Q&A With Jillian Blades-Rice Of More Leg Marketing

Diana Bezdedeanu
9 hours ago
4 min read

DIANA: What was your introduction to horses?

JILLIAN: My very first introduction to horses was at the county fair, where I saw the pony rides. At three years old—and under the minimum height—I spent the rest of the day crying because I was too little to ride. That was the moment my parents knew they were done for. I started attending summer camp when I was six and began taking weekly riding lessons at age nine. The slippery slope continued to leasing and showing, and then owning, during high school.

DIANA: How did you find your way into marketing, and what led you to specialize in the equine industry?

JILLIAN: I took my first marketing class during the last semester of my senior year to fulfill a degree requirement, and it was love at first sight. I fell in love with the creativity informed by psychology and data. My first job out of college was at SmartPak, which exposed me to the professional side of the equine industry. I later took a job at a marketing agency specializing in the transportation industry, where I spent almost a decade. Like most equestrians, I knew I’d always end up back in the equine industry. In 2025, I started my freelancing business, More Leg Marketing, which has been growing rapidly ever since.

Smiling woman in white blouse and pink pants stands in front of EOBW letters. Green backdrop with pink and blue accents; palm trees visible.

DIANA: How does marketing for equine businesses differ from marketing in other industries?

JILLIAN: The equine industry is unique in that it encompasses a complex array of niches. Equestrians range from the casual western rider who camps on weekends to the competitive hunter-jumper rider who winters in Florida. More traditional industries can also be complex, but there aren’t many that offer this many niches under one umbrella. That variety creates numerous opportunities for equine businesses, both in terms of customer types and overall reach.

DIANA: What are the most common marketing challenges you see equine professionals struggling with today?

JILLIAN: Good, clean data is often the biggest challenge. Many brands throw spaghetti at the wall, and as long as revenue is increasing, they assume their marketing is working. And it is—to a degree. But rising revenue doesn’t necessarily mean the strategy and budget are efficient. That’s where data and revenue attribution come into play.

Ideally, every dollar in revenue should be traceable to a source, often multiple sources. On a regular basis—monthly, quarterly, yearly—marketing data should be reviewed to determine which tactics generate the most revenue at the lowest cost. With that information, budgets and strategies can be adjusted to ensure every marketing dollar is used efficiently and effectively.

Rider in a black helmet and blazer jumps a bay horse over hay bales in a field, with trees in the blurred background.

DIANA: What mistakes do equine businesses often make with their marketing, and how can they avoid them?

JILLIAN: Equine businesses often don’t view their marketing strategy and resulting data as a full funnel. A simple marketing funnel has three levels—top, middle, and bottom—with each feeding into the next.

At the top of the funnel, data focuses on brand awareness metrics like social media likes, follows, engagement, sponsorship visibility, and website traffic. The middle funnel is where audiences engage more deeply through email sign-ups, content downloads, and video viewership. The bottom funnel is where the ultimate goal lives, whether that’s a purchase, program sign-up, or new client.

By viewing marketing as a funnel, equine businesses can more clearly identify what’s working and what needs improvement.

A person in a white shirt and black hat rides a brown horse in a fenced area, surrounded by blurred trees, creating a serene scene.

DIANA: How do you measure success for equine marketing campaigns beyond follower count or likes?

JILLIAN: Every campaign should have a specific goal tied to the marketing funnel. Success should always be measured in relation to the funnel stage.

Start by identifying your ultimate goal—whether that’s a new client, a purchase, or a program sign-up—and work backward up the funnel. It’s perfectly fine to begin simply, using just one or two tactics per funnel stage. Once those are working, you can expand into additional tactics to drive more business.

For example, a new sponsorship might increase social media followers, which is great—but did mid-funnel metrics rise afterward? Did email newsletter sign-ups increase? Were there more downloads of a free guide shared on social media? When tactics at each funnel stage are working, you should see a cascading effect.

Rider in blue and beige jumps a horse over a red and yellow hurdle on a sandy equestrian course, with a farmhouse and green fields behind.

DIANA: Where do you see equine marketing heading in the future and how are you preparing your business to evolve with it?

JILLIAN: The future is in capturing first-hand marketing data. This has been a growing trend with the disablement of cookies, but it’s becoming even more critical as social media advertising platforms grow more unpredictable and privacy measures increase. Owning your audience data will be key to keeping marketing costs down.

I’m working with clients to grow their email marketing and CRMs, analyze website statistics, and gather insights from customer surveys. All of this data is used to continually refine and strengthen their marketing funnels.

Diana smiling beside a brown horse in an indoor arena with flags. She wears a pink top and blue pants, creating a joyful mood. — Jillian Blades-Rice

Jillian Blades-Rice

More Leg Marketing

Jillian Blades-Rice is the Founder and CEO of More Leg Marketing, a full-service marketing agency specializing in the equestrian industry.

A lifelong equestrian, Jillian transitioned to the digital marketing world after gaining valuable experience at SmartPak Equine. She has spent the last nine years growing a transportation marketing agency to seven-figures, primarily as the Director of Marketing Operations.

Now, she brings her unique blend of equestrian expertise and digital marketing leadership to the industry she loves.

When not leading the charge at More Leg Marketing, Jillian can be found at the barn spoiling her old junior horse, Freddie. She currently resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and furry companions.

Find Us: www.morelegmarketing.com

Written by Diana Bezdedeanu

A native of Westwood, Massachusetts, Diana Bezdedeanu is the founder and lead practitioner at Horses Offering People Education (HOPE in MA), an unmounted equine-assisted learning program. She has written for Sidelines Magazine, Community Horse, and Westwood Living. Diana is the proud owner of two retired bay off-the-track Thoroughbred mares, Coffee and London.