Finding horse riding opportunities globally
Backstory
My love for horses began when I was a little girl, and all I wanted was to learn to ride. Finding a riding school, however, was a challenge. These businesses often operated "off the grid," making them difficult to discover even in our local community. After two years of lessons, my dream came true: I got my horse at the age of twelve, I kept riding until I was 17 and moved to the USA as an exchange student.
Fifteen years later, after a long break, I decided to get back in the saddle. To my surprise, the same problem persisted. Finding a place to ride was no easier, and even the internet offered little help. This experience sparked my curiosity, and I began a five-year monitoring phase into the equestrian market.
The findings were remarkable:
The market was a hidden giant, estimated to be six times the size of the music industry.
There were no significant equine technology companies, revealing a massive digital gap.
A staggering 40% of horse riders regularly paid for riding lessons. To put that in perspective, only 15% of people in the fitness industry pay for a personal trainer, though many have gym subscriptions.
With over 120 million riders worldwide, 40% represents a huge opportunity. I calculated that if each of them purchased just 12 lessons a year, it would amount to 576 million lessons.
My conclusion was clear: this was a business case worth exploring. In 2015, I founded Pluvinel to bridge this digital divide and connect the equestrian world.
The Challenge: A conservative community
After launching our MVP and gaining 200 instructors globally, we discovered a critical challenge. The instructors, though signed up, felt isolated on the platform and were reluctant to use our booking features for two key reasons:
Network effect: They were hesitant to use a platform that their peers hadn't yet adopted.
Service eees: The 5% service charge was a barrier to adoption.
Feedback from the wider equestrian community suggested that onboarding riding schools and horse centres would be the key to building the network effect we needed. To address this, I secured new financing and hired a development team in Sri Lanka, 99x, known for its high standards and cost-effectiveness.
With this new investment, we expanded our vision. Our goal was to build a comprehensive ecosystem that connected everyone: riders, instructors, riding schools, and horse centres.
The Solution: A unified equestrian ecosystem
We successfully launched the expanded platform, enabling us to connect the entire community. Now, visitors to pluvinel.com can seamlessly find and book with riding schools, individual instructors, and various courses and events in their area. The booking process is designed to be smooth and user-friendly, providing a one-stop solution for the entire equestrian community. The riding schools secured all their fees in their bank account before their riding season started, which is unprecedented.
Access all the information relevant to a riding school, their events, images, instructors who are connect to the stable and general information about where the stable is situated and where the courses take place. Sign up and pay for the event to secure your spot.
View the event, learn about the instructor.
Overview of all your riders.