Dream It. Do It. Declare It.

Photo by Whit Phelps Photography

“You are doing great, and I am proud of you!” said Jennifer Heistand, to her daughters on their business accomplishments. 

Madison (17) and Mollie (11) Heistand are two sisters from Henderson who know a thing or two about farm life – caring for and tending to horses, chickens, goats and rabbits. But – the idea to share their animals with the community came about when Madison and Mollie set out to find a way for Mollie to buy a new pony and Madison to start saving money for college. And so – a new business adventure began known as “Party Ponies: Mobile Pony Rides and Petting Zoo.” 

A Farming Family

Madison and Mollie live on a small farm with their parents, and about four years ago Madison began riding horses. She was self-taught and currently has a job riding horses for two private horse owners here in Henderson who both approached her for the job.  

The Heistand family has 5 horses on their farm. Mollie has a mini pony named Noni, which is used for their business. They also have dairy goats, dwarf goats, chickens and bunnies. “It is a lot of work to have a lot of animals,” Jennifer said. Each family member has chores but sometimes they must help each other depending on circumstances. “Sometimes if one of us is struggling to do something, like if there is a big storm coming and everyone else is done, then we go over and help somebody,” Mollie explained. 

Madison takes care of the horses and goats while Mollie takes care of the chickens and bunnies and gets the eggs. “All of our animals are really sweet because we mess with them everyday,” Madison said cheerfully. She laughed, explaining that their chicken coop isn’t very big, but Mollie is able to squeeze inside and the chickens will run up to her like they are pets. They didn’t technically have a mama, so Mollie calls herself their mama.  

Madison’s interest and hobbies revolve around horses. She is wanting to go to college to train and possibly obtain a degree in equine studies at Asbury University near Lexington. “Horses are my thing,” she said. Outside of their new business, Mollie really enjoys playing the piano, horseback riding and planting and gardening. 

The Idea 

Mollie knew she was outgrowing Noni, who is about to be 6, so she really wanted to start looking for a new pony. She had painted a picture of what kind of horse she wanted, and one day they walked into Madison’s work and almost exactly what she had painted was in the stall. We couldn’t get it because it was too much,” Mollie expressed.

Madison stated, “She was so upset.” Madison knew when Mollie found the right pony they would have to get rid of Noni. And that is when the idea was born. Madison shared her idea, “I am like what if we did parties so that you could earn money to get another pony, and we could keep Noni because she would be doing something. Mollie said happily, “I want people to ride her, but I don’t want to sell her. We are keeping her to love on her while we are doing the party ponies. That’s basically what we want to do is kids can still ride her, and she can still get exercise.”

“She is like a dog,” Jennifer said laughing. Mollie added that Noni is like an outside pet. She is part of their family, and this new business gives her purpose since the girls can no longer ride her now. The girls took their business idea a step further by adding the petting zoo. Madison recently helped their dad, Jamie, fix up a trailer to transport their horses when she became interested in competing in speed and agility events. Madison found their trailer while driving down the highway and as Madison described, “it was a rust bucket.” They were currently borrowing a friend’s trailer to get their horses to and from events, so they knew they had to reach out and get the trailer. Their dad is a mechanic and showed Madison how to do some of the body work. They worked together to design it. Once they began building the Party Ponies business, it made sense to add more of their animals since they had a way to transport all of them now. They had the animals and the trailer, so they were ready to start offering parties to the community! 

The plan is they will work hard, and the girls will split the funds to go towards a new pony and college tuition. However, the money earned will also be used to help feed and care for their animals.

The Business

It took about a month to get Party Ponies up and going. Madison researched and built this business from the ground up on her own. Her dad helped her with some of the 501c3 paperwork, but she did the majority of it on her own. She also had to find costumes and worked on marketing to promote their new venture by designing their website, Facebook page and business cards. 

“Party Ponies: Mobile Pony Rides and Petting Zoo” offers four themes: Mythical, Sunflower Country, Cowboy Country and Frozen. They are hoping to add a Knight themed party soon. Not only do Madison, Mollie and their pony, Noni, dress the part, but they provide costumes and props for the kids to take photos with as well. 

When it comes to transporting the animals, their chickens are probably the easiest. Madison laughed as she explained how the baby chickens are moved in a cat carrier, and the baby chickens will run right inside for the road trip. The goats on the other hand can be the most challenging sometimes to get inside the trailer but are very loving. Smiling, Madison said, “If they can’t see you, they will yell.” Their dwarf goats are named Cotton and Candy. The girls bought these goats with their own money in Montgomery, Indiana. All of the animals will be inside a portable pen at the parties. 

  Madison says the most challenging task on their part is keeping all the animals in the pen and making sure kids follow the rules. They know how excited the kids will be, but their #1 priority is making sure everyone is safe. 

During the parties, Madison leads the pony. “I like playing the part and interacting with the kids.” Mollie went on to explain how they are always open to recommendations. Mollie said, “I like seeing them enjoy the animals, and for kids who don’t have a lot of animals or any at home, they can enjoy animals they don’t have.”

Not Their First Rodeo

Starting a business hasn’t been Madison, or her family’s, first experience bringing something new and exciting to the Henderson community! 

When Madison began competing, she started in Indiana. She was brand new, but she did fairly well being her first show. The next weekend, she won quite a few events. That entire year, she was practicing and going out to compete every weekend. “By the end of the year, I had a few championship year-end points. It was hard to find competition in Kentucky, so I had to go further than Evansville.” However, Madison knew they could not keep traveling every weekend.  

There were no shows at the Henderson County Fairgrounds. Madison and her family kept talking about how someone needed to start a show, and then one day her dad said, “Well ,if it’s going to be this hard, why don’t we just make a show ourselves!”

Madison explained it was kind of a joke for a while, but then they thought, “Why don’t we?” The next thing you know, the monthly Western Horse Show was created called “Road to the Rodeo (RTTR).” Jennifer explained, “Road to the Rodeo is not a rodeo, but it is a training ground that is basically a bridge between fun shows and rodeo. It is the “road to” for kids and anyone who wants to compete.  RTTR was created in October 2022,  but shows didn’t start until April 2023. The shows will end in October before they start preparing for the upcoming season. 

Madison and her dad started looking into legal work, but had a lot of support from people in the community. “We wanted a festival atmosphere for riders and spectators,” Madison said. “As a rider, I enjoy putting on a performance. I enjoy competing and going against other people, but it’s also fun to be in front of a crowd. We wanted to draw people in, as well as, have things for the riders so we came up with ideas: bounce houses, games, roping and great food. All kinds of stuff to draw people in.”

Madison used Canva to create everything for RTTR. Madison created all the forms, waivers, and banners and designed the website and awards for the event. 

The monthly shows themselves have been a family business. “Every show is a learning experience. We couldn’t pull it off without volunteers,” Jennifer said. They would not have been able to get this event up and running without sponsors. Jennifer stated, “It takes a lot of time, effort and energy. What the show makes helps sustain the next one. It’s in its infancy stages, but it has gone really smoothly and great. We got a lot of people here this time. People are finally hearing about it!” 

Their last monthly show had riders from Illinois and even Texas who just happened to be  in town for work. “Each time it progresses,” Mollie said. Mollie is the “concession tray girl” as she calls it. She will walk around and get orders – whether it be for the elderly or for those who don’t want to miss the show. She helps get drinks, chips, etc. She really enjoys it. 

A Learning Opportunity

As a homeschooling family, Jennifer is always teaching her girls. However, these business adventures are teaching them so many life skills and lessons. She explained how they are learning so much responsibility by living and caring for all their animals. “It takes a lot to do things like feeding and making sure their health is looked after.” Madison has taken this all on her own by learning how to set up a business. “It is stressful, but it is rewarding at the same time. She is learning a lot of things that a lot of adults don’t even know. I never would have done that at 17,” Jennifer said. For Mollie, she is working the concessions for RTTR by learning how to communicate with others and count money. “She is getting it and thinking in her head doing math,” said the proud mother. Their motto for RTTR is “Riding on Faith” and this rodeo venture has been truly that. Their family has taken a leap of faith to bring a fun-filled event to Henderson.

“They have done really well. It’s a great idea. The only thing we have left now is to learn how to drive with a horse trailer,” Jennifer said laughing. “I am proud of them because they are learning how to be responsible and do things on their own. We have a lot of adventures. Why not try it and see if it will work!”

“Dream It, Do It, Declare It” – this is what you will find on the back of Madison and Mollie’s trailer and these girls are proving you are never too young to dream big and make those dreams a reality.

To learn more about “Party Ponies: Mobile Pony Rides and Petting Zoo,” you may visit partyponies.godaddysites.com, email them at [email protected] or call 270-860-6955. For Road to the Rodeo, you may visit roadtotherodeo.com.