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Date: 10/8/2021
GRANBY – A local equestrian center is working to help people get out of the house during the ongoing pandemic and learn the benefits of working with horses.
Dan Dali-Haber is the owner and head trainer of the Mountain View Training Center in Granby. He said the facility, which opened in the spring of 2012, was the result of his love of the equine industry. “I’ve always loved horses, was into horses. I decided this was going to be my career path, and I enjoyed working with kids,” he said.
He said the training program offered at the facility has taken a lot of time and hard work to build. “I owned a couple horses, a couple of lesson horses. I put out flyers to start my lesson program, now we have a thriving lesson program,” he said.
Overall the facility has “changed dramatically” since their inception, he said. “We went from running three different barns to moving into one facility with 47 stalls. We have three full time instructors and our shows have grown, everything has grown for us,” he said.
He said while they don’t host shows at their Granby facility, they attend local shows as well as shows across the U.S. “We did host a Labor Day Classic in Granby, but we travel all over the country showing,” he said.
Some services offered by the center include riding, horsemanship lessons and teaching people “how to handle and be around horses.” He said for “kids further along in showing,” the center offered the Mountain View Show Team, which is described as “in depth riding and showing.”
Dali-Haber said those in the group were “required to take more lessons, do things for the community, help out at shows [and] help out with the United Professional Horsemen's Association.” He said, “It’s also a community, it helps them with community service programs. It helps them for doing stuff for college.”
Such community events include food and clothing drives. He said once the drives are completed they “give them to the head of the organization and they distribute them.”
He said there were other benefits to working with horses as well. “The physical and emotional benefits are out of this world. There’s a lot of being around a horse, being around them gives them a sense of your world. Picking up their feet, you have to ask such a large animal to help, be a team with something that’s so large,” he said. “We watched kids who had no communication skills and lacked confidence, they have blossomed into thriving kids in their communication, in their schools. It’s magical to watch some of what happens here.”
He said since the pandemic began, the center had seen a boost in business. He attributes this largely to the ability to be outdoors. “So far our business has been much busier with COVID[-19]. The fact that people can get to ride without being in a group and it’s an outdoor sport,” he said, adding that even in rainy weather “at least we’re socially distanced.”
Dali-Haber said business had grown so much he was working to hire additional staff. “I actually hired another instructor to teach more lessons,” he said.
Another aspect of the pandemic that has benefitted the industry, Dali-Haber said, is people returning to the equine world. “People are coming back into the horse industry that haven’t been in the horse industry in a long time,” he said. He added that another boost to his business took place in 2018 when he was named a 40 under 40 winner in the industry.
“That brought a big boost to my business,” he said.
He said despite equestrian being an expensive sport, people seem to be okay with paying to participate in the outdoor activities. “I think with the rising cost of everything people are okay with paying a little more to do something outside, more active, getting kids outside of the house,” he said.
Dali-Haber said appointments for riding lessons can be booked online.
The facility is located at 203 Taylor St. More information about the center, lesson booking, services and prices can be found online at https://mountainviewtrainingcenter.com/ or at the Mountain View Training Center Facebook page.