Do You Hire Out Your School/Arena?

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southerncomfort

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I'd not be doing it for financial gain as such, more that I've moved to a very rural area and I'm struggling make friends/contacts in the horsey world. Not many folk have schools here so I thought it might be a nice way to meet people.

Is it worth the bother/hassle?
 
Sorry to hear you're feeling isolated :(

I wouldn't let anyone use our school other than family/friends without insurance in place. You should be able to pick up a policy to cover you for £100/150 + IPT. Broker or insurer may charge a service fee in addition.

Could you perhaps organise clinics etc which would bring groups of people thus cover the outlay?
 
I have been asked several times and always answer no for 2 reasons. 1. I am not insured. 2. My planning consent says I cannot hire it. The secret 3rd reason is I don't want people on my property.
 
i think you will need to be very careful, not only will you need insurance but you will then be laying yourself open to paying business rates and having to make tax declarations, even if you don't take enough money to have to pay tax.
 
Hmm...Sounds like a bit of a non starter then. Dont mind paying for insurance but don't like the sound of tax declaration!

Thanks for the reality check. :)
 
Ive let a hacking friend have a potter with me there but never actively encouraged regular third party use of my school, for insurance, planning and simple accountability concerns (I really wouldn’t want an argument if someone else damaged something or if anyone was hurt on my yard). I live in a rural area and get my social equine fix by hacking in company (I just stopped someone hacking not far from my house and asked if they wanted company! It worked!), lessons away from home and I compete (small local dressage comps). Are there options like that for you?
 
I might try putting something up on the local horsey FB page and see if anyone is up for hacking.

I'm not yet sure about local venues. I do fancy trying a bit of TREC/working equitation so I'll see if anywhere local does anything like this. :)
 
I used to use someone's indoor school, and she let a couple of neighbours too, but it was at our own risk. I used to give her a bit of money but it was informal.
 
nikkimariet said:
Sorry to hear you're feeling isolated :(

I wouldn't let anyone use our school other than family/friends without insurance in place. You should be able to pick up a policy to cover you for £100/150 + IPT. Broker or insurer may charge a service fee in addition.

Could you perhaps organise clinics etc which would bring groups of people thus cover the outlay?
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I looked into the insurance a couple of years ago when a neighbour asked about using my school. NFU quoted me over £700 per year for cover, although they did say I could probably get it cheaper elsewhere. They also said that getting users to sign a disclaimer wasn't good enough and wouldn't protect me from a potential claim.

Like others, I have now come to the conclusion that I enjoy having my property all to myself and don't want anyone else on it anyway!
 
I cant hire mine out for reasons already stated above, but I do let various neighbours and their local friends use it for free, and it is a great way of getting to know/seeing people ..... they gave me a lovely "Thank you" bag of goodies at Christmas too! :D
 
I am on livery and so don't have to deal with that but if I had the luxury of my own yard and own school I would NEVER hire it out. Too much fuss, making sure the school is used the way I would want to, left the way I expect to etc etc. Plus I think if I were to hire out a school (sometimes do for course hire etc) I would not go for social contact and would not expect to do so. I think if I was isolated I would join a local riding club. I have met loads of people that way.
 
JillA said:
What exactly would you need to insure against?
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You need public liability insurance in case someone has an accident while on your property that is deemed to be your fault. The scenario NFU put to me was if someone had a life-changing accident, they might need to adapt their house, or need compensation if they could never work again etc. etc. so even if they didn't want to sue you, they might have no option. Therefore, letting anyone use your school who is not a family member carries a risk even if you're not accepting payment for it. I know the chances of an accident as serious as that are not that high, but as the NFU woman said to me, "With horses, when it goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong".
 
SlinkyMinxy said:
You need public liability insurance in case someone has an accident while on your property that is deemed to be your fault. The scenario NFU put to me was if someone had a life-changing accident, they might need to adapt their house, or need compensation if they could never work again etc. etc. so even if they didn't want to sue you, they might have no option. Therefore, letting anyone use your school who is not a family member carries a risk even if you're not accepting payment for it. I know the chances of an accident as serious as that are not that high, but as the NFU woman said to me, "With horses, when it goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong".
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Wouldn't anyone claiming have to show negligence?
 
JillA said:
Wouldn't anyone claiming have to show negligence?
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Yes, I guess that they would but I'm not an expert in these things, just repeating what I was told by my insurance company in case anyone else finds it helpful. I can imagine that if you hadn't perfectly raked the surface of the arena, some nit-picky lawyer might argue that the accident was caused because the horse had put it's foot into a divot or something like that.

To be honest, once I found out the cost of the insurance, I spat my tea across the room and never bothered to take the idea any further!
 
SlinkyMinxy said:
Yes, I guess that they would but I'm not an expert in these things, just repeating what I was told by my insurance company in case anyone else finds it helpful. I can imagine that if you hadn't perfectly raked the surface of the arena, some nit-picky lawyer might argue that the accident was caused because the horse had put it's foot into a divot or something like that.

To be honest, once I found out the cost of the insurance, I spat my tea across the room and never bothered to take the idea any further!
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Not sure that an insurance co rep would give you totally impartial advice lol
 
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