The commissioner of this thesis was Icelandic Horse Stable Fagur which is located in Vantaa. The services offered by the stable include riding lessons in a riding arena and trail riding tours. The objectives of the thesis were to find out how satisfied customers are with the stable and the services it offers and which areas require improvement.

The theory part of the thesis discussed Icelandic horse’s qualities which either positively or negatively affect the suitability of the breed for customer use and the development of service quality and its effects on customer satisfaction.

The research was conducted as written survey. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the customers at the stable. The survey’s target group consisted of both regular and occasional customers. The questionnaire included mainly questions and claims which were answered on a scale of 1-5 and some open questions. The questions concerned the customer’s basic data, stable’s home page, prices of the services, customer service, horses and services.

Based on the results, the areas which most need improvement were availability of staff, condition of the riding arena, home page updating and difficulty level of the riding lessons. These things require bigger investments. The strengths of the stable were location and accessibility by public transport, horses, price of the regular lessons, atmosphere, friendliness of staff, safety, teaching and professional leaders of trail riding tours. Most of the customers were satisfied with the stable at large. A small stable and a pleasant atmosphere attract riders who simply want to enjoy riding with nice horses instead of training hard with the taste of blood in their mouth.