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Promoting Chocolatey

If you want a good lesson in marketing and promotion you might consider talking to Noelle Schmidt, owner of Chocolatey. She’s got a booth set up in the Kirk Fordice Equine Center.

I sat down and talked to her about her involvement with the ApHC during a relatively slow moment. She says that she became involved with the ApHC about 8 years ago and was looking for a good horse and trainer. She met Tim Zuidema and bought her first horse from him.

She’s not showing horses herself now due to the demands of her business but it’s obvious she can work out her schedule to come to a show like this one to see her horse compete. It sounds like Noelle has a real love affair with Appaloosas. She says that she loves to promote, loves to market, loves the Appaloosa horses, loves futurity horses and loves to take risks.

Noelle says she got Chocolatey as a 2005 stallion and brought him home when he was 5 months old. I asked her if he was a “legend” yet and she said that he is in her mind. She knew he was special when she got him home. According to Noelle, Chocolatey has won just about every NSBA open futurity.

Noelle takes her business seriously and applies business practices to her horses as well. She says that she always has a business and marketing plan for a horse going out 2 years. An example of her promotional ideas is the billboard for Chocolatey that everyone sees when they enter the Mississippi State Fairgrounds here at the show. I think you’ll enjoy her comments about competing and winning against other breeds too.

You can listen to my interview with Noelle here: Interview With Noelle Schmidt (6 min MP3)

National Show Photo Album