Is it right for YO to charge instructor to teach??

monkeybum13

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This does not happen at my yard, but a yard locally. The YO has introduced a fee for instructors teaching, saying they have to pay £x to teach in the school. Her reasoning being that instructor is making money from her land so should pay. Surely if this is the case then farriers/vets etc should have to pay too? and doesn't the students livery cover use of arena anyway?

Your opinions please..
(sorry if this doesn't make sense)
 
My YO doesnt charge but I know she could if she wanted to and other yards do this. I wouldnt be happy if a charge like this was brought in and it would be a negative if I was looking at a new yard. But I guess YOs have every right to. Freelance instructors are making money using the YOs facilities.
 
Knowing the cost of building a school I can understand where the YO is coming from, freelance trainers are effectively earning off the YO investment. So a small charge shouldnt be a problem, the livery is paying for the use not the trainer.
 
I sort of agree, if your livery charge includes use of the school.
However if you normally have to share the use of the school, ie you aren't allowed to prebook it for exclusive use, then allowing a livery to have a lesson pretty much stops all other liveries using the school when the lesson is going on. So you could understand it then.

We had a similar position at our yard and I started taking my daughter to her instructor as paying travel time for the instructor and also having to pay for the school made it too expensive.

There might be insurance implications as well.
 
There is a yard local to us where YO will not allow other instructors to teach there at all, you have to have lessons with her or go elsewhere!
 
I understand this as we have invested 10's of thousands so why should someone else make their living from my property?

I do not allow external instructors to teach at my centre as I am a BHS instructor and have a 2 excellent BHSI's who visit regularly to provide variety. I make a fee from their clinics which makes it viable alternative to run the clinic whilst I get a day off.
 
Hmm, maybe not a charge to the instructor but to the livery who wants it for exclusive use? I suppose this would trickle down to the person getting the lesson in the end, anyway.

I'd sort of wondered to myself if the YO might ever introduce a nominal fee to keep the school held for an hour or whatever. For example, we have an indoor school which the YO lets out for £20 / hour to outsiders. But she could theoretically charge a fiver, say to any liveries who wants a private lesson with exlusive use for an hour.

I've never heard of charging the instructor. But I can guarantee that if that was the case on my yard/my RI - i'd end up paying it anyway...same as if I was to hire another school where they have good jumping facilities - I'd have to pay for that AND my instructors time.
 
Oh I should add that it might be more of a fair charge if the lesson means the whole arena has to be booked for the hour and other liveries cannot use it. The arena at my yard is a huge 60x40 and weekdays between 4-7pm only half the arena can be booked so others can still use it but nobody usually books the whole arena anyway as half is plenty to do a lesson in.
 
At the yard where my youngest has his lessons I have to pay an extra £1 for his lesson which is the charge the YO has put on as other liveries complained about the amount of time his instructor has in the manege. The fact that she has 4 horses on the yard and uses her own allocated 'schooling time' to teach is neither here nor there
 
if the instructor is paying the yard owner isnt she technically hiring the faciilities and therefore the yard owners insurance should cover the instructor leading to the yo requiring a riding school licence?
 
If you are a livery and its your horse and instructor then no the instructor should not have to pay, I however have allowed an instructor friend to hire my school to give lessons to people not stabled on my yard, but only during the summer months as we have two schools and a field to use.
 
The 1st yard I took my horse to did let Liveries have lessons with other instructors, which she was cool with - until she realised that most of the instructors were better than her & no-one wanted lessons with the YO!! The YO was even giving tuition for free and liveries were still PAYING for outside instruction!! LOL!!
At my new yard the YO gives lessons herself, but for no more money than what I would pay at somewhere like Urchinwood, and her standard is very high so I am more than happy to pay for it - PLUS if you've paid the YO for an hour of her time at least she can't get called away to do something else if you get what I mean!!
 
If the instructor is profiting from the yard's facilities, I don't see why the YO shouldn't charge a fee. I don't think it's the same at all as farriers or vets. Course, if someone (a livery, for instance) has hired the school, then nope, no fee should be charged.
 
I think this is totally reasonable! I think YO should receive a % of the instructers profit, being that they are using the YOs school. To look at it from there p.o.v they are using YOs school when YO could be teaching in it and earning money, and teaching clients which YO could be teaching..
 
I'm really sorry I don't think I have made myself clear. (I often babble
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The yard owner does not teach so is therefore not losing any clients.
The instructor teaches liveries at the yard that are paying for use of facilities (inc arena)
If a livery is having a lesson they do not have sole use of the arena. Instructor is often teaching one person whilst others are using the school.
I hope that's better and makes more sense.
 
Alot of freelance instructors do not have the facilities to teach you at their place,so when they are charging upwards of £30 an hr then yes they should pay for the hire of the school in which they are using to earn their wages
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Lets face it,how many clients would travel to them in reality?especially when some live miles away...alot just wouldnt,which in turn means said instructor/ess loses money,going to livery yards is guaranteed income,therefore pay something toward the maintenance etc of the schools they are using
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[ QUOTE ]
I'm really sorry I don't think I have made myself clear. (I often babble
blush.gif
)
The yard owner does not teach so is therefore not losing any clients.
The instructor teaches liveries at the yard that are paying for use of facilities (inc arena)
If a livery is having a lesson they do not have sole use of the arena. Instructor is often teaching one person whilst others are using the school.
I hope that's better and makes more sense.

[/ QUOTE ]
YO is right to charge..however as instructress is paying(which will show in cost of said lesson),the school should be the insructors and clients for the length of time of the lesson,she has paid to book her time in the school,so therefore YO wrong to allow others in school....they have to book our school out for lessons,if they dont then yes others will use it
 
I do wonder about this as my horse is now on Working Livery, but I still get use of him, and I have an instructor - have for 2 years now and I want to keep using him. I am used to him and he has about 20 years of experience teaching, where as the instructors at this yard have about a 1/3 the experience he does, and I would be the only person he teaches there. The dude got me from being afraid of cantering my horse to jumping 4ft, so I don't really want to give him up!! lol
 
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