Dover Saddlery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOVR), the only publicly-traded equestrian products company, recently announced it will hold off opening new stores in 2009 due to the difficult economic environment.

The company noted that it had completed 25 percent of its initial retail rollout of 50 stores. “In spite of a challenging retailing environment, all stores are performing well,” said Stephen Day, CEO, in a press release.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, Dover reported total revenues of $21.4 million, compared to $22.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, a decrease of 6.8 percent.

Retail revenues increased 8.7 percent, primarily due to several new stores coming on line in 2007 and 2008. Same store sales—a number used to compare store sales year-over-year, declined 11 percent for the fourth quarter.

 "During 2008, the value of Dover Saddlery's common stock, like most common stocks, was significantly impacted by the deteriorating economy," said Day.

Like most retailers, Dover saw a decline in total revenues—$78 million compared to $81.4 million for 2007—last year. The company notes the decrease was attributable to the weak economic environment as experienced by most retailers, particularly in the fourth quarter.

Retail store revenues increased by 11.4 percent to $22.2 million. This increase was attributable to the opening of new Dover Saddlery retail stores in 2007 and 2008. Same store sales declined by 4.7 percent due to lower than usual store traffic in the latter part of the year.

"2008 was a difficult operating environment for our industry as a result of numerous external factors which led to all time historical lows in consumer confidence, resulting in a contraction in specialty retail consumer spending," Day observed.