How easy to move to Ireland and start up equestrian business?

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suzyqet

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This is a question for all those who have lived or currently live in Ireland please.

I have been talking for some time now (years) about upping sticks and moving on to pastures new as it were. I dont mean a few miles down the road, or to a different county, but somewhere far away from where we are now.

One of the places which has come up in conversation many times is Ireland.

I have seen a few places advertised which we really like the look of (for rent) and we are now wanting to make more 'serious' enquiries about moving there.

The 1st place I thought I'd start is on here, as I know there are a few people on here who currently reside in Ireland.

I would wanting to start up some kind of equestrian business, along the lines of livery, or rescue for example. Not interested in dealing/breaking/schooling etc but even perhaps retirement or rehabilitation livery? Is there such a call for this sort of thing over there? The other thing would be B&B with livery so you could bring your horse on holiday.

Anyway, I'm rambling now, but would love to hear from anyone and all who has any experience in this over in Ireland no matter how big or small.

Thanks to everyone in advance for your time.
 
Hiya,

Well IMO, Irelands in a bit pf a mess at them minute so there is a big need for equine rescues, as all the ones that I'm aware of are heaving with unwanted horses!! But the costs of living are expensive and you'd find your money wouldnt last long with a rescue! As for a B&B with livery for horses... I think thats a great idea! Not sure how many places do it already but.. theres a lot of riding schools around the more touristy coastal towns that make money from beach treks etc.. but any that i was ever at as a child were very rough around the edges! But still good craic!

Have you an area in mind?? As the west/north west is probably prettiest and the beach/mountains would make for good holiday riding..theres always a market for livery but the closer your yard is to a major town etc the higher the demand (in my experience anyway) Over all life in Ireland is brilliant (well i think it is anyway despite the weather :rolleyes: )

Hope that helps!!

:)
 
Ireland appears to be vying with Greece for having the greatest financial trouble during the recession so it may be a difficult time to start any kind of business.

Having said that, property prices have completely plummeted, so it's a good time to buy although it may be decades before you can re-sell.

I am sure there is always a need for rescue centres but in what way is that a business? Rescue centres are usually charities that depend on contributions from others to make ends meet, not only will they suffer greatly in a recession but wouldn't produce an income even at the best of times.

Anything geared towards the tourist or luxury leisure markets (B&B with horses or rehab livery) is also likely to suffer greatly in a recession.

Sorry to be so negative but you could end up losing a lot of money a long way from home.
 
Tbh, I think you're timing is terrible. I cant see there being a market for retirement livery and most of those who would send a horse for "rehab" are racehorse owners who will already tend to have their own farms to turn away injured/old horses. Most of those who rehab horses for hunting/racing/competition ar also involed in backing/schooling and/or pre-training as there just isnt really a market for it. Most horses in Ireland (until the last 2-3years) are either kept on full livery or at home - hence again reducing the market for rehab/retirement livery. As a rescue - you would need to find a job to earn money alongside.
As for b&b with stabling - firtsly I would suspect you would need to own your own house rather than rent. Secondly, a lot of though needs to be put in to where you "set up shop". There are no bridleways in Ireland - you need to thoroughly research your preferred area to make sure it is horse friendly - ie country tracks/woods/beaches to ride across. I think this is a nice idea and there are 2-3 places that do it (there may be many more) but I think gain probably a limited market and limited choice of locations.

I dont mean to put a dampner on things but the Irish market is nowhere near as strong as the UK one is at present and horses are seen as a luxury to most people in Ireland - unlike on HHO/in the UK where they seem to be a necessity for many people (how many threads have you read where ppl have said theyd rather kick their OH out/go hungry/homeless than lose the horse?). This does mean that when finances are tight, many sell up.
I think the B&B idea might be good with or without the bring a horse option - if you pick a scenic destination. For rental/purchse properties look at www.daft.ie. Property is quite cheap, even in areas like Tipperary/Kilkenny when you compare with similar in the UK now - and many come with a few acres and outbuildings.
 
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My hubby's family are horsey and live on the west coast of Ireland. My sister in-law who knows a bit about horses and is also a very good business woman (tho I wouldn't say that to her face lol) tried to set up a riding school / trekking centre about 4 or 5 years ago and she couldn't even get it off the ground even with all her contacts, the area being very touristy and loads of beaches. My OH is over there at the mo for the first time in 11 months and he can't believe the state the country has got into in.

If you're willing to buy and then 'sit' on the house / land for a couple of years before starting up a business then I would say give it a go however do remember if you go to the republic and you don't like it the euro is so bad you will lose £0000's in exchange rates.
 
Property's cheap at the moment but don't get too caught up... it's all fun and games getting a cheap place but then what about when interest rates shoot up? Ouch!

Interestingly, we were only talking about the 'bring your own horse' holidays today - three girls from our yard went down to Dingle (Co Kerry) on this and loved it, but it took them absolutely ages to find somewhere that would accomodate them. I'd say that idea might be a runner, but you'd have to make sure it was in the right spot, somewhere like Dingle where there's ample touristy-ness for other activities as well.

Worth thinking about installing a cross country/hunter trials course as well, as there's great demand for those (around us anyway) so could be a money spinner depending on where you were?

My horse was bought from a trekking centre which was closing down because money was getting too tight, it's not easy at the moment :(
 
have seen several people trying to start their own business. sadly the majority failed.
One who has managed to stay has been a woman who sells tack and horse feed-and she has struggled-even having to sell her own horses and kids ponies to just pay mortgage on her home.

the others were- showjump makers,instructors,wannabe racehorse trainers,b&b and a creche! they all floundered and have gone back to blighty!:o

You really need to know the area,what your prepared to put up with and serious money.
Very few rescue homes-and these are not businesses these are charities.

The area near me for eg- rural,farmers,might want a cob breaking for selling on. thats it. the riding schools that are here are established and do breaking and reschooling as a way of keeping afloat.
I dont get to keep my 3 all expenses paid i have to work for their keep-and that might include helping turn turf,paint fences and anything else that pays the bills.
 
i think ireland is fairly stuffed at the moment. no spare money for anything. esp the horses. not good timing for you. dont let the cheap purchase/rental prices lure you.. there is very little trade.
 
Thanks guys.

You have been really helpful.

It is not something which is going to happen overnight. We have been talking about it for years, and tbh, it will probably be years before we up and move, if ever.

Ireland was just one of the many places on our shortlist, but looks like it might need to be scrubbed off.

I never realised it had got that bad over there. I know times are hard there, but not that bad.

Oh well, looks like it might be back to the drawing board for us then.

Thanks for your input everyone.
 
I think it depends where and what you are offering...

A few years ago I was contacted by people online asking me about livery etc in Ireland. I didn't have my horse at the time so I did some research and in the area where I am (Co. Cork) there was no such thing as a livery yard. There are yards that do livery as an aside to something else, but nothing that's purely livery, and there was only full livery available.

From what I understand now the situation hasn't changed much - there are a few more places, but there doesn't seem to be much choice of livery options ie full, part, DIY, grass. And facilities might be more basic than people are used to in the UK, smaller stables, no wash boxes etc...

There is a grant available for upgrading or developing equestrian facilities, so if you were able to get some land you might be entitled to an amount of money to build stables, and an arena or whatever.

There are places in Ireland where the Celtic Tiger didn't roar as loudly as it did elsewhere, so the Recession hasn't hit as hard ...
 
L_O - only thing I will disagree with you on is that yards in Ireland being more basic than the UK. the average DIY yard in the UK is a *****hole. No dressing it up. I have yet to see a yard offering livery in such disrepair as most of these in the UK - and i live in expensive parts. The full/part livery yards here have large stables, nice facilities etc but the DIYs are often rundown and in desperate need of repair. As there has been no DIY or as you rightly say no purely livery yards in Ireland they do tend to be a bit better looked after. Of course there a are a few but riding schools have to pass inspections so tend to be a bit better organised and showjumpers/those offering schooling have a service to sell so often require better facilities. Stables in general in my experience are definitely not smaller!! I came to the UK thinking every yard must look like those we were taught about in PC or the ones I saw in magazines but the reality is very very different! Haha. ;)
 
As CM says location is everything! I def disagree with the statement about livery yards being more basic over here....there are some fabulous yards here. Livery is one option but you would need to be near enough to a city for that to work. Rehab is most def a runner....we are right beside the sea and quite often have people enquiring would we take horses for injury rehab etc. It's not really a runner for us as with racehorses we like to restrict the numbers of walk ins for infection control etc. To be perfectly honest if you want an equestrian business to work you need to be in a highly populated horse area and an area that has money and quite honestly that puts you in the Cork/Waterford area or Kildare South Dublin area. I would suggest posting on Ireland's answer to HHO its called stabletostable.com forum! From a recent post on there i can tell you there is certainly a calling for a decent livery yard in the kildare area. Ireland has a much more relaxed attitude to horsey life etc and you do need to very much go with the flow. If you had the capital to invest with one fo the bigger local hunts in a real good hunting area, hirelings might be a good option for you...you could use your UK connections to run hunting weekends for people who miss proper hunting! Things are not great over here at the mo but innovation is the key! The agri industry is going well here and things are slowly going to pick up but it will take time. If you are in a position to buy now and cash in on the bottom falling out of property prices then you could be in a very valuable position in time however if you are coming looking at property then like anywhere you need to be viewing in terms of ease of resale should you need/want to in the future
 
Hi there, I live in Ireland and can think of 3 riding schools and centres that are selling up at present, one has in excess of 30 horses, I have viewed many horses at livery yards which are closing down and another at a riding school that was also closing. The local hunt is not even allowed on the land around where I live. I urge you to do a lot of research before you decide. Our economy is dire and prices for everything are rising weekly. We Irish are known for looking on the bright side and giving it all the old blarney, but our government is now dealing with some serious issues.
 
:rolleyes:

I think the livery conditions depend on where you live...

And I was talking about a few years ago when someone asked me and I went a-looking.

Couldn't find anything that matched what they were getting in the UK, well not around here anyways
 
N.I. is much steadier than the R.O.I. - they don't have the collapsing Celtic Tiger Economy or the Euro to deal with. In N.I. though we've always had the highest house price growth of any country in Europe before the crash. Some places are cheaper in the right parts of the north, whereas lots are still expensive given the market, mainly because they started so high in the first place (e.g. nurse at my hospital back in N.I. wanted to buy her poky 2up 2down council house in a rough part of town - price quoted was £115K)!

If you're in the right place at the right time though, I'm sure you could make a go of it, just as would be the case on the mainland.

Best of luck, whatever you decide to do!
 
Thank you ever so much for your help everyone.

It is very interesting how many people have very different views.

I have a feeling we will be spending lots of time over in Ireland in the up and coming months.

amage - thanks for the link to the Irish HHO. Will go take a look.

Vixen - £115K for a 2 up 2 down is very cheap. You would be lucky to get a studio apartment or possibly a very small 1 bed flat in my area for that sort of money! My parents have a 2 bed, 3 reception room semi detached house with garage and that has been valued at around £250K !!!
 
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