My name is Emma Turnbow and I am the founder of EmEq Products. I am 15 years old and I began riding horses when I moved to Colorado at 5 ½ years old. The past few years have been an exciting journey as both a young entrepreneur and an equestrian.
After years of riding school horses and ponies and lease horses, I received an amazing gift on Christmas Day 2022: my very own horse, Jagger! Jagger was a 7-year-old OTTB who had a long racing career.
When I first started riding Jagger, he needed to learn all the hunter/jumper basics. He’d spent his life going fast and straight! We started slowly doing a lot of lateral work and some small jumps.
After about six months of training, we were becoming an amazing team. In our first show season, we won the 2’9″ equitation season high point award in the Colorado Hunter Jumper Association, and Jagger won some great overall season hunter ribbons.
This past show season, we moved up to the 3′ and 3’3″ classes, competed in national medals, and had some great placings. I am so proud of how far Jagger has come in the almost two years I have owned him, and I can’t wait to see where the future takes us!
Starting a Business
The idea for EmEq Products started because I wanted to have a way to give my riding outfits a trendy, colorful, custom touch besides a plain leather belt.
In the spring of 2022, I began making EmEq elastic belts for fellow riders and sold them around my barn, Forest Edge Farms. My belt designs have grown since I first started making them. I began using basic buckles and solid colors, and now I use fun, trendy patterns and equestrian-inspired buckles. I even make team belts by partnering with a local embroidery person.
I manufacture all my belts on my Singer sewing machine that is older than my grandparents! I love finding new elastic patterns, designing the belts, and matching them with new riding outfits. My company’s presence in tack shops started small by selling in local tack shops and being a vendor at horse shows. I love seeing riders all around Colorado wearing my belts. It is so cool!
After my belts started selling well at small tack shops, I took my belts and display board to Dover Saddlery in Parker, Colo., and became a local vendor. With the help of family along the East Coast, we contacted the buyers at the Dover Saddlery headquarters in Littleton, Mass. As of February 2023, EmEq belts were in seven Dover stores nationwide, and in the fall of 2023, Dover added EmEq belts to five more stores. In November 2024, Dover will added four new styles of EmEq belts to their inventory both in stores and online. Make sure to check them out!
Currently, EmEq belts are being sold in 12 Dover Saddlery stores nationwide, local tack shops, I Love My Horse in WEC Ocala, Equoware in Colorado and California, and I have even sold the belts to a small tack shop in Athens, Greece. I guess you could say EmEq Products is international now!
Hopes for the Future
My days are very long and busy, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I started high school last year and I am working very hard to juggle taking honors classes, riding multiple horses at my barn, competing on the Forest Edge IEA team, designing and sewing belts, and also trying to have some fun with friends!Â
My hope is for Jagger and I to continue to learn from each other and to continue to be competitive in A-rated shows and national medals. I plan to continue to excel at school, attend a college on the East Coast, ride, and study nursing.
Finally, I want to add some new merchandise to EmEq products. I have some things in the works, so wait and see what comes out this spring!
Emma’s website offers patterns and styles not available in tack shops. Check out her site at emeqproducts.com and use this discount code just for Young Rider readers: YR20.
This article about Emma Turnbow’s EmEq Products appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!
