Lots going on at the moment and I can't help thinking we have taken on a bit too much (and none of it even started yet!). I'm sure it will all be fine and even though there is a lot to think about it is really exciting.
The Council have come back to us saying that basically if we knock our proposals down to 8 stables then we should be ok, depending on any local objections etc. So we are going on to the full planning application, for this we need technical drawings, a flood risk assessment and a few other things but it should be no more onerous than the pre app stage. This is really good news, but having to cut down to 8 stables has taken the shine off it a little - it is so so so so so hard to make any profit out of the riding school as it is, with 2 less ponies it may prove impossible in the short term. Add to that the horrible realisation i had this week that we may well need to pay business rates on the yard and manege. plus I am nervously getting some quotes for insurance from a couple of on-line companies. I have only budgeted for £3.5k for insurance, and I am really hoping I am not too far off the mark.
The only answer I think of at this stage is to apply for lottery funding. There is no money in running a riding school and I do not want to be another name who sinks a shed load of cash into a smallholding / stables project only to declare themselves bankrupt a few years later. We hopefully would not be bankrupt if it all went wrong, but I would hate to lose the money!
Then I look at the business plan again and I feel a bit more positive, no one offers lessons round here and there must be a way, if we are good, to make a succeeful business out of this. And if there is no business, then we will have v posh facilities to use ourselves!
I am having Dolly, a pony I have seen for Luke, vet checked tomorrow and all being well i will pick her up on saturday. Due to the bad weather we are not ready for ponies on the field yet (long grass, no fencing , no field shelter etc etc) and so i am looking into alternative stabling in Furneux Pelham for her. the pressure id on to be ready here by the 26 May, which is when I am picking up Thistle and moving Dolly home. The fencing man and the paddock man are on the case! i am also busy digging up nettles / bonfire patches / filling in rabbit holes in preparation. Good news this week is that the council have said we can have a field shelter, whilst we wait for the stables. I have ordered this from Redmire Stables and it will be delivered and erected on 22 May. yeah!
After school tonight I am taking the kids to get kitted out for riding - hats, boots, johdpurs and gloves, which will no doubt cheer us all up quite a lot :-)
xx
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