Young Florida barn builder discovers that
ComfortStall
does it all.
By Kim F Miller
Photos by Emma Whillans
It’s widely known in the equestrian world that horsemanship
skills and horse sense in a business context don’t always
go together. They do at Whillans Equine, where 24-year-old
hunter/jumper trainer and barn owner Emma Whillan’s clear
vision for every aspect her new training and boarding facility
has led to a remarkable first year.
Whillans Equine opened for business July 1 of 2019, in the
Wellington, Florida area’s Loxahatchee. Emma’s idea was top
notch care and training in a family-friendly environment and
its realization resulted in the quick filling of her now 24 stalls.
Emma has been planning the barn most of her life. She kept
a notebook of what she liked and didn’t like in stables as a junior
competitor and working student at several top programs.
Flooring First
Starting from scratch with five acres
of former nursery, Emma put flooring
first in prioritizing her budget. She knew
what she didn’t want: traditional stall
mats. These provide little cushion for
the horse and are a heavyweight hassle
when they and whatever they’re
laid on top of need to be cleaned
and aired out because of urine seepage
and accumulation.
ComfortStall Orthopedic Sealed Flooring
was exactly the flooring Emma
imagined, even before she knew it existed.
The multi-layer system functions
as a single-piece thanks to a durable
rubber top cover that is sealed to
the stall walls with HDPE anchor strips.
Under that is proprietary foam that
provides give, cushion and energy
return. Emma made an initial investment
in 16 ComfortStalls and recently
This is Cushy!
Tamara Ploskunak is one of those
to bear out Emma’s prediction that
ComfortStall would impress prospective
boarders. Shopping for a new
home for her Andalusian mare, Rabina,
Tamara saw stables that had dirt
stall floors and others with rubber mats
over concrete. “Oh, this is just bad,”
she thought. Then, “Wow! This is cushy.
I could do gymnastics on this!” when
she visited Whillans Equine.
Tamara purchased Rabina a year
ago knowing the mare had some
mild fetlock issues, most likely arthritis
related. “I figured if that was the only
problem, I wasn’t going to worry.”
She accepted that joint injections
might be a near-future reality to keep
Rabina comfortable in her dressage
work. After being at Whillans Equine
for just a few weeks, “She was sound
as a board,” Tamara states. “I think
the way the flooring takes the pressure
off her legs is really helping her.”
Rabina’s general response on ComfortStall
Delphine and Uno
added another eight.
The flooring is a convincing selling
point for prospective boarders, letting
them feel with their own two feet
the commitment Whillans Equine has
made to their horses’ well-being. Most
important, the flooring is helping the
horses, exceeding Emma’s already
high expectations at the outset of her
barn and business building adventure.
“I am so lucky to have it in my first
barn,” she says. “I knew that flooring
was something I could not cut corners
on and I was right. We’ve actually
had some miracle stories with some
of our horses, and all of them are way
better thanks to this flooring.” Continued
EQUINE Health
has been “amazing,” the
48 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
owner adds. “At first, I
freaked out because she
was always lying down
when I came to see her.
But now I realize it’s be-
cause she is comfortable
lying down and I know
it’s the flooring. In the past,
she used to be fidgety in her stall. She
used to pace and weave a little. She
doesn’t do that anymore. It is such a
relief to know that she is comfortable.”
Corey, a 17.2hh show jumper, is another
ComfortStall fan, as is his owner and
farrier. The 12-year-old Holsteiner has
an issue with thinning bursa, the sac
of fluid that helps lubricate joint function.
“His navicular bursa was pretty
beat up,” explains farrier David Bustamante.
It never manifested in actual
lameness, but rather as occasional
tenderfootedness, especially when first
coming out of his stall each day. That’s
disappeared since Corey moved onto
ComfortStall.
David had cared for Corey when he
was stabled elsewhere. The first shoeing
after moving to Whillans Equine,
David didn’t notice a difference in
the jumper’s hooves. After the second
shoeing, four weeks later, “I told his
owner, I really like his feet.” Because
Corey’s nutrition and exercise routine
had stayed the same, the farrier attributed
the improvement to the flooring.
Tenderfoot
/www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com