My job is mostly about people management. Looking for signs that people will do well on a group holiday and signs that people will make good riding operator partners. It comes down to communication.
By recognising red flags, even very small ones, early on, I can avoid 80% of the headaches that come from less than 20% of my interactions.
Black Saddle is about connection, not consumption, so I aim to avoid users on both sides of the fence.
Here are the things that I do to help identify who are the right people to ride and work with:
GUESTS
Are they open with sharing about themselves? I only check availability on a ride if someone fills in a rider form. I spent so long dreaming with people when I first started only to find out that they can’t ride or are so disagreeable they don’t think they should fill in the form. Now, all conversations start based on the form and I can give personal advice on a holiday based on their riding history. My Dad gave me this piece of advice: if they really want to come everything will be straight forward and they’ll pay. He was right.
I check their social media. Not for follower counts, but to get an idea of who they are. If they are antisocial or have pictures riding very skinny horses badly, I know it’s not a fit. I’m also interested in the ratio of followers to following. If someone has 100 followers and follows 5000 people this tells me they probably don’t live in the real world and spend a lot of time online. Follower count doesn’t matter to me, you can have 60 followers and join a ride. Some people just aren’t on social media and that’s probably pretty healthy.
I have a seven day payment window to book your holiday. This helps cut down on people who aren’t that serious and limits to and fro. If they can’t pay in that time I just ask them to check in again when they’re ready. On the other side some operators only hold saddles for 48 hours so it’s a balance to allow a guest enough time to check flights and annual leave, and keep the saddle for them. I’ve had a couple of instances where guests have paid a month later with no communication. I just return their payment back to them, even if the ride isn’t full. It’s a group holiday and there has to be some complicity with following instructions.
I also don’t want people to come if they can’t really afford it. It’s a holiday, not further education. You should be able to afford the holiday and any extra unexpected costs relatively easily. Other agencies offer payment plans but I never will because, honestly, I don’t think you should stretch yourself to go on holiday. It can bring nervous travellers too because they don’t have a back up plan for delayed flights etc.
I don’t take bookings through travel agents or personal assistants. This is because I need to get a feel of you and I’ll never know for sure who you are if lovely Jenny who doesn’t ride filled in your rider form. Also, my two longest, most convoluted bookings were through travel agents. One was 96 emails (on just one string) and they cancelled in the end. It doesn’t match what Black Saddle is aiming to do, which is to connect and not consume.
80% of people are so obviously right that they send in their form, I send them the info, they confirm they want in and they pay and are confirmed. It’s so easy. As with all tasks everywhere you spend 80% of your time on the 20% that aren’t quite right.
RIDING OPERATOR PARTNERS
My overarching question when meeting riding operators is ‘if anything goes wrong will they do whatever it takes to make sure the guest is alright?’. This is usually reputation motivated and so is a big part of the reason I partner with owner-operators. They are the ones there to make the guests’ holiday spectacular and when it’s your business you just care more and you have the authority to make things happen.
If you’re curious about the guidelines for Black Saddle partners you can read them here.
Clear communication right from the start. If I can’t get a price list or an itinerary on day one it’s not for me. I don’t think about it too much, I just move on. I don’t want my guests to be guinea pigs (unless it’s a pioneer ride and in that case I’ll be on it). Rides need at least a year to iron out the gaps. If they say I can create anything I want I find it really unhelpful - I’m not an expert in their location, I’m looking for them to guide me on whats good based on their sense of style and taste. I can then line that up to mine and the other Black Saddle rides. If they don’t know where to price their ride, or worse, just want the maximum dollar and so price every ride individually, I don’t want to be part of it.
How do they handle mistakes? There are always things that go sideways when you’re dealing with horses and people! It’s normal. It’s how you cope that makes all the difference. If you’re an honest, caring guide the guests will actually help you. If you’re robotic and awful the smallest things will be noticed and complained about, and once you’ve lost a guests’ goodwill, it’s gone for good. You won’t win them back. I’ve had a few instances of very good operators in the last year (you’d be surprised) behaving very strangely, and doubling down on their mistakes. Double bookings and forgotten reservations are rare but should be fixed rapidly. When they’re not I quietly stop promoting the ride until I get feedback from previously booked guests that eveything is in order. Usually when booking mistakes happen it’s a sign that money might be tight. It’s hard to make good decisions when you’re worried about cash.
English. Sometimes conversational English just isn’t enough. Emails will only have one question out of five answered. Collection times are misrecorded. Invoices are the wrong amount. These are little annoying behind the scenes things but the biggest problem is the cultural gap. In knowing the language, you understand the culture. If the local guide can’t reach their guests culturally this is when the horses are not dealt with in the same way Britain and Northern Europeans work with horses at home, it can be harsher - too harsh for a guest to enjoy the experience. You need to meet the guest where they are and that comes from understanding them - speaking the same language. Literally.
How do they take feedback? This is the big one. I’ve let go of a ride that I sold close to half of the season of last year because the ride slowed down and the guiding had changed and the guests noticed. They still loved the ride but it wasn’t as deep as an experience. I shared the feedback with the owner and some of my own insight as I’d done the ride twice. The response was ‘it’s always been this way’. But I knew it hasn’t been from personal experience, so read it more as a ‘this is what it is now’ and moved away. It’s so unusual to get bad feedback, because I do have such amazing, world leading partners, but often the guests are right and their criticism is helpful!
I’ll caveat what I’ve said here to say that there are many holidays where your guide will speak hardly any English and you’ll communicate on a different level and have an amazing time. I love holidays like this for myself but they’re not right for Black Saddle where consistency of experience is important.
So, rather than try and change people, I aim to communicate clearly - they can either meet me where I am or we’re not a match.
This wonderful job has become so much easier since I started saying no. Instead of losing guests and not being able to fill rides, all our Black Saddle rides are full and we have the most amazing people joining us. It did feel a bit scary to turn away guests at the start, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few amazing people where I’ve got it wrong, but I’m so happy with the Black Saddle community.
It’s all working ❤️