Generally, negative.
Thanks!
Thanks. Dover does have excellent customer service. I toured their corporate HQ where the customer service center is and it’s definitely first rate.
Being the foodie that I am I am still waiting to try horse meat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat
I make a really good meat loaf and burger, would be a great substitute for beef. And the look on people’s faces after they finished their meal when I told them they just ate a horse would be priceless.
Hey bromion, I was just asking about DOVR out of curiosity. Sounds like a tough biz though they are a big player in the space and as long as they’re around, the potential for a private equity takeout exists. When I worked in PE we looked at some of the competitors and wondered if we could put a bunch of them together, consolidate supply chain, cut out a bunch of SKU’s, and increase earnings power that way. What we ended up discovering was that the potential for SKU consolidation wasn’t nearly as much as we’d thought because horse owners tend to be very particular about the kind of stuff they buy for their horsies, as evidenced by this thread.
My fund couldn’t do anything with DOVR. Even taking a 1-2 percent position would basically mean that we’d have to buy the whole company - probably not a terrible idea if we had horse-loving candidates that we could install as a new management team, but alas that isn’t the case…anyway we can always talk about non-equine companies too
My buddy grew up near an italian paisan who owned a trash business and happened to also own a farm of arabian horses. I was told they go for up to a qtr million a horse. I saw these magnificant beast roaming the fields and also wondered why, given the price, no one stole them. I was then told the owner owns a trash business and everyone in the town understood the implications.
^ yeah…never want to mess with people that are experts in waste disposal.
You could buy it if management were willing to sell. This is a pretty funny situation, but basically the guy who founded DOVR is an alum of HBS. There is a second horse company that is private but the name is alluding me. Anyway this other company was also founded by an HBS alum, but not before she was turned down for a job offer at DOVR. So she want on to found company #2, and it’s been bringing the noise to DOVR. It is very obvious that the two should consolidate into one company but there is a huge amount of bad blood between the two and it’s a pissing contest about who has a bigger dick between two HBS alums (even though one is a woman). So DOVR would rather destroy capital on its retail operation in pursuit of growth (even though it doesn’t make sense) instead of do the right thing for shareholders and the company and sell to this other private firm that is crushing them in direct marketing.
It has the potential to be a solid business overall, at least on the direct marketing side. They should have consolidated, moved into vitamin products (recurring high margin, nice niche) and got into the Western saddle market as well. They did none of these things and have been losing share instead. Company should be a case study on what not to do with your business.
My understanding is they also have no interest in selling the business unless someone is willing to really pay up for it.
He’s adopted.
Touché!
The grandsire of the mare we lost is quite well-known in Arabian circles. The ranch where he lived is in Arroyo Grande, CA, about 5 hours up the coast from us. If you look at their website under “Horses for Sale” the first one listed has a $70,000 pricetag.
AJ was more economical.
^Why not just buy a good ATV?
ATVs cannot jump one-meter (or more) fences, and they not nearly as agile at cutting cattle.
(Several years ago my wife was flipping through the channels on the TV and stopped when she saw some horses. It was a program about cutting horses – horses used to separate a specific animal from a cattle herd (e.g., a dogie for branding). They interviewed several people and showed a lot of cutters at work, and it seems that the cutting world is divided into two distinct camps:
- Those who would never consider using an Arabian as a cutting horse (they use almost exclusively quarter horses)
- Those who would never consider using anything _ other than an Arabian_ as a cutting horse)
I would love to ride a cutter just once. They’re amazing horses: you point them at the animal you want, then turn them loose and hang on. They’re so quick jumping from one side to the other to cut off their target from rejoining the herd, it’s unbelievable.
Here’s an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wgK2mesDkQ
Not many ATVs can do that.
This from a fcking Texan!!! Blasphamy! Everyone in TX ought to have a horse, boots, and cowboy hat.
Nice looking horse! Congrats!
A funny commercial for you (SFW):