costs of running riding stables

[saejtin]

Hi, I've just joined this site temporarily with a question hoping that someone might be willing to answer it. I'm not involved in horses myself at all but rather am teaching maths to a horse-mad, home-educated girl and we are doing a maths project based on running her own riding school (with 10 horses and 10 ponies) which she thinks she would like to do oneday (she is 11 just now). We made a list of projected annual running costs today hunting about on the internet for help. I have no idea really if the costs are realistic but I would rather like them to be to make it a genuine exercise. So I just wondered if I posted up the list if there might be someone in the know who might say "yes about right" or "no way, you must be joking". Quite understand if a one-off use for the forum like this is not welcome and will go away quietly!!

 

[Spring Feather]

Sure, go ahead. People will help you on costings

 

[sandi_84]

I couldn't tell you personally I'm afraid but I think it varies from area to area and depends on the market etc. There will be a knowlegable person along shortly I'm sure though
P.s one off's aren't frowned upon but why are you not horse mad?! Get yourself to a riding school asap and catch the bug!

 

[Kadastorm]

I work at a riding school and the costs are very high.
You need insurance, ours is about £3000 a year (we are only a small yard), you need to apply for a license from the local council which costs a fair bit too and this has to be done annually. You also need to make sure that the person running it (yard owner/centre manager/yard manager is qualified enough and has first aid. Then there needs to be suitable facilities. you also need to consider feed/shoeing/water/electric and unplanned stuff like breakages plus wormer, equine first aid, tack and other things such as rugs, boots, numnahs etc. plus dentist/saddler.
there is an awful lot of health and safety things too.
So, alot to take in and alot to learn but also a fun job!

 

[Kadastorm]

Ps our yearly out going with instructor fees etc is approx £45,000. sorry i just read your post properly and realised i got a bit carried away thinking you actually wanted to set one up! Im tired, thats my excuse! Haha

 

[saejtin]

Thank you very much (and sorry I'm not horse-mad!)

So here we go: (some of this might be comic as we don't know much between us!)

She's made a plan of her riding school comprising office, toilets, store room, tack room, and 20 loose boxes all under one roof. Her plan is for 10 horses and 10 ponies. Staff - 2 instructors plus 1 full-time and 2 half-time staff on minimum wage. Also these are just annual running costs not set up costs.

Electricity and gas £5000
Business rates £10,000
Wages £36,926
Insurance £8000 (wanted insurance for children to help muck out included)
Vet £5000
Telephone and Internet £180
Water rates £2000
License £180
Horse feed £8000
Hay £300
Shoes £700
Trimming hooves £700
Sundries £5000

 

[ruth83]

She might find this book interesting and useful for thinking about things like insurances etc rather than just horse care costs(possibly a little old for her just yet, depending how academic she is). My business management teacher explained everything to our male dominated classes in relation to cars and I really struggled to relate. This book made everything make much more sense!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Horse-Business-Management-Managing-Successful/dp/0632058269

(ETA - helps when you add the link!!)

 

[be positive]

Electricity seems high, not sure why you would need gas unless staff are live in and it is in their house.
Hay would be far more, my bill in winter for 10 is around £125 a week although in summer is almost zero.
They would need bedding if living in, again winter more than summer, around £100 per week if all 20 are in.
Feed possibly less than the £8k I would average £100 per week over 12 months so nearer £5200
Shoes are £70 per set, lets say the 10 horses are shod every 6 weeks that is 9 sets each year x 10, you can work that out
Trim probably £25 per pony again every 6 weeks or so.
Things such as vets bills are really hard to guess, one bad injury could be £5k alone but the £100 week would be a start.
Annual vaccinations 20x £35 approximately.
Worming every 3 months (possibly under sundries) £10 per horse so around £800 annually.

 

[Gypley]

What about pasture management? Fertilising, rolling, harrowing, fence maintenence?

 

[Spring Feather]

She's made a plan of her riding school comprising office, toilets, store room, tack room, and 20 loose boxes all under one roof. Her plan is for 10 horses and 10 ponies. Staff - 2 instructors plus 1 full-time and 2 half-time staff on minimum wage. Also these are just annual running costs not set up costs.

I'm in a different country to you but I do run a horse business and using purchasing power parity (PPP) I'll give you a rough break down of where her costs differ from my costs


Electricity and gas £5000 Don't know how it works in the UK, but what would the gas be used for (business-wise)? Electricity can be claimed here, but only a percentage of it if owner resides on the property

Business rates £10,000 I don't pay anything like this for business rates, I pay about half to 2/3 of that amount

Wages £36,926 No way would you get 5 employees for this amount

Insurance £8000 (wanted insurance for children to help muck out included) That's about right

Vet £5000 With no incidents this could be less, with lots of incidents this could be way more

Telephone and Internet £180 That's half my costs for a month, so 24 times that amount for a year

Water rates £2000 I have no water rates as I have my own private wells on my property

License £180 I pay a bit more than this for my association with the governing equine body in my country

Horse feed £8000 For 20 horses/ponies my costs would be slightly less than that per annum

Hay £300 I have way more than 20 horses but my costs pro-rata for only 20 horses would be around 25 times that amount per annum

Shoes £700 My horses don't wear shoes and our costs over here aren't representative of what you pay for them over there, however I think it's between £50 and £85 per horse every 4-6 weeks for shoeing in the UK. Her farrier costs sound very low to me

Trimming hooves £700 Still sounds very low to me

Sundries £5000 How long is a piece of string. I suspect sundries would be rugs, brushes, bedding, equipment etc. I'd think about 4 or 5 times this amount would cover sundries

 

[saejtin]

These replies are so useful and it's very clear which items we're way out on from the way the posts agree. She imagined gas for heating the centre rooms with some background heat for horses in the depths of winter (from your replies I gather that would be unusual - I thought you might heat an office but thinking about it it is maybe more a case of running in to answer the phone in the middle of doing other jobs) but would you have hot water on site? Our shoe costs are obviously out-of-date. Gypley, any idea what the pasture management costs for a year might be? And thank you for the book suggestion ruth 83 - I'll definitely pass that on - I don't suppose there are many books with that specific info.

 

[Gypley]

How many and how big will the paddocks be? I wouldn't have a clue where to start with fertiliser on such a large scale tbh, but I'm sure someone on here could help. Fencing repairs I suppose would come under sundries as its an 'as and when' kind of job, so make sure sundries takes this into account.
With regards to rolling and harrowing, you said the establishment was based on somthing already running, not the cost of setting up. So assuming the riding centre had tractor, chain harrow and roller they could be carried out by staff. not sure if I've really helped there! Sorry!

 

[saejtin]

She has a 20 acre site in mind. We'll make sure our set-up costs and sundries are enlarged accordingly! Thank you.

 

[saejtin]

Just popped back before leaving the forum to say a big thank you for all the help I received here. A very friendly forum . Won't be seeing my pupil for a week or so but I'm sure when I do she will be happy to have our new more accurate figures. Then we'll start to look at how much money she might get coming in - just hoping she doesn't get put off!

 

[Ella19]

Travel! Both for horse and human. I'm guessing this may come under sundries but our petrol costs for the quad bike (you need one to get round the fields, harrow school etc) is £10 a week. Then there is transport for horses to shows or vets or dealers at about £100 a month.

Is she insuring individual horses against vet bills as well? If so add about £300 per horse per year.

 

[Tobiano]

bless her! Did you include set up costs at all? Eg purchase price of the horses and ponies and their tack and rugs? It is probably unnecessary just for an exercise but in reality you would need to recover that outlay over a reasonable period.

Also might be covered under sundries but the best establishments will have regular visits from the equine dentist and probably an equine physiotherapist. Say once a year dentist, twice a year physio, at about #40 each per animal.

If your pupil can work out how to make money from a career with horses, she is definitely a mathematical genius Enjoy yourselves.