Do you have to pay to hire your own school?

[milliepops]

now that lockdown has lifted enough for lessons to start again, friend has asked YO if it's OK for her instructor to come over. He's said yes but wants to charge a fee for the school. This is the first time I've ever come across having to pay for facilities you are already entitled to use within the livery fee.

Anyone else have a similar arrangement?

 

[meltb]

we have to pay to use our indoor and outdoor school- its a wonderful yard but it is a shame to have to pay these extras. i can understand paying for the indoor as its also used for shows, clinics etc, but i think the outdoor should be free x

 

[Shay]

Sort of. If the school is unavailable for the use of others - especially if there is then a lesson charge and someone else is making money - then there is a charge. So for example when the local PC or RC hire the school. Or where one of the instructors on site block books the school to teach paying clients. Just to have an instructor come over for a short time - no. Although it is polite to let other liveries know and if you have to share the school with someone then that is just what it is. If your freind has asked for exclsuive use preventing other liveries having access it might not be entirely unreasonable.

 

[ihatework]

I was on one yard once that if you wanted an external instructor for a lesson you had to pay to hire the school. It hasn’t been common from my experience but not unheard of either. I have no strong feelings either way on it as long as I know up front.

Another DIY yard I was on I had to pay each time I used the school. It was a nice, well maintained school and the base livery rate was reasonable. It was £2.50 per 30 mins, so not extortionate. Although I found it a bit of a faff, I had no issue with it.

 

[Sealine]

Use of the outdoor school at DIY livery yard I'm at have always charged extra for the school. £2.50 for 30 mins. You have to book your time slot on a pre-printed sheet with the timeslots on it which is on a noticeboard. The cost is added to your bill at the end of the month. Livery is cheap for the area anyway so most don't see it as a problem.

 

[milliepops]

I was on one yard once that if you wanted an external instructor for a lesson you had to pay to hire the school. It hasn’t been common from my experience but not unheard of either. I have no strong feelings either way on it as long as I know up front.
.

I think this is why it feels irritating, this wasn't the case before lockdown and it's also not in the contract we have signed. makes no odds to me, I go off site anyway but she has no transport.

 

[milliepops]

Use of the outdoor school at DIY livery yard I'm at have always charged extra for the school. £2.50 for 30 mins. You have to book your time slot on a pre-printed sheet with the timeslots on it which is on a noticeboard. The cost is added to your bill at the end of the month. Livery is cheap for the area anyway so most don't see it as a problem.

Thanks, I think this is different as our livery includes use of facilities as it stands.

 

[ihatework]

I think this is why it feels irritating, this wasn't the case before lockdown and it's also not in the contract we have signed. makes no odds to me, I go off site anyway but she has no transport.

Yes I could understand the irritation.

My general view on school use is that I dislike it when you have to book slots, I much prefer general shared use. And fully support a hire fee if someone wants sole use - irrespective of instructor or not. But I appreciate my view isn’t always shared.

 

[mariew]

I have definitely heard of yards charging for external instructors, especially if they have a teacher on the yard already. I have only ever paid for use of floodlights which is fair.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I think this is why it feels irritating, this wasn't the case before lockdown and it's also not in the contract we have signed. makes no odds to me, I go off site anyway but she has no transport.

Sounds a bit mean if it's suddenly a new rule to make a few quid.

 

[mulbry]

My old yard used to do this if you had an external instructor coming in.

One of the liveries also used to teach occasionally and had to pay a fee if she had anyone external coming in, either on their own horse (rare) or on one of hers. YO didn't charge her to teach other liveries though.

Lessons were only permitted between certain times so as not to prevent other liveries using the school so they rarely caused an issue but his point was if someone was making money on his property he wanted a cut. The rate he charged was variable though and seemed very much to depend on the mood he was in on any given day

 

[Bellaboo18]

I've not experienced this and if facilities are included in your livery fees plus it's not in your contract I'd be a bit miffed to be honest.

 

[Red-1]

Mine are now kept at home, but I have to top up this year, looking at around 3K :-(

On a yard I don't mind if it is free for general use, but paid if you want to reserve it. Slots are fine, but I also prefer if no one can book more than 3 slots at a time. That way you don't find someone booking 6pm every night, or every Saturday at 11 or whatever. They can book 3, then as long as you haven't already booked 3 slots, you could book the next 3, but in practice it just spreads t round a bit as if you did book the next 3, you would have no other booked for the next 3 weeks.

 

[dogatemysalad]

I've been on livery yards where there was a charge for everyone using the school, or sometimes just for using the lights. The reasoning being, that it was fairer for those owners with retired horses or youngsters not having to subsidise others.
Currently, my yard doesn't charge for use and a couple of days a week visiting instructors have exclusive use for several hours and only those having lessons are allowed to use it. It seems odd that instructors can earn a living using a yards facilities for free while equestrian centres have the expense of providing their own for the same price.

 

[be positive]

I think this is why it feels irritating, this wasn't the case before lockdown and it's also not in the contract we have signed. makes no odds to me, I go off site anyway but she has no transport.

It doesn't seem fair to just add it if they didn't before lockdown, as long as the school s not that busy so the lesson is impacting on others using it I don't see why they have decided to change things, maybe during lockdown they have been on the forum and seen some yards do charge.
As a YO I really couldn't be bothered with the hassle of adding a charge for using the school, it may be a useful way of getting a bit of extra cash but the thought of the paperwork, the minor disagreements over whether they used it for 35 mins rather than 30 so should pay for 1 hour would do my head in, I have had the odd livery bring in outside instructors and my only rule was it had to be booked in advance and must not be at times my others would want to use it, they are flexible but prefer to ride earlyish at the weekends so school is usually free by about 10 am.

 

[Myloubylou]

My yard tried this but instructor just passed the charge onto the livery they were teaching which was unfair as use of school included. They now hire out the school if external people want lesson (obviously not at moment!)

 

[Abi90]

Previous yards I have been at have always charged a small fee if you wanted to book the school for sole use for an outside trainer.

It has ranged for £5-£15 for an hour

 

[milliepops]

My yard tried this but instructor just passed the charge onto the livery they were teaching which was unfair as use of school included. They now hire out the school if external people want lesson (obviously not at moment!)

it's the livery that is being charged in this case.

He's already said it has to be at a quiet time when no one else would want to be using the school which is fair enough, I've been on yards where the bookings were so crazy it was impossible to get a slot.

 

[Myloubylou]

Yeah that’s not really reasonable is it!

 

[milliepops]

thanks all for your thoughts, useful to know how others do it.

I think the main issue is that this is a change to the contract that hasn't been communicated before now but I guess we will just have to suck it up.

 

[Northern]

We have this at our yard. $5AUD for current liveries and $10AUD for outsiders per lesson.
Wouldn't bother me at all, except that charge is applied to all lessons - including those taking place in a field with no use of any equipment. Add to this, both our schools have horrible surfaces and the outside one hasn't been touched in close to 20 years, it's dangerous and I refuse to pay for the "privilege" of using a dangerous area. I prefer to float out myself.

 

[Leandy]

My general view on school use is that I dislike it when you have to book slots, I much prefer general shared use. And fully support a hire fee if someone wants sole use - irrespective of instructor or not. But I appreciate my view isn’t always shared.

Completely agree with this. Everyone should share. People who demand sole use routinely are just precious and annoying in my view. What happens when they get to a competition and have to share the warm up? A (modest) charge to book for occasional sole use is helpful as it discourages booking except for really good reasons and keeps it as the exception rather than the rule and hence minimises blocking access to the school for others.

Millipops, if it is a change, is he just proposing this in the current unusual times? Maybe to reduce visitors coming to the yard and/or to help pay for sanitising measures? Is he saying you have to use sole use for this due to current restrictions so there should be a charge as otherwise there are too many in the school if someone else also wants to ride?

 

[SEH]

We used to only get charged if an instructor was coming, not for just personal use

 

[milliepops]

Millipops, if it is a change, is he just proposing this in the current unusual times? Maybe to reduce visitors coming to the yard and/or to help pay for sanitising measures? Is he saying you have to use sole use for this due to current restrictions so there should be a charge as otherwise there are too many in the school if someone else also wants to ride?

no I think this is the new normal. Hey ho!

 

[AFB]

No charge for school - included within livery cost for us regardless of outside instructors

 

[bouncing_ball]

My yard tried this but instructor just passed the charge onto the livery they were teaching which was unfair as use of school included. They now hire out the school if external people want lesson (obviously not at moment!)

I'd always assumed the rider paid the charge not the instructor!

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I've been on yards that the school is either limited to 4hrs use per person per week max but free - interesting at popular times. Also been on a few where you're charged for school useage ontop of livery plus extra again for outdoor instructors. Infact I think it's more the norm than not around here.

 

[bouncing_ball]

My yard has two school and indoor and an outdoor. Indoor is small but good surface. Outdoor is also good surface but can be wet in winter or deep in summer, or it can be torrential rain.

Only one school can be booked at a time, so always somewhere to ride.

If it is raining, all can share indoor, even if lesson booked. If either school out of action all have to share. Exclusive use requires both schools to be useable. Need 48 hours notice, and owner or sharer has to be riding. You cant book for someone else even instructor to ride.

 

[bouncing_ball]

I would be very put off any yard if there was more than very occasionally nowhere to ride. So in winter when dark / when yard land muddy etc. I would typically always want as minimum shared access to the school. It bothers me most on days I have a fixed window to ride before or after work, and less flexibility

 

[AUB]

No, that’s part of the livery.