About Here For Horses

The American Horse Council’s Marketing Alliance (MA) was formed in 2011 when leaders from across the equine industry sought ways to revitalize the industry. The MA’s objectives were to raise awareness about being involved with horses by fostering lifelong relationships between people and horses by educating and informing the public on emotional and physical benefits associated with horse-related activities.

In 2012, MA launched its first program, named Time To Ride, or TTR.  TTR’s first few years focused on taking horses to the people by identifying groups to bring horses to events and expos for people to “test ride.” This later evolved to the  “TTR challenge,” which incentivized barns to host open houses and invite the local community to come touch a horse.  In recent years, TTR sought to create TTR “certified” facilities, which in addition to meeting certain standards, offered a series of lessons to try.

As the pandemic began in 2020, the AHC Marketing Alliance decided to pause the TTR program and took the opportunity to develop a new strategic plan. From that exercise, the group developed a new objective: Creating lifelong engagement with the equine industry.  The following goals were developed: Educate the public on the benefits of the equine/horse connection; Create a marketing/education plan; develop a website to drive consumers to find pathways to equine/horse connection, including opportunities to see and experience horses through event attendance, education, volunteer opportunities, and places to learn to ride or drive a horse. This led to the development of a new campaign called “Here For Horses.”