us and are wanting to gain greater clarity and confidence in knowing their purpose and how to walk that into the world.

I also now train those that feel called to partner with horses in a similar way that I do.

Over the years I have also worked with our local first nations bands in creating healing retreats with the horses while opening my space up to those that want to hold a retreat in the mountains while adding the energy and wisdom of horses into the people they also serve.

What is unique about what I offer is the space I have created with my land and herd, for those that are wanting and ready to do the deep inner work that is required for them to move forward in their life and step into their potential of purpose.

It is not just for horse people, but for those that are drawn to be in a learning and teaching space with an animal that offers pure and unbiased feedback, is honest and where they cannot deflect what is coming to them and perhaps feel drawn to being in a nature and animal based program.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Living on an a 80 acre retreat space on a mountain with a high overhead and being at mercy to nature has built my resilience in many ways.

The first year I had to navigate trying to manage a high overhead with low cash flow, while being responsible for staff and 13 horses. I battled with adrenal fatigue and burn out and had to find a way to carry the full load of an 80 acre retreat space, leading staff, running 2 businesses while single.

My seven years here at our retreat space has witnessed having to shift a piece of our model when covid hit and we saw 90% of our hospitality bookings not just cancel but we had to give refunds.

In 2021 we lost 3 horses plus had to evacuate from a wildfire that was next to our facility.

Living here means that we have to find resiliency each year in different ways.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Reputation I believe is connected to first off being gifted and devoted to our craft, we have to actually be good at what we do, otherwise people will discover when they have an experience of us that we don’t actually know what we are doing. Marketing and sales tactics cannot bypass us spending time and creating denotation to what we do and being good at it.

Consistency and authenticity, for me I have 11 years under my belt of showing up consistently and when people have an experience of me in person that matches what they see online, we also have to have patience with the build and letting people experience us in the range of how we show up as a human.

I do my best to show all parts, the vulnerabilities, the real life stuff and to inspire those that follow me.       

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hillaryschneider.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillaryepona
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womenwhorunwithhorses
• Youtube: @HillarySchneiderEpona