Taking the p***?

[minesadouble]

Opinions wanted -
DIY livery yard with all weather arena solely for use by liveries. One of liveries takes it upon herself to use said arena to give lessons to non-livery clients on her own horses for payment.
No permission asked or given and haven't a clue whether she has appropriate insurance. Do you think this amounts to p*** taking?

 

[Agent XXX999]

yup!

 

[Pasha]

I agree as she is making money from it and presumably paying liveries cannot use the school whilst she's giving a lesson

 

[Tempi]

id just tell your YO and let him/her deal with it.

 

[Salcey]

yep shes def taking the p***.
Get the owner/YO to sort out

 

[Happy Bird]

I would say it depends on the frequency. If it was a friend of hers and it was once a week I would let it drop. Also can you use the school at the same time ?

If she is using it exclusively and often (especially as she's taking money) then that is taking the p***. Have you spoken to YO ?

 

[OWLIE185]

If I was the yard owner I would be furious and would give her a bill for the use of the school. A Menage is an expensive item at about £25,000 plus the value of the land it stands on and the elecrticty and maintenance. What happens if there is an accident and the person having the lesson claims or their horse kicks one of the livery horses or even brings an infection in to the yard?

 

[bandit]

yup - not good, and wouldn't have any insurance either i suspect.

let the YO deal with it.

 

[happyhack]

wonder if she knows that she could be prosecuted! and that if the person she is teaching falls off and injuresthemself they could sue her personally for damages.

 

[minesadouble]

Thanks for your replies - Y.O. is actually my other half. Girl is teaching on her own ponies and I would strongly suspect she is not covered insurance wise. We haven't actually seen money change hands but last 2 weekends she has had non livery clients riding her pony - the reason nothing has been said so far is that I haven't actually seen money change hands and was initially giving her the benefit of the doubt - ie I thought maybe these people were friends of hers coming for a one-off ride on her pony.

Having spoken to some of the liveries they reckon she is teaching for money. I was absolutely foaming - but did wonder whether I was overreacting - obviously from your replies I wasn't so thanks!

 

[happyhack]

jsut say that there are rules regarding this behaviour and if she wishes to teach outsiders then she will have to pay for use of the school and provide the appropriate insurance certificate saying that she is covered should anything happen. I am gobsmacked that they havent approached the YO for permission first though, thats just rude!!

 

[Accy]

I would find out the charges for local schools for hire, find out for sure that she is teaching for reward then confront her with the facts of insurance, and the cost of school hire and give her the choice from there

 

[minesadouble]

T o be honest I don't know whether we should even allow that - although the cost of school hire would probably render her unable to profit out of the lessons anyway. I just think that the liveries pay for use of the school inclusive with their livery money and if I was a paying livery and wanted to use the school when she was teaching I'd pretty annoyed.
She only does it at weekends and this is premium time when most people want to use the school.

 

[SarahRoads]

Dam right she's taking the p***! And by clogging up the school for herself she will be p***ing off your other liveries too!

 

[TequilaMist]

Does the girl refuse to let other liveries in school whilst she is 'teaching'?Do think she's taking the P especially if she didn't clear it with you first.And would also be annoyed if couldn't use school cos as you say its premium time esp if you have a lot of liveries all vying for time in school as it is.

 

[HDT]

This needs to be sorted sooner rather than later and it is a matter where safety, Insurance and business comes before anything else.

If it was me I would speak to the girl in question. First of all I would ask if she has insurance to

1) Allow people to ride her horse (even just friends riding need to be covered)
2) Is she teaching...yes I would ask this direct. If she says she is teaching then you can take the matter further.

3) Ask to see her Freelance Instructor Insurance.
4) Tell her that she must pay to hire the arena for the given time
5) Make sure the lessons are out of premium time so that the liveries are not loosing out on the use of the arena.
6) Basically tell her she is not allowed to give lessons
7) Make it clear anything not already stated and agreed in the livery contract requires a written request for which permission may or may not be granted (reply verbally nd by letter)


It is horrible when you need to keep a business mind but keep the yard as friendly and relaxed as possible but you need to put your needs first then the liveries.
Just think of the damage if Insurance claims are involved. Everyone seems nice until money is involved. Its a sad aspect but one that is reality..

Whatever route you decide to take in dealing with this issue I hope it all goes smoothly.

Cheers

 

[dieseldog]

If someone fell off and sued you as the land owner is liable.

We had someone without our knowledge using our land for quad biking. Our solicitor went mental as we were liable even though we had no knowledge of the activity taking place.

Does your insurance cover hiring your school out? Really your yard is being run as a riding school so you would need to up your insurance to cover that.