Holiday Craft Turns Into Thriving Side Business For Full-Time Farrier’s Family

By: Brittany Bevis

For the past 20 years, Teri Wilber and her husband have operated a full-time farrier business out of St. Cloud, Florida. With a background of competing in everything from team roping to western pleasure, the life of this multi-disciplined family completely revolves around anything and everything equine-related.

“Horses are our life,” Wilber says. “It’s what we know and love.”

For the past few weeks, Wilber and her helper elves have been hard at work in what her husband fondly calls “Santa’s Workshop” filling orders and shipping out Holiday Horse Wreaths across the country. It turns out that what first began as a fun holiday craft project has quickly turned into a thriving little side business.

“This is the first year that we have made them,” Wilber says. “My daughter-in-law and I were looking for a unique gift idea for this Christmas. Once we made the wreaths, my husband sent a few pictures to friends and clients. We had several people interested in ordering them. We love to craft and spend time together, so it made sense to make them for other people to enjoy and send as gifts.”

The Holiday Horse Wreath factory has been particularly busy this holiday season, but Wilber says she plans to continue making these wreaths through the New Year for people interested in a unique option for year-round home or barn decor. Each Holiday Horse Wreath is hand-crafted using artificial greenery, a wood backing, and a sturdy hanger, and the personalization options are virtually endless. Wilber confirms that she’s had many clients request for halters to be created in equestrian team school colors, barn colors, or with manes painted to match a specific horse’s coloring.

“We make them out of artificial greenery so they can be used all year, or just for the holiday season,” she says. “We can still guarantee Christmas delivery in most areas until December 21st.”

“We use several different materials to personalize the halters, from jewelry and letters to iron on gems and hand painting. Each horse head is unique and custom designed. There are no two that are the same. We try to make each one as if we were displaying it in our own homes. We have only used ribbon so far this year, but we will be looking into other resources for the future. The possibilities are endless, and we are enjoying exploring all of our options.”

Wilber has received a few special requests this season and is looking forward to expanding the wreath line to include other animals and decorative crosses.

“Our boys have shown steers in 4-H across Florida since they were eight,” she says. “We always use the steer heads at the fair to display their names and animal information, so it seemed right to do a steer wreath as well.”

“We are very excited about this new adventure and are enjoying hearing how everyone loves them. We do have other wreaths that we are working on, including crosses and other animals.”

If you would like more information about Wilber’s charming Holiday Horse Wreaths, please visit her Facebook page by clicking here. We love hearing about your creative pursuits, as they relate to the horse industry. If you have a unique small business idea to share, send an e-mail to b.bevis@equinechronicle.com and you might be featured in an upcoming article.