This is Nerine's story.....

Poplar Corner was the result of lots of life events all leading to the same thing.

• I have voluntarily taught children to ride since I was an 18 year old in Pony Club;
  
• I bought a property close to Canberra 18 years ago to accommodate the family's desire for a rural life and it turned out to suit the setup of a riding school;
  
• the purchase of a donkey for my 4 y.o. son to help when we went bushwalking (to the same place that I eventually ran commercial camps);
  
• giving voluntary riding lessons to Tharwa locals, just to get my son interested in riding;
• At 10 years of age my son started giving donkey rides at local events and we were noticed
• I was even a trained caterer for the residential side of the business;
• After 25 years of administration, public relations and marketing in the public service I was made redundant and was forced to think of something new to do.
  
• I already had horses, a horse float and infrastructure, so my initial outlay was not huge.

I have a very clear vision of the importance of a child's first meeting with a pony. I want to make it memorable like my own first happy moment. I understand that my bottom line is not necessarily teaching kids how to ride, but providing them with a valuable rural experience and parent's with a valuable child minding service.

The highlights are:

• the quality of life I have;
• the positive feedback I get from both riders and their parents. I treasure a folder full of messages and drawings from children;
• I get to immerse myself in what I truly enjoy. I now find that business, personal, travel and social life often overlap.

There have been plenty of lowlights:

• the worst drought in modern history;
• worst bushfires in Canberra's history;
• being sued by parents' whose son fell off a pony, despite the medical reports that said he had not sustained any injuries;
• the closing of the Tharwa bridge for nearly 3 years; and
• the Equine Influenza.

My advice to anyone starting a business is to be extremely reliable. Schedule, schedule and schedule, but before that, you should be pursuing what you really believe in. If you are passionate about something, it will show in your enthusiasm, your expertise, and how you share it. The "hard work" you put in will not be so "hard" if you genuinely enjoy it.

You can meet Nerine and some of the ponies and donkeys from Poplar Corner at our Business Mums Playgroup Open Day on the 25th September.

Tags: Poplar corner | business mum | pony rides

Learning to swim is almost a developmental milestone in the lives of most Australian children and to celebrate this experience there is a very special company called aquasnapper.

aquasnapper is run by Roslyn Clark who came up with the idea when she was working as a swimming instructor. Watching the parents trying to grab happy snaps of their water babies, Ros realised that not many parents got to see the amazing faces of children underwater and the idea of aquasnapper was born.

If you would like some fantastic pictures of your kids learning to swim then contact Ros on 0401 309 814 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Tags: underwater photography | baby photos | business mum