20 years of EHS, interview Floor Schoenmakers

January 2021, by Maartje Derkxs

The story of Floor Schoenmakers, the no-nonsense Brabanter with an unrestrained love for the equestrian sport.

Where others step over the horse poo with their noses turned up, it is the metre-high girl from Linden who remains stock-still, because fresh figs on the square can only mean one thing: there are horses around. It is the earliest memory Floor Schoenmakers (43) has of her fascination with horses, which she jokingly calls a sickly virus.

Every night, young Floor falls asleep under the posters of horse great Anky van Grunsven and it is there that she resolutely resolves, "I'm going to be a dressage rider!". She learns very early on that nothing goes for nothing. As a teenager, she cleans the stables, taking care of the horses at the Gassel riding school in exchange for an hour of riding lessons a week. At 13, it is where she meets dressage rider Kebie van der Heijden and farrier Craig Rawlins, who will later become important key figures in the run-up to her career in the equestrian world.

That passion for horses grows and grows with age. As a young adolescent, she could be found with or on a horse every spare hour. That she would later want to go to the equestrian school in Deurne was therefore no more than a logical next step.

Dream in tatters

At 15, however, fate decides otherwise. Floor gets involved in a serious traffic accident, suffering a very complex open leg fracture. A year of rehabilitation in a wheelchair followed. Floor: "I was forced to take ten steps back and live at a pace that didn't suit me. That was tough." She takes school exams from her bed and watches with sorrow as her horse dream goes up in smoke. Forced to take stock again, she decides to give a different interpretation to her horse passion after Havo.

"I just wanted to work, get into the horse world! My dad, the only one I used to take things from now and then, gave me his blessing but not without also reminding me of the importance of a degree. And he told me, "Standing on your own two feet also means minding your own business."

Nevertheless, Floor chooses to leave school behind. She starts working as Kebie's stable rider and groom at the then venue in Son en Breugel, accompanying her to competitions and horse events. She gets to know all levels of equestrian sports and takes every opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of the equestrian world until she breathes it. Consequently, at 18, Floor has an impressive circle of acquaintances in the horse world, but her father's sage advice remains dormant. "Sure, I had to prove 'our dad' right again," Floor laughs. "I initially planned to join the big boys in the publishing and events world, so of course a degree was handy." She therefore starts studying Journalism at the High School in Tilburg. Now in possession of a press card, she visits all possible horse events in the Netherlands, with Indoor Brabant proving an instant favourite. The horses, the atmosphere, the smell, the people, according to Floor, nothing compares to this four-day horse event. "But only the people who share the same horse passion know that."

The Gassel Riding School in 2004, on crutches with the horses!

Floor on her mare Lim

The burnt down student house on Goirkestraat in Tilburg.

Studying, stable life and homeless

In 1998, Kebie van der Heijden and Craig Rawlins moved to Weert, Limburg, with their Stable Korenbloem. Floor manages to secure an internship at Weert's Munttheater, thus combining her studies with stable life. In her journalism studies, she chose the direction Communication and as a student she also visits all major horse events.

In 2000, disaster strikes again. A major fire breaks out in the Tilburg student dorm where Floor is living at the time, which is housed in an old monastery. She sees her entire possessions go up in flames. All she owns at the time are the clothes she is wearing and cat Pleun, whom she manages to free from the blaze just in time. It is the director of animal park De Beekse Bergen, where she did her final internship, who offers her a place to stay when he hears that she no longer has a home due to a fire. In that internship, Floor mainly deals with communication within the company and is mostly in the office. "But I missed the outdoors," Floor admits. So not much later, she finds herself as a guide on a city bus driving day-trippers past all the animals.

After graduating, she starts her working life at BCM in Best. There, she did not experience enough freedom for her creative input and quit after two months.

Euro Horse Sales

In 2001, Floor moved to Weert to the old location of Stal Korenbloem at Dr Anton Philipsweg, where she ran her own stable for a year. She owns several (competition) horses and rides horses for others and still rides horses for Stal Korenbloem. For the well-known trading stable, she goes all over the Netherlands with their clients. Along the way, she and Craig devise a supply and demand system where, using a route planner, stables are marked with their available horses throughout the Netherlands. "A kind of equestrian encyclopaedia where one click on a logo shows who sells what and where horses," Floor explains.

She needs a website, something just emerging at the time. She attracts a website builder and EHS (Euro Horse Sales) Communications is born. Horse customers arrive in large numbers, but Floor notices that many are still searching in the digital world.

"People often didn't have a website or logo yet and they needed that to stand out on my website."

Floor immerses herself in the matter and expands her offering by offering design services in addition to horse matchmaking. In 2004, she adds equestrian staff mediation Euro Horse Grooms. At that time, the office of EHS communications is also located at Stal Korenbloem in Weert.

Flyering, flyering and more flyering at all events.

The first team in the office at Korenbloem Stables.

Design of Anky's site (2004)

The very first Equine Elite

The poster comes to life

Then she is approached by the amazon of all those posters on her horse-girl bedroom. Anky van Grunsven. Anky is introduced to Floor's unparalleled communication talent. And one of the very first websites EHS was allowed to create was for Anky and Sjef. The contact grows and Sjef asks Floor to sell the immensely popular 'Anky van Grunsven merchandise' during horse events in an outlet shop. Floor doesn't shy away from that either. Sales go beyond expectations and that is where Euro Horse Shop was born.

Floor then meets dressage rider Leida Collins-Strijk, who approaches her for mediation in grooms for her stables as well as a new website. She told her about an upcoming open day at her stables and asked Floor to design the invitation and later even to organise the entire accompanying party. Floor didn't say that twice.

"I immediately grabbed it with both hands. I got to do what I was good at and what I loved - creating, organising, connecting and linking. In that assignment, all the parts came together for the first time."

Both Anky and Leida can count Floor among her clients to this day.

In the same period, Craig Rawlins and Floor join forces and organise the now well-known Equine Elite, an exclusive horse auction. "An extraordinary spectacle that I had the pleasure of co-organising for the first six years and still attend every year as a guest," says an enthusiastic Floor.

Love of her life

In 2010, Floor meets her current partner Silvester Vleeshouwers, who only facilitates her choice to find her permanent home in Weert as a proud Brabo. In 2012, Floor and Silvester welcomed their daughter Lola and in 2015 their son Billie was born. Floor: "I am an incredibly proud mum of our two children. Lola regularly goes along to events and also rides horses. EHS on the other hand, is also one of my 'kids'. Sil (Silvester) knows better than anyone how important EHS is for me. He knows the ins and outs, advises me when I need it and gives me the space to run EHS my way."

"As a family, we have managed to give the family/work combination the shape that suits us and that we all feel comfortable with."

Dad, mum and Silvester

Lola and Billie

Floor and the Just Young editorial team

Change of food

Then it was time for a new business impulse and a new location for the office. Floor meets a Weert-based publisher in 2011 and together they create the National Agenda Hippique. A beautifully designed agenda for the real horse lover. She does interviews with interesting people from the horse world, arranges photo shoots and deals with advertisement sales. "A great combination," Floor thinks. "I got to know so many cool people, I joined the board of several Weert networking clubs and expanded my Weert client and acquaintance circle." The Agenda Hippique will have a children's version. And that is like a dream come true for children's friend Floor. Together with the Weert-based publisher, she is setting up a new company: Hippique Media. They design and publish the Stadskrant, the Stadsagenda and, in cooperation with Centrum Jeugd en Gezin, start up the platform Just Young on behalf of the Municipality of Weert. Floor: "Just Young is a combination of a website, school diary and magazine that we created together with young people and for young people. We put together an editorial team of children and broached topics that engaged and appealed to young people. After countless projects with different target groups, there was one target group that faded into the background.

"I started missing the horse world," he says.

Floor will leave Hippique Media in 2013 and turn her focus entirely to EHS Communications.

Online

Floor sees the marketing market changing: "We saw a shift from print to online. Yet print also remained popular. For example, demand for books and diaries was still high. Companies slowly turned to online marketing and social media. I have since gathered around me a team of marketers and creatives, all with a connection to the horse world, with whom we focus on the latest developments in that area. The EHS Communications team is the most fantastic team I could wish for. They work hard and with full passion, day in, day out. Besides online marketing, we advise clients on which media platforms, events, advertisements and trade shows can make a valuable contribution to their business. We dive right in and always manage to be three steps ahead by keeping up to date with the latest developments."

The Socials

Floor meets at Indoor Brabant 2016, Britt Dekker, a (social) media personality with, like Floor, a great love for horses. Together with Britt, she develops the new project 'Paardenpraat Agenda', a horse school agenda with a link to the hugely popular Youtube channel 'Paardenpraat TV'. Soon, her extensive client base takes note of the large audience that YouTube reaches in combination with renowned horse people. Highlighting a brand, product or service through influencers goes through horse country like an ink blot. And the demand for it is growing tremendously.

"That's where the idea for the subsequent project Go Social was born. The leading equestrian network of social influencers. I launched an agency in 2018, Go Social Talents, with a large group of young Dutch and International influencers in the equestrian world. The influencers have a reach of several thousand, up to as many as 500,000 followers. We can fully assist with a social media strategy or deploying our influencers during events or video branding."

Customers are jumping on this new development in droves. During horse events, she has the busiest stand. Hundreds of horse girls in which she sees little Floor reflected, report to the stand. It is the beginning of successes such as Go Social Creators, Go Social Party and Go Social Internationals. Floor: "It's crazy to see that the message the influencers carry is picked up by the young horse generation. That message is: "Horses are fantastic!" We show that the horse life is there for everyone and how it can enrich your life."

The successful Go Social is proving to be the new business boost Floor was looking for and EHS Communications is outgrowing its premises. Floor considers moving into larger premises. For wise counsel, she again goes to father Schoenmakers. He replies: "Floor, you can always get smaller, not bigger. If you don't do it now, you will regret it." That's the prompting she needs. In 2018, after home offices and various other business premises, she moves into her current workplace at Graafschap Hornelaan in Weert, where, among other things, more space is created for, for instance, the 'Go Social Academy', where she trains both companies and individuals to become social media experts.

HUGE number of fans lined up in front of our stand

Fans meet their idols from Go Social

Office in Weert

Last photo with dad in March 2019

The big launch of Go Social at Indoor Brabant 2018 with Anky and Fenna (Hoefwijzer)

Crowds at the Go Social stand at Indoor Brabant

Scratch your soul

Although things are going well for her on the business front, things are well wrong in her trusted backyard. "He was already diagnosed with cancer in 2012, but in 2018, my great mate, my rock and kick in the butt, Dad, is suffering from advanced prostate cancer. A fate befalling many these days. But that it involved my strong, healthy father was hard for me to swallow. It is her father who, from his sickbed, still proudly watches his daughter pursue her dreams and achieve success with her company EHS Communications. "Dad was always there during all those big events. In the background, but so present for me. Even when he was undergoing chemo, he showed up. He wore a cap to cover up the hair that had fallen out. But the proud pretend eyes remained unmistakable and I recognised them out of thousands in the large crowd during the launch of Go Social at Indoor Brabant, when he saw me standing with my great idol Anky van Grunsven on the right and horse YouTuber Fenna van Dam on the left."

In early 2019, cancer begins to take its toll. Floor did not hesitate for a moment, packed her laptop and decided to assist her father in the unfair fight against the relentless disease. "Online, I steered several projects. And the iron-clad EHS team put in all the stops. From his sickbed, I was able to let dad in on developments within our company." Floor accompanied her father's sickbed with her mother and three brothers. A time she remembers as tough, but valuable.

In March that year, in front of his family, her father died. "Before his death, we were able to tell each other a lot. In one of the last conversations, he made me promise him I would be present with my stand at my beloved Indoor Brabant no matter what. But when he finally lost his life and his farewell service was over, I thought, how then? But that is one of the things I learned from him: "There is always a way, and I will find it." With lead in my shoes, I made my way to Indoor Brabant the day after his cremation. The sympathy of my equestrian colleagues felt like a warm bath. With EHS Communications and Go Social, we put up something amazing at Indoor Brabant. We occupied a huge stand, all famous Youtubers were present and gave away cool shows. There was a well-attended meet-and-greet with the influencers. My husband and children were there, my mother and brothers came to watch, daughter Lola rode the Bixie along in the Peelhal, which was incredibly valuable. They were days never to forget. There is no doubt that our dad had an influence on that 'from above'."

Floor's life changes significantly, nevertheless she continues to feel her father's unfailing support and love in everything she does. "Although life regained colour in time, the loss of our dad remains forever as a scratch on my soul."

Life and also work goes on. But Covid-19 has a big impact on business. Floor, who is used to thinking in possibilities and opportunities focuses on the high demand for social media campaigns. The Social Academy is also being redesigned. Whereas people were first invited on location, they now choose to offer the workshops online.

Jubilee

And then 2021 is approaching and with it the 20th anniversary of EHS Communications. Floor looks back on a special time.

"I got to know an awful lot of amazing people, most of them were a blessing, others were a lesson. I set up the most amazing projects with my amazing team and to be able to continue developing this with them is a gift every day."

"Our 20th anniversary is not going to go unnoticed anyway. We have been working hard behind the scenes on the new corporate identity, the launch of KICKSTART and the new podcast HorseHeroes. With heads held high, eyes forward and a bump of new energy, we will face 2021."