We recently connected with Maryam Tally and have shared our conversation below.

Maryam, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

Customer appreciation plays a crucial role in the success and growth of small businesses like Tally Riding Academy. When our customers feel valued and appreciated, they develop a strong emotional connection with the horses and staff, which leads to increased loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals. Naturally, animals especially horses, bring people together and bring so much joy around to all of us.

For me, every customer counts, and expressing genuine gratitude really sets Tally Riding Academy apart from larger competitors. Whether it’s through personalized thank-you notes, follow up texts with students after riding lessons, or dropping by one a client’s birthday party over a weekend, these gestures show our clients that they are more than just a transaction to us—they’re part of our 4 legged’s family.

When I started Tally Riding Academy in 2021, I wanted to make sure that a main point of focus was to build long-term relationships with our customers. When we take the time to acknowledge their support and celebrate their milestones, it creates a positive and memorable experience that motivates them in and out of the barn.

Recently, one of my student’s broke her arm playing at a summer camp. She unfortunately had to have her arm reset and go under anesthesia. Due to this, she couldn’t make her riding lesson. Instead, I paid her a visit at her home and had her “FaceTime” the horses through our live cameras at the barn. To me, things like this comes from the bottom of my heart. My clients are family. And this is the baseline of a successful business and customer experience, you have to be selfless and actually care!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Howdy! I’m Maryam, and a crazy horse girl who’s passion for entrepreneurship/horses led to the start of a 3 year-old Orange County riding program: Tally Riding Academy & Therapeutic Horsemanship.

I was interviewed by Voyage LA Magazine in 2020 for my first business Fleur A Cheval, an international e-Commerce business selling floral accessories for horses. Read about it here: https://voyagela.com/interview/meet-maryam-edah-tally-fleur-cheval-irvine/

In 2022, I did a follow up interview with Voyage LA about the nitty gritty details of being a business owner at such a young age. Read it here: https://voyagela.com/interview/inspiring-conversations-with-raeesah-maryam-edah-tally-of-tally-riding-academy/

But today, I come to you from a different angle that those two articles did not cover. It’s not about me today. It’s about what my business Tally Riding Academy stands for.

A quick recap of my life: Born in 2000 in England, moved to Irvine, CA, became a nationally ranked figure skater when I was 14 and started homeschooling, graduated high school at 16, graduated college with my Business degree at age 20, started my first successful e-commerce business at age 16, named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year at 17, and then started Tally Riding Academy at age 21. Now I am 24 and do what I love every day: teaching people horsemanship/riding skills & assisting individuals with disabilities through the healing benefits of horses.

Tally Riding Academy has sustained a lot of growth and a lot of setbacks in the 3 years we have been open. I’d say that. the biggest thing that I remember when time are taught is, WHY. Why am I doing this? That’s my fuel, and you should ask yourself that too.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first began apprenticing to become a Riding Instructor, specifically aiding individuals with special needs on horseback, I saw A LOT of pretty depressing things.

When you think horses, you probably thing of beautiful majestic creatures who are so healing. Well, that’s exactly true. At some of the programs I shadowed, I was taught to NOT let students interact or pet the horses. If a parent pays for a 45 minute lesson, the only objective was to have the student ride and not really build a bond with the horse. The horse was treated as an asset, not a part of the team which is not cool. Part of riding is taking time to groom, feed and saddle your horse. This is how the horse can trust you and see you actually care, it’s where the magic happens.

This absolutely did not resonate with my values as both an instructor in training, and horse mom of 10 years. I believe that bonding and trust are the foundation of a positive relationship between horse and rider. I had to UNLEARN what I was taught to do. I was faced with a challenge: Do I continue to stay here and finish my apprenticeship and get my teaching license, or do I leave and risk not getting my teaching license?

I chose to leave. It was a pretty rough decision. But I knew in my heart, that this is not how would want to run my own riding program. It definitely did set me back timeline wise, I didn’t reach my goal of getting my license in 6 months. It took 10 months, but looking back on it, that’s totally ok!

I was on the hunt for a new riding program to apprentice at. I found an amazing program in Newport Beach, who’s values of treating the horses with respect resonated with me. I learned so many new skills and was put into a leadership position right off the bat. It was an amazing learning experience, and my mentor from that program ended up being one of my closest friend’s/role models to this day (love you Darlene!)

Had I not unlearned what I was taught, just to make quick $$ off a 45 minute lesson, I probably would not have started Tally Riding Academy with the 4 pillars of our program: gratitude, empathy, accountability & effective communication with the horses.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Tally Riding Academy had to relocate our entire barn of horses to a new property back in June of 2023. It came all of a sudden, due to some management issues that we were not responsible for. This put me in a super stressful situation, mainly because I found out when I was on a layover in Dubai returning back to Los Angeles. I was trying to figure out where the horses can live, all from just my phone and lots of phone calls to my team.

I had no idea what to do or where to go. My stomach was in knots the whole 16 hour flight back home. Eventually, we did secure a new property to relocate Tally Riding Academy to. I did have to pivot the business model to adapt, it took 3 months to recover operationally. But, we did it and our horses are SO happy and that’s what matters!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tallyridingacademy.com