Time To Meet the Maker of LS - Blog Post Time 📝👩💻✍️ This is quite a lengthy read, but after 3 years I thought it was time I introduced myself properly 🐎🫶🇬🇧
Some of you may already know me having met me at a number of Endurance rides across New Zealand, or may have spoken to me about making your custom orders, but for those that don’t, I thought it was about time I introduce myself. I’m currently killing time due to a delayed flight home at Sydney airport, so it’s the rare opportunity I have time to sit down and type, so, here goes!
Hi, 👋 I’m Fern, the maker behind LS Equestrian. I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England back in April 1986. I grew up on a small holding with my sister Katherine, mum & dad, our 9 horses, 4 dogs, 3 cats, and a bunch of other animals that my parents acquired over the years. (I’m sure my parents or sister will tell me I have the exact numbers wrong, 😂, but I’m pretty close!)
Myself & my sister, grew up living and breathing horses. We attended Rockwood Harriers Pony Club, and Penistone Riding Club, taking part in many ODE’s, Show Jumping & Cross Country events. I was never quite fast enough in the jump offs on my little 12hh Welshy 😅 I always seemed to do better at dressage & Working Hunter. Both of us used to go Hunting with our dad on his Cob called Cob, with mum on the ground in case one of us came flying off 🤣 (which I did at one point, but that’s a whole other story!) We spent our days exploring the Yorkshire Countryside for hours on end, jumping logs in the Forest, and majority of the time bush bashing our way through random trails we found on our adventures 🇬🇧
As we grew older, my sister Kate, went to work in Sydney, Australia at a racing yard, and then moved to Spain where she acquired a number of Spanish Arabs. During this time, I took it upon myself to take on a little “wild” unbroken 7 year old Connemara called Dooley, and this is where our love for Endurance & distance riding commenced 💚
Kate became quite heavily involved in Endurance, across GB and Europe, competing her Spanish Arabs Elsa & Arco to FEI 3 star in Europe. I joined in with some of the GB rides on my little 13.2hh whilst she brought on her babies, and I also rode Arco across a number of 40 & 60km rides, though I was probably more of a Pleasure Rider than a competitive one 🥰
Back in 2013, myself and my husband decided to move across the world to New Zealand 🇳🇿with our 2 little Cairn terriers Alfie & Charlie. Unfortunately due to cost I couldn’t take Dooley with me 🥹 I was fortunate enough to find him a wonderful home in Bulgaria, where my sister, Kate lived at the time, and he thoroughly loves his life 🩵
After having pony withdrawals, I then bought myself an unbroken purebred Crabbet Arabian Aziz, and an unbroken Anglo Arab called Alejandro. With them both only being 4 & 5, we took part in a few intro rides for training, and to learn more about the New Zealand Endurance scene. Over the past 8 years I have completed a number of Endurance rides up to 40km. I had my little boy Tobi back in 2016, which slowed us down a little, and when he was 18 months old, I bought him his first spotty pony, Scribbles 🦄
Some of you may have seen that Tobi & Scribbles took part in their very first 10km Endurance ride at the back end of last year which was great fun 🤩 I absolutely love seeing young riders get involved in our sport, after all, it’s the next generation of riders that will carry our sport forward for years to come.
We also try to attend a number of the Born To Run Adventure Races, and hopefully this year with both of them now rising 8 years old, we will be joining the world of Kidz Kartz Harness Racing, which will be tons of fun! Scribbles is a proper go go pony, so I know they’ll both really love this discipline 🐎
So why did I decide to start manufacturing BioThane®️ Tack? 🌈
After being here a number of years and having my son, I realised there was a huge gap in the market for cool gear for boys and their ponies, nothing like what we could get for horses. I also found that ponies are so hard to find gear for that actually fits, it’s either really cheap leather that doesn’t fit anything, or really cheap plastic that again, doesn’t really fit anything, and this really cheap gear isn’t even cheap. I found it quite frustrating, as I was spending hours & hours trawling the internet try to find things half decent, and then paying a fortune to import it.
I’ve always been a huge fan of quality synthetic gear myself, especially with Endurance tack as it is so convenient to use - I’ve used it for years, so why not create something that would be 100% customisable for any size horse/pony, in the highest quality materials? This is when I decided to manufacture it myself. I’ve always been more creative than academic, so this was quite an easy decision for me. It gave me a chance to combine by passion for horses, with my creativity, and offer something that wasn’t available in Australasia at the time.
I spent many, many months researching the best materials on the market, and what it would entail to manufacture it myself, and when the time was right LS was launched.
Not really knowing anyone in the horsey world here in New Zealand, I had to make sure the product was 100%, I’m very pedantic when it comes to the manufacturing process. Many pieces were trialled on my own horses before even introducing it to the market.
Fast forward to today, 3 years later, I have made thousands of pieces, shipping to multiple corners of the globe. I only ever use genuine Beta®️ BioThane®️ which is manufactured in the US, and went through the process of becoming an accredited maker by BioThane®️ US themselves. This type of BioThane®️ is incredible soft, strong, subtle, flexible, holds its colour, and is really easy to clean. The metal I use is marine grade, and all thread is 100% bonded nylon, UV resistant. I do not buy in or use any cheap materials, ever. Each item is individually cut, sealed, stitched, assembled, quality checked, and shipped by myself, Fern, right here in Auckland, New Zealand.
So who do you deal with at LS? Well, quite frankly that is me, Fern. I am the person behind each social media post, the person who you reach and have contact with regarding any orders, the one who sorts out all the administration and invoicing, the person who manufactures your tack, the one who arranges shipping and sends the parcel off with the postman, and the person behind all the after sales. So, you want to know who you are dealing with 24/7, that is me.
I now call Kumeu, New Zealand home, I have a little boy called Tobi, 2 dogs called Milly & Betsy, and 3 horses called, Aziz, Alejandro & Scribbles.
So the next time you see me at an event, please come and say hi. When you message feel free to tell me about your horses, and send me photos, because I am a horsey human who started LS to bring you what the equine market was missing, the best quality BioThane®️ gear for every equine discipline, regardless of there size.
Look forward to speaking soon,
Fern 🩵