Schooling horses

[Mbronze]

I have been thinking for a while to supplement my income to offer to school peoples horses for them.

Although i have no formal qualifications i have ridden for over fifteen years and consider myself to be a competent rider, i normally can get horses going well.

I was thinking perhaps i could offer to come to the owner's stables if they were in my area and ride for them if they were on holiday etc and maybe charge about £7-10 per session..??

Do you think this is a good idea or am i walking into problems??

 

[HelsB]

Sounds very cheap to me....would normally expect to pay more than that I would think

 

[Mbronze]

I only thought about that figure, because as i have no formal qualifications i can't justify a huge price but hopefully if it went well perhaps word of mouth and recommendations would let me put my prices up gradually?

 

[Natch]

Sadly I'd look into the legal side of things before you get into it - with the culture as sue-happy as we are today, but also look at the economy and question whether or not people will be wanting to buy your additional service.

Sorry to sound like a doom-monger! Ps whereabouts are you in Cheshire, I will point people towards you if I hear of anyone.

 

[Mbronze]

Naturally - I take your point!! I would def have to look into insurance becuase of the wonderful claim culture of today...

I'm based in Wilmslow in Cheshire, so don't mind travelling around. As i said it would be a second income so if it starts off small thats ok. Thanks for your comments though.

 

[Racing_Gal]

The only prob I can see you having is with insurance; as you are not qualified you'l find it difficulty to get insurance.

Even if the horse your riding is insured, if you had a accident and the horse got hurt the owner could claim from you, if you weren't insured this money would have to come from your own pocket. I work in insurance, some of the things that people claim for are crazy all be it totally legal! Hense the reason for riding school insurance been so high these days.

 

[jumpthemoon]

I agree with others about the insurance. I think at the prices you mention, you would probably lose money after taking into account travel costs and insurance costs. Sorry!

 

[Kenzo]

Suppose it depends on the level of schooling the client requires from you and what the horse needs.

I class schooling as something that needs to be done on a regular basis, where you are working the horse daily, where you have developed a schooling plan and where a client can see them developing rather than them paying you to ride their horse for a hour once a week for example.
If you are breaking and schooling then that also makes a difference on the price.

Even if you did that, £10.00 is very cheep! a majority of people pay between £15.00 to £35.00 for a lesson (just random figures there) and their the ones that are doing the riding and working up a sweet while the instructor stands there.

Plus you have to think about the time, fuel and added insurance etc.

Personally qualifications would not be issue with me, just pure good horsemanship and experience, so I wouldn't let that determine how much you charge too much. People pay for results and good word spreads like wildfire...

Good luck, I hope you new venture works well for you.

 

[daisycrazy]

Re insurance: Due to the longstanding horse policies we have with the NFU being in my mum's name, when I got married I had to take out a horse rider policy - which means I am covered to rider other people's horses (and my own!). This covers me, the horse I'm riding and also tack. It's about £60 per year. I don't know whether the approach is different if you're riding "commercially" so to speak. If you're going to declare the income (remember expenses can be set off against tax - riding equipment, insurance, travel expenses, etc.) it is very easy to register self employed. Just do some research regarding insurance.

If you charge £15 at least per session it won't take you long to cover your costs. If you have competition experience or can point to successes of horses you've produced/schooled previously then £15 is fair. If you really don't get on with a particular horse you could always offer to refund the fee and then not ride it again.