B&B with your horse

Honey08

Honey08

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How many of you have taken your horse on holiday with you? If so, what was it like?
Our house sale has just fallen through, and we’re wondering whether to just do holiday lets instead. I was invited to a tourism conference for local hospitality businesses yesterday and they were talking about speciality B&B, and it got me thinking.
The house is 3 bedrooms, two bath. Big kitchen, lounge, dining room. 300 yr old, fabulous views. We could easily do breakfast and even evening meals. We regularly do boxed afternoon teas for our cafe that could be taken out on walks/rides. One of our fields is off the back of the house, we could add a big field shelter and guests could see their horse from their bedroom. We’d add a hot tub to the garden. There are fabulous hacks in the Pennines on tracks or tiny lanes that get very little traffic.
Do you think this would be interesting? We could also tailor it to bikes too - husband wants to set up a bike mechanic business alongside. We could even have a few hire bikes for the rental. And obviously it’s great for hikers too.
Just wondering what people think, and what other B&Bs they’ve been to with their horses were like.
 
Many years ago I did a holiday with a few other friends and their horses organised by a company called Bridle Rides. Basically they sorted out the accommodation for ourselves and our horses (we chose to ride to a new overnight stay each night but you could elect to stay at the same base) and provided detailed instructions for each ride. We did approx 20 - 25 miles per day.

We ate dinner at our overnight accommodation each night except for one evening when we went to a local pub. The horse accommodation varied between places - some were field only and others were stabled only.

We all thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
I have organised long distance rides for small groups of riders (max 4) over several days for many years and often have invented my own routes based on joining up bridleways. Finding accommodation for riders and horses is always the hardest bit! That Facebook group is invaluable for sounding out local bridleway access and also accommodation. Sometimes, we have found a field for the ponies and the riders stay somewhere else. Having somewhere to eat a hot meal in the evening is vital as the last thing you want to do after riding 20 odd miles is cook. The other problem is finding accommodation that takes multiple single people is difficult as we don't want to have to share a double bed. In terms of horsey accommodation, a field is often enough, as good grazing and being able to stretch after a long ride is ideal. Ponies that have ridden several days together are often firm friends and make a mini herd.
 
Honey08 said:
How many of you have taken your horse on holiday with you? If so, what was it like?
Our house sale has just fallen through, and we’re wondering whether to just do holiday lets instead. I was invited to a tourism conference for local hospitality businesses yesterday and they were talking about speciality B&B, and it got me thinking.
The house is 3 bedrooms, two bath. Big kitchen, lounge, dining room. 300 yr old, fabulous views. We could easily do breakfast and even evening meals. We regularly do boxed afternoon teas for our cafe that could be taken out on walks/rides. One of our fields is off the back of the house, we could add a big field shelter and guests could see their horse from their bedroom. We’d add a hot tub to the garden. There are fabulous hacks in the Pennines on tracks or tiny lanes that get very little traffic.
Do you think this would be interesting? We could also tailor it to bikes too - husband wants to set up a bike mechanic business alongside. We could even have a few hire bikes for the rental. And obviously it’s great for hikers too.
Just wondering what people think, and what other B&Bs they’ve been to with their horses were like.
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No, I haven't but 2 members of the local RC have holiday cottages for people to take their horses to. A group of friends rode the Mary Townley Loop staying at different places each night. I think it sounds like a great idea for your place. If you had a secure dog field I'd use that then buy coffee and cake from you, too all year round.
 
I did a Bridle Rides weekend too, it was great. Bridle Rides was taken over by another firm but for some strange reason they didn't keep the well known and familiar name, so I can't remember it now.

The BHS used to (still does???) publish a book for Take Your Horse on Holiday, but I know someone who stayed in one of those places and they weren't very happy as although it was rural the hosts didn't seem to have much idea of the routes their guests could use to make a nice ride (they were eventers who seldom when for long hacks). So you would need to know some nice routes for your guests and make sure they are in good condition (which is what Bridle Rides did).

The well publicised Jack Mitton Way has been ridden by several people I know, but overall it is a bit of a niche market. Horses go lame, or loose a shoe or damage their rider, just before the holiday. Riders are fussy about their horse - cleaned out water trough, excellent fencing, poo picked paddock, no horsey neighbours to argue with - and less fussy about their own accommodation so long as their is a good meal on offer either at the premises or a nearby pub. There are still some people who offer accommodation for riders and their horses but it isn't a big market.

You might be better offering accommodation for cyclists and walkers, with places to store and clean their equipment.
 
I’ve done this a couple of times.

I’d add that it might be useful to be able to split the field into smaller paddocks on request, in case the horses don’t know each other. As it turned out, mine and my friends horse got along great but we wouldn’t have wanted to turn them out together immediately as we arrived as they’ve literally never met before!

I think it’s especially attractive if the property is dog friendly, even more so if there’s any hacking where it would be suitable for a dog to tag along

Agree with someone’s comment above, that if you can cater to more single people (say if 1-2 rooms could be converted to twins?) then that’s a big selling point too
 
I've done it twice this year with friends, and we've a pub date in the diary to start making plans to do the same next year. It seems to me there are 'hotspots' around the country that have multiple options, and areas where there is very little.
 
I've done it once with husband, horse and dog.

It was beyond stressful 😂 Every time the dog went outside, he was straight into the field with the horse. Didn't have anything with us to tie him up (lunge line or similar), so it was a real pain to manage.

As it turns out, my horse and dog get along famously and loved chasing each other about...but I didn't necessarily need to find that out by accident!

So I'd for sure only stay somewhere with secure dog fencing in the future, so I could relax a bit more.
 
We ran a BnB as in the house was built to our specification: 4 beds, 4 bath. We lived in the kitchen whilst guests had our living room for eating and socialising .The plot was 2.5 acres, split into 3 so we had 3 stables and a tack room.Our own horses went to summer grazing, so only neighbouring horses occasionally in close proximity.
Running a BnB is no picnic as you want your guests to have the best experience. Our guests could choose when to have breakfast: typically 06.00 for those with horses, so sausages went in the oven at 05.30 on those days. We did not do evening meals but my OH did occasionally take stuff out of the freezer to feed people who were exhausted. He then got them to pay cost plus £1. We also found ourselves occupying the non-en suite bedroom most of the time.
Guest horses were never a problem but of course we had to change water in the trough once they'd left and wash down any stable they'd used. It all takes time.
Thankfully we were not reliant on the income for our livelihood. I had a well paid job for that.
If all things were equal we would most certainly do it again as we met so many interesting people e.g. some of them booked ahead from Australia whilst others were just passing by having come from Sweden on their motorbikes! We just never knew who would be at the front door next. All were welcome and never betrayed our trust.
 
Honey08 said:
How many of you have taken your horse on holiday with you? If so, what was it like?
Our house sale has just fallen through, and we’re wondering whether to just do holiday lets instead. I was invited to a tourism conference for local hospitality businesses yesterday and they were talking about speciality B&B, and it got me thinking.
The house is 3 bedrooms, two bath. Big kitchen, lounge, dining room. 300 yr old, fabulous views. We could easily do breakfast and even evening meals. We regularly do boxed afternoon teas for our cafe that could be taken out on walks/rides. One of our fields is off the back of the house, we could add a big field shelter and guests could see their horse from their bedroom. We’d add a hot tub to the garden. There are fabulous hacks in the Pennines on tracks or tiny lanes that get very little traffic.
Do you think this would be interesting? We could also tailor it to bikes too - husband wants to set up a bike mechanic business alongside. We could even have a few hire bikes for the rental. And obviously it’s great for hikers too.
Just wondering what people think, and what other B&Bs they’ve been to with their horses were like.
Click to expand...
We took our horses to Wales! Check out Clyne Farm Centre in Gower.
 
We've been somewhere each summer for the last 10 years or so. Done Lady Towneley loop and been to Lakes and Yorkshire.
Biggest problems have been , as others have said, finding accommodation with sufficient single beds, without having to rent a massive ,expensive place.
 
Yes I have, a few times, and I'd echo what others have said:

- accommodation for multiple single people (zip and link beds, maybe?)
- possibility of splitting a paddock as although most horses will get on, a few won't
- a dry lot for horses who don't do well on grass would be a really nice touch if it's not too much hassle
- offering an evening meal, or a lift to and from the local pub
- if I was you I would put together some route cards for suggested hacks of different lengths and difficulty levels - I love sitting down with a map and then going and trying it out, but a surprising number of people can't or don't want to do this
- if you can offer escorted rides (booked in advance) that seems to go down well

Boxed afternoon teas and a hot tub sound brilliant, it's nice to be a bit spoiled on holiday. And I agree that having a good set up for mountain bikers would open up another market, particularly if you can offer hire bikes and the backup of a bike mechanic.

I've stayed in a range of places but the critical thing is having a host with a "we can help you with that" kind of attitude.
 
Have done this twice with friends.First was South Downs,we all lived nr Downs, we arranged our own bed and breakfast us and horsessecond trip was Downs link and did the same. Very successful horses came back even fitter as did we,did long weekends for a long time,
 
cindars said:
Have done this twice with friends.First was South Downs,we all lived nr Downs, we arranged our own bed and breakfast us and horsessecond trip was Downs link and did the same. Very successful horses came back even fitter as did we,did long weekends for a long time,
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I don't know what the situation is in the UK, but over here the national organisation (FFE) has regional organisations, each of which has a committee that promotes "equestrian tourism".

I've been on plenty of two, three, five and seven day trips with accommodation and stabling overnight. Sometimes self-catering, sometimes evening supper on arrival and breakfast the next morning.
 
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