Do you have to pay to hire your own school?

[JFTDWS]

One yard I was on charged £10/hour to use the big arena with the jumps in. One other small arena was free to use. Given I was already paying the upper end of the going rate for full (part - 7 day, no riding) livery, I did think it was a bit excessive. They also said it was included when I looked around. I didn't get a contract till after I'd moved in, and it said otherwise

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I would livery on a yard that use of the school wasn’t included in the price. That’s just robbery.

 

[ycbm]

I have to feed the horrible cow who owns mine three times a day, and buy her regular Costas.

Did I mistake your question ?

.

 

[ihatework]

I would livery on a yard that use of the school wasn’t included in the price. That’s just robbery.

Eh? Why is it robbery?
All it is is offering facilities under a contract. The terms of that contract might be different for different yards.

In some ways it makes more sense to charge for school use on top, that way those who use it pay for it, whereas those who don’t aren’t.

The devil is usually in the detail ?

 

[Wheels]

I know of one local livery yard / riding school where it is free for liveries to use during the day but there is a charge for hiring arenas in the evening and at weekends

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Eh? Why is it robbery?
All it is is offering facilities under a contract. The terms of that contract might be different for different yards.

In some ways it makes more sense to charge for school use on top, that way those who use it pay for it, whereas those who don’t aren’t.

The devil is usually in the detail ?

Usually though you are paying a higher price for livery with facilities anyway up front. If you don’t need or want them there is the option to go somewhere cheaper without them.

I’ve been on one yard where you paid for lights - this was a bloody nightmare as on a timer with a variable cut out and also if someone else uses the school at the same time and doesn’t ever contribute. Another yard with 4 outdoor schools you could only use their instructor so I used to box off to go to my preferred instructor and then moved because of it. Current yard only has 10 liveries some of which don’t work or ever school so it’s not hard to work around each other if we want sole use for some reason. We don’t pay extra. Sometimes they do hire it out which is annoying as often there is no notice and if it’s in the evening as some can only ride then especially in winter but generally it’s not an issue.

 

[SEL]

Only a charge if you wanted to book it for sole use - so vet work ups, saddlers as well as instructors. Minimal fee though.

 

[Pippity]

I was on one yard where you could either pay each time you used the school or pay a flat-rate and have unlimited use. The yard opened straight onto the downs, so was mostly hackers who used the school minimally, so I suppose it helped towards the upkeep and meant the school was there on the odd occasion you did want it.

My current yard used to have coin-operated floodlights for the school, but the YO swapped it for a simple timer switch at the beginning of winter. The school itself has always been free, whether you've booked it for sole use (via the online booking system) or you're sharing it.

 

[Surbie]

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?

No - not heard of that for any of the yards I've been on or looked at. It's always included in the livery charge. One had a meter for floodlights, but I've not come across charging for sole use of the school.

 

[Lintel]

I would not livery at yard like that but have heard of it done before at a riding school/livery yard set up.

They charged her £25 on top of £40 private off yard instructor fee for use of the arena for her lesson.

£65 for a 30/45min lesson really.. Wouldn't be worth it for me.

 

[milliepops]

I would not livery at yard like that but have heard of it done before at a riding school/livery yard set up.

They charged her £25 on top of £40 private off yard instructor fee for use of the arena for her lesson.

crikey that is a bit steep ... I could stomach a £10 fee as proposed to us but £25 would sting!

 

[Pippity]

crikey that is a bit steep ... I could stomach a £10 fee as proposed to us but £25 would sting!

At the yard I was on where you paid to use the school, it was £2.50 for an hour or £5/week for unlimited use. Even £10 seems exorbitant to me.

 

[Hazkirbo]

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.

This! We’re allowed to book out sole use for 1hr per week, then general use for the rest of the time. My YO holds lessons, but gives us good notice when the arena is out of use and she does try not to book at ‘peak times‘.

 

[Ambers Echo]

My current yard has no additional fees for liveries which is fab. If externals book on with or without an instructor they pay £10 an hour and £5 for each additional horse.

My old yard was a riding school so liveries could only ride at the end of the day and the arena was always busy. If liveries wanted to hire it for private use then you had to pay £5 an hour. But, like the current yard, it had nothing to do with whether an instructor was coming. It was the same if you wanted to record an E dressage test or do pole work and needed sole use.

That makes more sense to me, personally. I am not sure why the presence or absence of an instructor should be the deciding factor.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Eh? Why is it robbery?
All it is is offering facilities under a contract. The terms of that contract might be different for different yards.

In some ways it makes more sense to charge for school use on top, that way those who use it pay for it, whereas those who don’t aren’t.

The devil is usually in the detail ?

It’s robbery as if im paying for facilities then I expect them in the price not as an add on. Most of the yards I’ve liveried at over the years didn’t have a school, very basic so basic price. Moved to a more expensive yard a lot further away for the facilities. Wouldn’t have moved if the facilities weren’t included in the livery cost. Would have just stayed at basic yard and paid to box to facilities which would have worked out cheaper

 

[atropa]

I've been on two yards where we paid a fiver if we wanted to book the school for exclusive use for an hour. I thought it was reasonable.
On my current yard there's no additional charge to book sole use, but you must do it with 48 hours notice, and can't book out the same hour block every day/week, in order to give everyone a fair chance of getting into the schools. Again, I wouldn't bother doing it unless I was having a lesson.

 

[ihatework]

It’s robbery as if im paying for facilities then I expect them in the price not as an add on. Most of the yards I’ve liveried at over the years didn’t have a school, very basic so basic price. Moved to a more expensive yard a lot further away for the facilities. Wouldn’t have moved if the facilities weren’t included in the livery cost. Would have just stayed at basic yard and paid to box to facilities which would have worked out cheaper

Ah, but the one I paid extra for the school was a base rate of £30/week. Round here you can’t get DIY with a decent school for under £50 a week.

Id use it generally 4 times a week and paid an extra £10 (so £40/week). Had I not been interested in schooling I could just have had a nice yard with good hacking for £30 a week.

I mean they could have just charged a flat rate ?

Like I say, devil is in the detail.

They regularly levelled the school when they could see it was going to be used. So whilst booking and adding up what I owed was a faff, I most certainly didn’t feel ‘robbed’. Had I been paying £50/week for inclusive use but could never get access and it was never maintained I might have felt differently

 

[Kat]

We don't pay extra for the school even if we have an instructor.

We are only supposed to book the school for exclusive use for an hour a week max. In practice nobody would mind if you had a lesson and the saddle fitter in the same week it is just to stop people taking advantage.

I have heard of one or two places that do it normally to discourage external instructors. Generally I would be very reluctant to go to a yard that charged extra as I don't really have time to box out for lessons.

 

[Muddywellies]

Yes. Obv the use of arenas is free to liveries but if having an outside instructor there is an additional fee. The theory is that that instructor is making money out of the yard's facilities, which costs the yard owner to provide. I actually do understand this. Only snag is that the fee is for the instructor, but no instructor in the land will pay this so we have pay it to the yard owner, on top of the cost of the lesson to the instructor.

 

[Griffin]

We don't get charged if we use the school or an external instructor. We do get charged for using the floodlights in the winter but I think this is fair because they are always kept in good repair and have been recently replaced.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Ah, but the one I paid extra for the school was a base rate of £30/week. Round here you can’t get DIY with a decent school for under £50 a week.

Id use it generally 4 times a week and paid an extra £10 (so £40/week). Had I not been interested in schooling I could just have had a nice yard with good hacking for £30 a week.

I mean they could have just charged a flat rate ?

Like I say, devil is in the detail.

They regularly levelled the school when they could see it was going to be used. So whilst booking and adding up what I owed was a faff, I most certainly didn’t feel ‘robbed’. Had I been paying £50/week for inclusive use but could never get access and it was never maintained I might have felt differently

I don’t think you are reading my posts as I said I wouldn’t go to a yard that charged extra for facilities over and above. I moved to a more expensive yard to get facilities, not to pay more for the basic rate then more on top for facilities.

 

[ihatework]

I don’t think you are reading my posts as I said I wouldn’t go to a yard that charged extra for facilities over and above. I moved to a more expensive yard to get facilities, not to pay more for the basic rate then more on top for facilities.

I did read your post.
I just didn’t agree with you saying that any YO charging for the school on top was robbing people.
Go where you like for all I care ?

 

[TheHairyOne]

The best set up Ive had had 2 monthly prices, 1 with school use and one without. This was because it allowed 24/7 turn out 365 days of the year so had about half and half retired and ridden horses. If your horse was injured/off work for any length of time you paid less. Seemed very fair not to charge those not using the facilites.

 

[milliepops]

I have heard of one or two places that do it normally to discourage external instructors. Generally I would be very reluctant to go to a yard that charged extra as I don't really have time to box out for lessons.

Yeah it transpires that this was indeed the motivation. Bit of a bruised ego I think because the 3 DIY liveries use off-site trainers. No skin off my nose nor one of the others as we box off to lessons anyway but pretty crap for the one without transport ?

If YO could train up to GP dressage or advanced eventing then I expect we'd all be happy with the offerings on site but unfortunately that's not the case ?

 

[Evie91]

Yes. Obv the use of arenas is free to liveries but if having an outside instructor there is an additional fee. The theory is that that instructor is making money out of the yard's facilities, which costs the yard owner to provide. I actually do understand this. Only snag is that the fee is for the instructor, but no instructor in the land will pay this so we have pay it to the yard owner, on top of the cost of the lesson to the instructor.

Yes previous yard I was on did this. Offered lessons on site but if you wanted someone else it was a fiver to the yard. I thought it reasonable.

 

[neddy man]

Has the YO understood that the question was can your instructor teach you (one of his liveries)in the arena, or did he miss understand and thought your instructor wanted to hire the arena for personal teaching of others non liveries?

 

[milliepops]

Has the YO understood that the question was can your instructor teach you (one of his liveries)in the arena, or did he miss understand and thought your instructor wanted to hire the arena for personal teaching of others non liveries?

No it was very clearly a request for an instructor to teach the livery.
I was point blank told no, but she was told yes but there would now be a charge.

 

[Mule]

No it was very clearly a request for an instructor to teach the livery.
I was point blank told no, but she was told yes but there would now be a charge.

Perhaps the extra charges are being on now because of the covid recession coming up. Having to pay extra for stuff that was included in the price up to now would annoy me too. Especially when you need to use the arena for your dressage training.

 

[milliepops]

Perhaps the extra charges are being on now because of the covid recession coming up. Having to pay extra for stuff that was included in the price up to now would annoy me too. Especially when you need to use the arena for your dressage training.

Now we know more I think its clearly an anti-competition thing . Hey ho!

 

[Mule]

Now we know more I think its clearly an anti-competition thing . Hey ho!

That's bizarre