Jimmy, Stephanie, and Stephanie’s dog Aspen with their finished truck topped with a 12,000lb winch and custom aluminum ramps.
How it started
Stephanie and I both went to junior high and high school together. Not long after High School, Stephanie moved to the Front Range of Colorado and a few years later I moved to the Western Slope. We both, while working in the equine industry and taking care of horses on a daily basis, noticed that we ran into similar issues. Though we were on opposite sides of the state, we found it difficult to find certain services. In the spring of 2018 I decided I would go to The Oklahoma Horseshoeing School because I wanted to learn how to trim and shoe all of our pack horses on my own. As time progressed we have both experienced the loss of horses and again were left with an unfortunate situation; what to do with this large deceased horse that we cannot physically move, nor have the equipment to dispose of it on our own, or have a large enough property to properly bury it. We also found that there are lots of rules to follow if one should want to bury and animal carcass on their own property. For more information on these rules and regulations check out our next blog post.
The inspiration
Stephanie became good friends with a member of the organization she worked for that owns the business, All Animal Recovery, they specialize in the removal of deceased large animals. Stephanie told me about the business and that they had been receiving lots of calls for the Northern Colorado area, which they currently do not service. We decided that we could provide the service folks needed and deserved; which is, compassionate and professional pick up of your deceased livestock family members. We then decided that it would behoove us to work with All Animal Recovery and learn from someone with 18years of experience. Stephanie Ewoldt, owner of All Animal Recovery, showed us the proper way to handle the pick-ups and the way that she has run her business very successfully. We realize this is a hard time in every animal owner’s life. We have also found through doing pick-ups with Stephanie Ewoldt that we will do our best to make this the least stressful experience for all of you out there.
Thumbalena (AKA Lena) and Dollar in the high country of the Flat Tops Wilderness
Let’s get to work
After learning the ins and outs of the company, we decided to start up Hearts & Hooves Livestock Services, LLC. We then began truck shopping for the ideal truck. After working with All Animal Recovery we strongly agreed that a medium class dump truck is the best way to go. After lots of searching all over the country, we finally found one! It was a brand new 2019 Ram 5500, out of California. I called the dealership and a week later I was searching for a vehicle transport company to bring it to us in Colorado. This of course was filled with hiccups along the way but who said starting a business was easy?
The truck ready for the 1,000 mile journey to from California to Colorado. We used H&F Hotshots, LLC for the transport company
As we waited for our truck, we brainstormed different business ideas to add to make Hearts & Hooves Livestock Services as well diverse as possible. We decided that we could take my background in shoeing horses and add it as one of our services. If we could combine a high-end, well shod, sound horse, with good logistics we can be the ideal farrier service!
Next, we continued brainstorming and recognized that we as horse owners always have manure and stall shavings piled up with no convenient way to dispose of them. We decided that we would like to add a manure/shavings disposal side to business as well one day. As Hearts & Hooves Livestock Services grows, we will strive to be Northern Colorado’s leading Livestock Service company and offer an array of services for your Equine needs
