Livery in and around Inverness??

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Slm_87

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I'm moving to Inverness in the next month or so for work and I am entirely new to the horsey scene up there. I have had a dig around on the internet for potential livery yards but I'm not coming up with a great deal tbh!

Is there anyone who knows the area and could recommend a yard, ideally within a 30 minute radius of Inverness?? Im looking for something with a decent all weather arena, off road hacking and an onsite or regular visiting instructors - ideally a yard with more of an emphasis on competing than hacking (i need like-minded people to keep me motivated through the winter :p)

Any advice would be gratefully received :D thankyou!
 
Is it Inverness itself your moving to?
There is Chapelton Farm Equestrian Centre. (2 mins from Black Isle Show Field) It is a riding school and obv. the RS gets priority over arenas but it has an indoor and outdoor arena and lessons finish at 6pm. They have (or used to have) Avril Johnston and Stephen Cruickshank visit regularly for lessons as well as having their own. Only downside is there is roadwork before getting to the hacking.

There's also Logie Farm (outside Nairn) - I've seen them out and about competing and not sure what surface they have as I've only been XC there but they all seem friendly and plenty off road hacking.

Trying to get anywhere with even an arena is a challenge in this area. Best of luck and hope the move goes well.

Just had a look at previous threads and here are a few mentioned:
Burgie - Probably just on 30 min drive from Inverness.
Seaforth Riding Centre, Dunglass Farm, Maryburgh - about 25 min drive from inverness. They hold a lot of dressage comps, elaine that runs it is also an instructor and dressage judge around here. My friend works there and loves it, although it does sound to be more dressage based.
Borlum Farm, Drumnadrochit - possibly out of the 30 minutes mark.
 
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Would also recommend Broomhill Riding Centre at Fortrose (about 15-20 mins' drive north of Inverness) - friendly family-run place with indoor & outdoor schools and access to off-road hacking, mix of riding school, Pony Club & livery, good instructors.
 
I moved up a couple of years ago and really struggled with livery yards. I would agree with everything posted so far - I would just add that the traffic in and around Inverness will affect which side you're looking at - having your horse the other side of town to where you live would make your trip easily an hour long at certain times of day. There isn't really the culture of keeping your horse at livery in the same way as further south. It seems that people would rather keep them at home, with just a field, than pay for facilities.

The indoor at Chapelton is really small, as are the stables.

Borlum has nice schools, but it is also a trekking/teaching centre and those clients take priority.

Broomhill is popular - particularly with teenagers and kids with non-horsey parents who will leave them there for the day at weekends.

Cairn o'Mhor at Dingwall has a good outdoor school and hacking, regular training sessions from visiting instructors.

]f you're east of the town, Burgie (as mentioned) has good facilities, or you could try Mundole Equestrian Centre, roughly halfway between Inverness and Burgie.

You also have to remember that this is the Highlands and the winter weather will restrict both your riding and your access to your horse - there are not many competitions scheduled over the winter and of those, most are cancelled. I know several people who take their horses shoes off over the winter.

There's a strong riding club ethos and it may be worth your while contacting some of those and asking about with them.

Don't get me wrong, I loved being there - great area, very keen friendly, horsey people, lots of training - it's just very different from further south.
 
Depends on a number of factors.
What side of Inverness will you be living on? what discipline's do you take part in? what kind of livery are you after?
Most of the yards around here are DIY, but a few do offer full, part, even working.
I know most of the yards the Nairn/ Forres area well due to my job, I know a few the black isle way as well, if you like I can PM you with details of the ones I know.
 
Treetop Stables, at Culloden. :)

They have just built new stables, got a new outdoor all weather arena put down (not sure of size, but its big!), hacking, and onsite instructor. A lot of the liveries compete too.
 
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Hi and thanks for the replies - Im not surprised to hear that livery yards with good facilities are thin on the ground, the lack of results on google didn't give me much hope :rolleyes:

To answer your questions... I will be living in the culduthel/hilton area right at the bottom of Inverness. I haven't quite decided but its most likely the yard would need to offer full livery as there will be times I will be away for 2 or 3 days. Im aiming my horse at BE next season all being well so somewhere with good off road hacking or even an xc course would be fantastic. Some assistance in the dreaded dressage wouldnt go amiss either :p Having read this back i realise i am probably asking the impossible haha but surely somewhere will come close!

Spacefaer thats a good idea i think i will contact a few of the riding clubs.

Councillor if you could pm me that would be great! :)


Gillianclaude have pm'd you!


Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, hugely appreciated!
 
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