A Blessing in Disguise

January 21, 2024 | Filed under: Current Articles,Featured | Posted by: Delores Kuhlwein

Her son’s severe sleeping disorder confined equestrian Barbara Wallender to her home. But the situation turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it gave the self-professed horse fanatic the courage to start her own business. One that’s (almost) all about horses, of course.

By Delores Kuhlwein

Horses are just a way of life for Barbara Wallender and family; not only is the family based out of the Louisville, Kentucky, area, with a farm amid all the elaborate area farms near the site of the Kentucky Derby, she explains, but Barbara and her daughter, Hannah (Wallender) Ehlig, are well known on the AQHA circuit, too.

“We just kind of live and breathe horses,” explains Barbara. “We feel very blessed in all aspects of our life and are always thankful for horses, which are one of our center points in life.”

It made sense then, when Barbara became rather homebound due to her special needs son’s sleep disorder, she found some equine inspiration. “His sleep schedule was so erratic from being awake up to 40 hours or crashing and sleeping up to 15 hours, I was up all night and bored,” Barbara says, “and decided to paint a purse for the Kentucky Derby.”

A New Venture

A lifelong interest in art and a past niche for retail became the backdrop for what are now several Etsy stores with rave reviews, including RePurseonality, which offers “Uplifted New and RePurseonality Designer Handbags” and you guessed it – some are Kentucky Derby themed. Her inspiration, she says, was to recycle, and to “give new life to luxury items,” she says. “It was really fun to put together my actual abilities and thought processes and create and make my own items for resale.”

Her horse lover’s favorite Etsy shop, The Pillow Paddock, sells pillows and equestrian themed items. She also owns A Mug Shot, which she opened to enable her son to express himself in art. He’s now back on a normal sleeping schedule, using Hippo Therapy and working on getting into EWD classes and Special Olympics, as he just started riding horses with a local trainer.

Meanwhile, Barbara is finding herself painting a lot of items and creating offerings such as pillows, blankets, and cosmetic bags, and many ideas are based on pictures from their horse shows, local farm life and scenery, and the Derby itself.

The way everything came together, she explains, was just like it was meant to be. “It was all inspired by my son,” Barbara says. “That really demanded that I stay home to take care of him, so boredom took over and it was very easy to open an Etsy store and I didn’t have to maintain a lot of inventory. I actually encourage anybody that has a thought process or time on their hands, and they want to try something. I have stores on several platforms from Mercari, Etsy, Poshmark, eBay, and I use Facebook Marketplace as well.”

An Unlimited Opportunity

Barbara explains she’s discovered using these platforms offers an unlimited opportunity, and another side benefit has been the connection with the horse industry, just as she was feeling isolated. “I loved being on social media and I’m kind of a busybody, so this was right up my alley. The platforms open the doors worldwide and as we speak, I am working on orders for the Netherlands on 10 pillows.” In fact, her items sell so quickly, sometimes before she lists them, that she’d say her only struggle is keeping up with inventory and on all the platforms.

“I have been amazed at how easily it has all fallen into place, and how successful it has become. I have also realized on social media that people share their ideas, and how things work better or against, so this has been huge to in my success. I have loved selling items that are personalized for people I have done custom work. I have made custom pillows and custom purses, and I’ve actually been able to take pictures of dogs and horses and put them on pillows.”

“I think that with a true natural love of horses, this has become a very easy industry to open the door for me,” concludes Barbara. “I have really touched a lot of people in so many different ways and it has been wonderful therapy for me. I got brave enough to start doing some Louis Vuitton purses and I’m just excited to continue this business. It has really been a wonderful industry for me.”