My Biz: Learning to ride

SPRINGVILLE - Greenbriar Riding Academy owner and instructor Robin Ballantyne believes firmly in a quote by Winston Churchill: The outside of a horse is the best thing for the inside of a man.

'Horses have always been all that I care about,” she said.

Ballantyne was 2 years old when she got her first horse - a brown and white pony named Silver.

'I had a mom who never got a pony,” Ballantyne said. 'But she had work horses, and she loved horses, so I know that's where this seed came from.”

She began teaching riding in 1987 before graduating from the Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre in West Virginia in 1990.

'That's where I found this dream,” she said. 'And I thought, I can make this come true.”

She opened Greenbriar Riding Academy in 1993, teaching those aged seven and older how to ride and care for horses.

Ballantyne runs her riding academy with the help of three full-time employees who feed, care for the 22 horses, clean the stalls and teach day camps as well as private lessons to the 60-80 weekly students.

'We have 16 students in the day camps at a time,” she said. Day camps run 4 hours a day, and the students learn to ride and groom the horses as well as how to care for the riding equipment.

Adult riding lessons make up around 20 percent of the riding academy's business.

Ballantyne expanded her stables in November, building a 16,800-square-foot riding arena.

'This building will offer us the opportunity to host horse shows for outsiders in the future,” she said.

Greenbriar Riding Academy will host an open house on March 29 to showcase its facility and assist people signing up for lessons.

At a glance

Owner: Robin Ballantyne

Company: Greenbriar Riding Academy

Address: 8 First Ave., Springville, IA

Phone: (319) 854-7115

Website: greenbriarridingacademy.com

' Know a manager or company in business for more than a year that would be ideal for 'My Biz”? Contact Chelsea Keenan at chelsea.keenan@thegazette.com.