Calling all Competition/ Professional riders

[wkdfilly]

I am in need of some advice. Help?!! I am hoping to purchase a property that has scope to become a competition venue in Wales. I am aiming to provide livery but am maybe thinking of renting out part of the yard to the competitive rider or a block of boxes for a set amount a week. I was just wondering if this would appeal to any riders who want a base to compete out of but without all the trappings of organising a yard. They would have use of an indoor school and could also hold clinics/ lessons, etc. What do you think a reasonable rate would be per box or for a block of boxes? What would you expect for that as well? Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Ranyhyn]

I think it would definitely be of interest, sounds like the ideal solution for a comp rider that doesn't own their own land.

I'll try to answer your questions one by one.

They would have use of an indoor school and could also hold clinics/ lessons, etc.
*Having USE of? Exactly what does this mean? I dont know if I could see many people wearing trying to school their comp horse next to perhaps an errant young livery whose having great fun whizzing around jumping...

What do you think a reasonable rate would be per box or for a block of boxes? I think it'd be nice to have an option whereby you dropped the price of boxes per horse. However obviously you have to keep the unit price reasonable in the first place too.
How big is a "block"? As big as the rider wanted?

What would you expect for that as well? Any help and advice would be much appreciated.
Well, I'm no comp rider BUT I can tell you what Id want. Depending on the level of competitive rider you're aiming at you need to have appropriate facilities. Some people consider themselves comp riders at local comp level, others when they BE/SJ others only once they are seriously persuing BE/SJ/DR and making a living/name from it.

Obviously your low level riders are probably going to want/need less! So they might not really rate a solarium whereas perhaps the high level are.

I would also think you'd need to have individual turnout options, 24/7 turnout options and also all weather turnout options. A lot of the emphasis seems to be turning to turnout, so you need to nail this.

Id want my OWN tack room, big enough to suit the amount of horses I had. So if you could have a tack room that would accomodate your whole block, all the better.

If there was a school, I'd probably expect to have sole use of it really. As stated above, if you were mid-high level comp you probably wouldnt WANT to be sharing it with your average hobby rider. Again, I'm not a comp rider but I just can't see how that would work entirely.

Id want big airy stables, well ventilated, perhaps not auto drinkers as people do like to see what water their horse is drinking sometimes. Accesible taps/hoses/tie up areas. Well thought out feed rooms/hay areas/wash down areas/ horse walker/lunge pen...

Im waffling now, so I'll leave you think on that.

TBH the vast majority of what Ive said are what Id like/expect as a hobby rider, I think expectations are getting very high and a lot of yards really are stepping up to the mark so its the small things that make a huge difference.