Horses still need to be fed as riding school shuts
Riding schools with horses to feed are struggling in the pandemic. Chloe Parkman reports on one school
THE owner of a Devon riding school has launched a fundraising appeal – after the third national lockdown which forced her to close, leaving her struggling to care for the horses.
Chrissy Howick of Budleigh Riding School is the owner of fifty valuable horses, which are costly to care for. With the latest national lockdown ordering all riding schools to close for public lessons, Chrissy said that remaining optimistic whilst trying to find both the time or money to look after all of the horses was a challenge.
And she is planning to undertake a South West coastpath sponsored walk to help raise money to keep the horses fed and cared for.
Mother-of-three Chrissy said that on average she would have around six or seven members of staff helping to exercise, feed and maintain the horses. “Roughly we spend £8,000 every fortnight on the horses,” she said. “Government funding does not even come close. You can’t furlough horses, they still need to be cared for.’’
She went on: ‘’I am homeschooling all three of my kids as the schools have shut – they have been roped into helping us. If staff are not there then there is no one to look after or exercise the horses. Although I agree with lockdown as it is needed, it is a struggle for all riding schools.
“A lot of people make the assumption that horse owners have a lot of money but – particularly with riding schools – that is not the case. Riding schools do not come under a lot of umbrellas for funding. People don’t do this job to make money, they do it for the love of it.’’
Chrissy has run the riding school since 1998 teaching all levels of experience and training teams such as the Exeter University Riding Club teams and also Exeter and District Riding Club dressage training. In a statement on the fundraiser page, Chrissy said: “Due to Covid we sadly have to shut our riding school yet again but the expenses for caring for the horses still carry on. We are now struggling to keep the horses and ponies without the riding school income.
“We are doing everything we can
It just feels like horse riding schools, of which there aren’t many left, are being forgotten CHRISSY HOWICK
to keep our horses looked after and fed as well as we possibly can. However the Government does not support us covering any of these costs so we are reaching out to you for some help in these difficult times.”
Chrissy and her sister Mel will be attempting to walk 50km in a day to raise money for the the horses’ welfare. “We will be joined by our children who are each going to walk their age in kilometres to keep us going,” she said.
She explained that she understood the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown were impacting widely across the countryside with many other activities also closed down or operating at a signficantly reduced capacity.
She said: “I would just like to reiterate that it is not just the horse riding industry that is struggling. Everybody has been hit hard this year.
“It just feels like horse riding schools – of which there aren’t many left – are often forgotten about.
“We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the local people and businesses who have supported us. We really appreciate it.’’
For more information, or to donate, visit Budleigh Riding School’s fundraising page online.