How APHA Brought Equine Education to the World—and Grew Revenue by 486%

Since moving their programs online, American Paint Horse Association has achieved 486% revenue growth, streamlined operations, and expanded its global reach.

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Making Equine Education Accessible Worldwide

Meet the American Paint Horse Association

For more than 60 years, the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) has celebrated the beauty, versatility, and athleticism of the American Paint Horse. As the world’s second-largest equine breed association—with more than a million horses registered across 59 nations—APHA is dedicated to preserving the breed’s integrity and helping horse enthusiasts deepen their knowledge and skills.

As the horse community evolved, the need arose to provide more accessible, consistent education for riders, owners, and judges around the world. In-person seminars were valuable but limited in reach, and APHA sought a scalable way to bring learning to more people—no matter where they were.To meet that need, APHA launched horseIQ, an interactive online learning platform powered by Thinkific Plus.

Designed to help judges, exhibitors, and enthusiasts better understand competition standards, horse IQ transformed APHA’s educational model—and their business. Since moving their programs online, the organization has achieved 486% revenue growth, streamlined operations, and expanded its global reach.

“While our rulebook outlines judging standards, it’s not always easy to translate that into visual understanding,. That’s where online learning became important.”

– Elizabeth Lawhorn, APHA’s Director of Competition Development.

Building horseIQ Academy

Educating and Empowering the Paint Horse Community

Founded in 1962, the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) maintains breeding and performance records for the Paint Horse breed while promoting programs that elevate standards of care, judging, and competition.As the organization grew globally, so did its role in education. APHA recognized the opportunity to support judges, exhibitors, and horse owners through structured, accessible learning—leading to the creation of horseIQ, an online platform that combines expert knowledge with interactive training.

Turning Education Into Connection

APHA’s mission has always been to bring people and horses together through education. With horseIQ, the organization saw an opportunity to expand that mission beyond the walls of in-person events.

“We operate in an ever-changing world, especially in the horse community. Like most nonprofits, we’re always looking for ways to add value for our members. That’s a key focus of our strategic plan—providing education that enhances member experience.”

– Dave Dellin, CEO of APHA

What began as a resource for judges quickly evolved into a global learning hub for exhibitors, youth participants, and horse owners seeking to understand and improve their performance. By digitizing expert-led seminars, judging criteria, and real-world examples, APHA made equine education more interactive, transparent, and accessible than ever before.

485%

Revenue growth

1,000+

Learners

59+

Nations

Challenges and Goals

Before Thinkific Plus, APHA’s educational programs relied heavily on in-person seminars and printed materials, which limited accessibility and scalability. Content updates were manual and resource-intensive, and the organization’s small marketing team needed a more efficient way to manage content, track learner progress, and deliver education year-round.

The team’s goals were clear:

Increase access to consistent, high-quality education for judges, exhibitors, and horse enthusiasts worldwide.
Build operational efficiency by eliminating the need for costly custom development.
Create a new revenue stream to fund future programs and reinvest in community growth.

Transforming Education Into a Scalable, Self-Sustaining Model with Thinkific Plus

When APHA first began exploring online learning, the team tried a different LMS platform—but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t built for scalability or selling courses.

“We started with a different LMS platform about 10 years ago—it wasn’t quite geared for selling and providing courses. Five years ago, we went on another adventure to find a better solution that fit our needs. That’s where we found Thinkific.”

– Elizabeth Lawhorn, Director of Competition Development at APHA

By moving horseIQ to Thinkific Plus, APHA unlocked the flexibility and control they needed to grow. The platform’s intuitive interface allowed the small marketing team to easily upload content, manage learners, and access performance analytics—all without relying on developers or outside vendors.

This operational efficiency freed up time and resources to focus on what mattered most: creating exceptional learning experiences for the Paint Horse community.

Building an Engaging and Accessible Learning Experience

With Thinkific Plus, APHA turned its educational vision into a dynamic, interactive experience:

Delivered scalable online education through a membership model that reaches learners globally—judges, exhibitors, and youth alike.
Created interactive learning tools, including real show footage, practice judging activities, and quizzes that help users apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios.
Launched a branded mobile app after discovering that nearly half of their users (45%) were accessing horseIQ on mobile, allowing them to learn and engage anywhere.

“We’ve seen 486% growth in the last five years since moving to Thinkific Plus.”
– Elizabeth Lawhorn, Director of Competition Development at APHA

“It’s been good using T-Commerce—it’s allowed me to more easily manage people’s subscriptions. About 45% of our users visit horse IQ through their mobile devices, and it was really easy to set up the branded mobile app,” says Elizabeth.

These milestones helped the APHA team expand education far beyond their original audience, turning horseIQ into a valuable tool for the equine community.

Accelerating Growth and Member Value

The impact of moving to Thinkific Plus has been significant for the APHA —both in revenue and community reach.

“We’ve had a sizeable amount of growth as we moved over to the Thinkific platform.”
– Dave Dellin, CEO of APHA.

APHA’s Results:

486% revenue growth since adopting Thinkific Plus
Thousands of learners across judging, competition, and youth programs
45% of users engaging through the branded mobile app

By combining Thinkific Plus’s scalability with APHA’s deep expertise, horseIQ has evolved into more than an educational tool—it’s a thriving revenue stream that sustains the association’s mission and funds future innovation.

Lessons from APHA’s Success

What you can apply to your own online learning programs:

Make learning accessible and mobile-friendly.
Learners engage more when they can access content anytime, anywhere. With nearly half of horse IQ users learning on mobile, the branded app has become essential to the experience.
Focus on interactivity, not just information.
Visual, hands-on learning—like practice judging sessions and side-by-side video comparisons—helps learners retain knowledge and see real-world application.
Leverage analytics to refine content.
Using Thinkific Plus’s advanced analytics tools, APHA continually tracks engagement, identifies which lessons resonate most, and adjusts future content to maximize impact.

“Analytics are a big win for us—we can see where users spend their time, what content is most valuable, and where to focus future marketing efforts.”

– Elizabeth Lawhorn, Director of Competition Development.

Turn Education Into a Revenue Engine

The American Paint Horse Association turned online education into a powerful new revenue stream—achieving 486% growth after moving to Thinkific Plus.

If you’re ready to do the same, Thinkific Plus gives you the tools to build, sell, and scale your own learning programs with ease—from branded sites and mobile apps to advanced analytics and T-Commerce.

Discover how Thinkific Plus can help you grow your revenue through education.
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