Virginia Horse Center

8 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 V I RGINI A HORSE CENTER are challenging,” Petty says. “We have about 50 employees that keep things running. We want to do all we can for our employees. Retention is at the top of our list. We have one employee that’s worked here ever since the center was built 35 years ago, so we’ve done pretty good on retention.” Those relationships extend beyond their employees. Once the stalls get cleaned out after each event (all 745 of them!), everything is loaded into dumpsters. Then, a local dairy farm picks it all up and distributes it on their pastures. “It’s a great partnership,” Petty says, adding, “Donors make great partners, too. Virginias, particularly equestrian Virginians, have been very generous. Our development office raised about $3.3 million in the last fiscal year.” Nearly all of that money went to renovations on several different barns. Petty relates, “About 10 people came together and wrote checks for a million dollars for our international dressage