Riding School In Wick

[wickchick]

Do you think wick needs a riding school or not?
Opinions would be appreciated.
All ages of course

[lynne duncan]

that would make my daughter land in 7th heaven

[brandy]

i would love it.. my boys would def. take lessons.. as soon as they are old enough!

[ashaw1]

Definateley! I have been looking for one since moving here in December.

[porshiepoo]

Definately.
Perhaps with the option of hacks for the more advanced?

[wickchick]

Thanks for all the opinions so far keep them coming, open for any ideas you have and all suggestions welcome.

[wickchick]

Opinion are opinions but i would appreciate it if you could comment on why you dont think it would be a good idea.

Thanks

[spiggie]

I think it would definately be a great idea! I used to go to Liz Alexander out in lyth but she is now closed and there is nowhere else id prefer to go. Fantastic idea if you ask me :)

[horseman]

It has to be a good idea for the fact that it puts in place a disapline (very necessary to control such a large animal) not usual in youngsters.
And not to get to longwinded about it,it's thundering good fun!:lol:

[henry20]

I'm in 2 minds as to what to answer. I love horse riding, but don't have the spare time or spare cash to do it on a regular basis.

No, Wick does not need a horse riding centre, but as for whether there's a market for it or not, its possible. It would depend on location as a lot of parents may not have time to ferry their children back and fore every week. Also, the cost of horse riding is almost 4 times what it was 10 years ago. The cost of living is a lot dearer (people able to borrow a higher mortgage rate than in previous years) so cash for luxuries may not be so readily available.

I guess its the same as any other business opportunity and needs a lot of market research............good luck if you decide to do it :)

[wickchick]

I am open to all ideas and opinions.

One idea I was thinking about was along the lines of owning a pony for a day, i.e On a saturday children could come along from 10am to 1pm and groom, muckout, clean tack and ride a pony 'pretending to be their own' This is one way to encourage a child to have a routine and have knowledge on how much an animal needs looking after.
That is just one way to encourage children to come along that i have thought of so far.
Another option would be to hold childrens birthday parties where they can come along and have fun with some horsey activities
I would also like to have a small livery yard, This would help fund the riding school and give people in Wick the chance to stable and graze their horses.

The location of this business would be within walking distance of wick town centre.

I just think that having this opportunity would educate children/adults on something that hasnt been offered in Wick.

Special offers would be available of course ie families with more that 2 children that wished get their children some riding lessons.

Thanks again

[brandy]

another thing is the kids could earn the money to pay for their lessons if they were really interested.. ie.. extra chores.. ect.. spend their pocket money on something better than fags and top ups *cheeky grin*

[henry20]

The average hour trek costs £18 - £25, so its an awful lot of chores needing done. :eek: I doubt you could charge much less once you take into account customer liabilities etc. Plus, even on a 'pony for a day' situation, you are effectively baby sitting and it can sometimes be more of a hinderance than a help. Great for the parents though - offloading the kids for a morning ;)

There are quite a few livery's in the area already, so there is no guarantee of an income from that sector unless you had really competitive prices.

I have to say Wickchick, if there is the market there, it could be a very good venture. Maybe I'm just thinking from a personal point of view: Would I take the risk of establishing a livery/trekking business? Only if I knew I could survive on little/no income - ie my husbands wage could cover the bills and any of my earnings were a bonus.

If you manage to capture tourist trade, it could be highly profitable in the summer, but not so great in the winter.

[cuddlepop]

Until quite recently we had two riding centres in the north end of Skye and one in the south end.We now have none:confused
All these centres were busy and were used by both tourists and locals and provided livery for other peoples horses.Dont know the ins and outs of why they all ceased trading but I know they are greatly missed.(One still doing livery only)
The tourists loved the romantic idea of treaking in Skye and ridding the heavy horses on the sands at Armadale.
I think a ridding centre would be an assist to the area.:D

[wickchick]

Perhaps i havent made this clear. I am actually thinking about a 'Riding centre' Not a trekking center I am trying to give the opportunity to children of wick 'caithness' to have the chance to ride. The area of wick is not suitable to trek and i would not be wanting to capture the tourists. A great trekking centre is in bettyhill, she has the ideal location and runs it very well.

Thanks

[dunderheed]

think this is a great idea , however would the costs of setting up ,insuring and running on a daily basis be offset by running a "pony for a day" operation at a weekend with a wee bit of tack selling thrown in?
dont forget you would need to go through disclosure aswell for all your instructors /stablehands helpers etc

[Ojibwa]

I think this is a wonderful idea. All the best to you wickchick if you go ahead with this venture. :)

[wickchick]

Thanks for all the comments so far, thought i would post it on here to get everyones opinions. Keep them coming, aswell as any sugestions. All help appreciated.

[Bill Fernie]

There was a planning application to build an equine centre in Wick a while back but although it was granted it has so far not been built. If you are able to find out from that person why they did not go ahead then that might help with your business planning. The planning application will still be on the Highland council web site under planning or go into the planning office and ask about it. If the applicant was willing to discuss the matter you might gain some valuable ideas from someone who has obvously thought about it before submitting a planning application. It may be however that person is still planning to go ahead but only the date has been postponed. It might affect your decision to go ahead or not. It may be that the type of business they were planning was very different from your own ideas but if you can determine that it might make huge difference to what you do. If there is any form of competition involved then it maybe even more imperative you consider this before risking your own capital which is what most business decisions involve.

Have you been in touch with the enterprise company yet. They offer a range of advice for anyone planning to set up a new business. You do not have to take any of it but it might help in thinking about how you go about it all. Even beyond the basic idea of the business you need to know about a whole range of matters and the sooner you get down to the basics that apply to any business the sooner you will know if your ideas have chance of working. If you phone HIE Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise they can send you some of the literature they have on business start-up. Some new businesses may qualify for start-up grants.

[porshiepoo]

Myself and my daughters used to go to a riding school regularly as well as owing our own and I think it's a great idea.
The owning a pony for the day was a fantastic success and they used to mix it up with their own little shows so that kids could get a taste for show life as well.
What about adding lessons for people with their own horses? That also was very successful when I went.
I haven't been able to find time to ride since selling my horse a couple of years ago so I'd definately be interested in another school (or is it just kids you're aiming at?) and I also have a friend moving up from Edinburgh who I know also wants to learn to ride.

Personally I think Wick does need this kind of venture, it gives kids a hobby that nowadays seems to be hard to find.
The cost of lessons etc could be the major downfall to this venture. Gone are the £10 an hour lessons it would seem, I think £20 an hour is more the range and that's in a group enviroment, there are many people such as myself that prefer one on one and of course this increases the cost considerably.
Can Wick / Caithness sustain the amount of custom you would need just to break even after covering all your costs? Especially as you'll no doubt be needing to employ.

The working for rides idea is of course a great thing but you have to be careful that the majority of your 'users' are not using this stratedgy as it will obviously not be profitable for you.

You could do with some input from people that use the other riding schools in the area.

[amanda]

I put no by mistake pressed the button too quick.There is room in wick the generation now love there kids too ride as maybe something they wish they had done as a child.We have a riding school in orkney which works well and has livery as well.Like everything in life ashleigh with a little bit of thought and a lot of hard work anything is acheivable.

[wickchick]

Will keep you informed

[dancingtaz13]

I don't know if anyone is aware but there's a recently set up stables in Lyth that offers all the activities mentioned.
For more information please PM me.

[Jo.b]

Great idea.
Where i used to live, the local riding school tended to be quiet through the week days / mornings, so they offered riding sessions to children with special needs, to come along as a class, sometimes just to see and touch the horses would be enough, maybe this would be good for the county too?
Good luck, i'll book lessons for my kids.

[wickchick]

hello again, the Riding school in Lyth. Can someone tell me who actually runs this and who the main instructor is? Are they BHS 'British Horse Society' approved.
Thanks

[gunnlass]

I think it is a good idea, definately, good luck if you go ahead.

[MsMe]

i think the one in lyth that dancingtaz13 mentioned is natalie oags. she has started taking children at the weekend but don't think she has that many ponies- only 2 or 3 i think! i think she plans to have a riding school some day

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

Yeah I think MSME is right.... defo not BHS approved!!

[wickchick]

1 year left at college, shall keep you all updated with whats happening when I have made some progress.
Thanks

[jac1791]

Hi Ashleigh
Aalish is dying for riding lessons - put her name down Now if u thinking of starting on your own ---- good luck