Jennifer Dushane's Arctic Horse Gear: all-weather skirts for women who ride horses, or don't.

AuthorWhite, Rindi
PositionSTART-UPS

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A Butte marine biologist is turning the slowdown in the Alaska oil economy into a launchpad for a new business venture: making all-weather skirts for women who ride horses.

A year ago, Jennifer Dushane was a graduate student, working toward a PhD in marine biology. But she was dissatisfied with the work and felt getting a degree might be more costly, both in time and effort, than it would be worth in the field she was working in.

She had for several years run Arctic Ecological Research, a consulting company that contracted with oilfield companies and others to conduct research in rural Alaska. She gained a lot of knowledge about working in rural Alaska while contracting and knew that the cold-weather gear available didn't keep her warm.

"I've spent a lot of time in these extreme conditions, wishing I had options for my legs," she says. "By and large, women don't have much to choose from when it comes to cold-weather gear for our legs."

As an avid horsewoman, Dushane had been thinking for a while about cold-weather gear that would be suitable for riding horses. She has, and uses, a Skhoop skirt, a popular insulated skirt that Alaskan women wear to hike or recreate outdoors--or just to wear to work or out to dinner. But the Skhoop is too narrow to accommodate riding horses, and many weren't waterproof or machine washable.

"We've gotten into some strange get-ups to stay warm," she says. "I thought, why not create something that is really pretty and that works for active women?"

A friend gave Dushane a wrap skirt designed for riding horses, and although the skirt wasn't exactly what she envisioned, it was a good jumping-off point for her design process.

"I wanted a skirt to cover the rider, the back of a horse, and any saddle packs," she says. In cold weather, horses move easier if their hindquarters are covered and warm.

Creating the Prototype

She got connected with a Palmer seamstress, who helped her design skirts and created prototypes. Dushane isn't a seamstress, she says, though she tried to learn so she could better understand the process.

"I tried to make a few skirts," she says. "A few potato sacks later, I decided it wasn't for me."

With the help of the Palmer seamstress, she created a prototype that seemed to work, and in February, got a business license for her company, Arctic Horse Gear. It is one of several businesses Dushane runs--she also operates Butte's Bethel, a two-cabin bed and breakfast, and a small organic farm on the property she and her husband own in Butte.

Although...

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