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Horses have always been a part of Chanel Beatson’s life. From the moment she was born her family's passion for horses became hers and it was only right that she found her calling with horses and carved a lifetime career with them.
After the sad passing of her dad, David Snowden in 2021 Chanel took over the ownership of Cambridge Grains in May of that year. David had always been passionate about equine nutrition and had a burning desire to help everyone who came into the store to ensure they got what they needed. Cambridge Grains was his pride and joy, and to ensure that his legacy continued Chanel decided to take over the business. Cambridge Grains has such a close-knit client base who have been incredibly loyal with some clients being there since David took over in 1999.
Chanel has thrived through the challenges of taking over Cambridge Grains, through trial and error and what is the rollercoaster of running a business It has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears but none was wasted. In the big picture, Chanel wanted to see the business succeed to ensure that all of her dad's hard work didn’t go to waste, but she was confident – and rightfully so, that they have kept her dad's legacy alive and still have customers coming into the shop talking about him. He is forever missed by so many.
On feeding a horse, like humans, horses are very different to each other and often need different feeds to help them. ideally, you don’t want a horse too fizzy, but well enough they feel good and enjoy their work. A tired horse is likely to switch off and go sour, so a balanced work regime paired with a quality and suitable diet is important to focus on. Chanels' go-to product is Cambridge Grain Topline Plus. It provides energy and improves their condition. It’s a muesli blend feed that is made fresh weekly, which she believes an important role in horses feeling and looking so well. She's never really had a horse turn its nose up at it either!
Chanel and her husband Jamie own and operate Ohukia Lodge in Cambridge which is a breaking-in, pre-training, spelling and sales preparation farm. She and Jamie like to ensure that all horses that come in, no matter what they look like leave looking like a million dollars! They both enjoy working with the horses and figuring out what they need and fascinating how different they can all be. It's been a rewarding process to look back at the horses that have come through their barn and see what they’ve achieved.
Chanel and her team are always looking at ways to improve quality, especially with the rising costs over the last few years, it's been important to Cambridge Grains to ensure the quality remains but the feed doesn’t become overly pricey. It's also important to take on board what customers are saying and feedback is always welcomed to help them improve their feeds.
In the future, Chanel would like to see kindness return to the industry. The quality of horses, riders and technology improved but it's vital to remember we are all trying to achieve things and it can be so easy to become envious of others. It would be crucial to ensure kindness returns because without kindness people will become dejected, supporting people including our many up-and-coming young guns is so important. Without our participants and allowing pathways, support and progress it could leave the industry struggling to find the quality people it has. Kindness should be of the utmost importance.
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