And I know within the equestrian industry we're a little bit on
the struggling side at the moment due to, you know, the
financial costs of everything and everyone not being able to
afford to ride really. And I thought, how can I do that
whilst making horse riding more accessible, but also getting it
funded so I can keep doing what I'm doing as well.
Hello and welcome to Curious Equestrian.
I'm your host Anna Louise and today's guest you might already
know her from going viral across social media.
It's Chloe in Cornwall, AKA Chloe Hinson who is on a mission
to make riding accessible by creating EU KS first free riding
school at Barnwell Equestrian Centre.
Chloe, welcome to Curious Equestrian.
Hi, Anna. Thanks for having me.
Chloe, take us back to the moment you decided you wanted to
set up EU KS first free riding school.
So back on the back end of last year, I had a little bit of time
off. I'd done a lot last year and I
thought, you know what, I need a little bit a moment just to take
a breather and think what am I going to do next?
I was just thinking there's a lot of people out there either
across YouTube, TikTok and even Facebook now really making
financial now, really making money online enough that they
are supporting themselves fully financially and completely
independently. I love what I do and I'm so
lucky because one day years ago this was what I'm doing now.
It was my dream. So I just thought how can I
actually keep doing what I'm doing?
But the next step to make it better.
And I know within the equestrian industry we're a little bit on
the struggling side at the moment due to, you know, the
financial costs of everything and everyone not being able to
afford to ride really. And I thought, how can I do that
whilst making horse riding more accessible, but also getting it
funded so I can keep doing what I'm doing as well.
Because we've lost so many of our riding schools, haven't we?
Over the last 10 years, we've lost 20% of our riding schools.
We've lost an estimated 330 riding schools because they just
cannot continue as a business. Why is that, Chloe?
How expensive is it to run a riding school as a business?
So I think up to a year ago we even we were sort of just making
it work. And even now going forward, we
are sitting down with an accountant and thinking even now
where do we go from here? Because of it's such a high cost
business to run, you cannot put your prices down because
unfortunately it does cost so much with feed, bedding, straw,
hailage, whatever you feed as well, whether it's hail,
hailage, I've seen some prices around the country just hailage.
1 Bale of hailage is about 5060 lbs.
Now you've got to unfortunately charge your customer base what
it costs to run. Unfortunately, if you don't,
your business model doesn't work and then it's not financially
viable. I think also coming out of COVID
there was a lot of retirement happening but also a lot of the
land, a lot of the riding centres have closed because the
land has been built on. We are losing the land around us
then we're in the hay shortage crisis aren't we?
At the moment across the UK none of us can get hold of enough hay
and it's all the costs have skyrocketed in some places
doubling and tripling. So it just feels as an owner
impossible to manage costs, let alone a riding school with
around 30 plus horses to care for.
How much is a lesson, Chloe, at your riding school?
So we start group lessons from 25 lbs and then we even do like
an owner pony day, which is 1/2 day three, a three hour sort of
experience for children at 45 lbs and then we go up to an hour
at 35 lbs as well. We obviously then do more
expensive sessions when they're privates.
Some people need a private or a semi private and we just go from
there really. And tell us why you wanted to
make riding lessons accessible again, and why it's important
that they are accessible to everyone, not just to those who
can afford it. I think that really stems back
from where I feel like I came out of school.
I left school early. When I came out of school, I
really struggled with my mental health and what I wanted to do
going forward. From there.
That's where I really got involved with the horses a lot
more, and I think the more I did with the horses, the more my own
confidence grew. So personally, I really know how
beneficial they are to a person's mental health and
confidence really. I remember being that child and
that teenager who was such a warrior, you know, everything
was all sunny on the outside for me, but internally I would be
worrying about something. And to have that weekly lesson
with the horses was my therapy really.
It was the moment that I got in the saddle and my mind went
silent and I could focus just on me on and the horse and be in
the great outdoors, you know, having hacking lessons or cross
country lessons out in the field or in the and school.
And it was my me time where I had a break from my own worrying
really. And, you know, since I've been
diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and suddenly I realized that
horses were my medicine, you know, getting me through those
teenage years where they're full of anxiety.
And I was so lucky that my mum prioritized me having riding
lessons. And I think of if I didn't have
that, what would have happened? You know, how would I have
managed my mental health? And it's so interesting that for
you, horses were your therapy at that time as well, and then LED
to your career. And if riding schools close
around us, what will happen to those children that can't access
horses and that can't get that time in the saddle?
Because riding schools are the gateway to horses for many
children who aren't born into horsey families.
I think that's where a lot of people have got to remember how,
how do people start accessing horses?
Where do they get involved with horses and how can they, you
know, really progress is there's not a lot of other options for
people. And also there are loaning a
horse, going straight into a loaning a horse.
There's insurance issues and whether there's the right horse
available to people. The horse hasn't turned out to
be right, unfortunately. And then they are back with us,
hopefully and luckily, but there are those situations where it
can go really wrong if you're not careful.
And in that riding school environment, you get that
support. Don't you learn all about
horses, Not only riding them, but usually you might help
tacking up or, you know, untacking the horses.
You get to handle the horses. And you get that experience that
you just don't get if you suddenly took on a lone horse
and that horse is entirely yours and you're responsible with no
knowledge at all. And take us back.
Chloe, how were you feeling at that time where you'd left
school early, you'd found horses.
He was suffering with your mental health.
How did they support you at that time being around horses?
I think like just the therapeutic benefit, just being
around the horses, grooming, It wasn't necessarily, it didn't
even have to ride that day, but grooming, just being around
them, mucking out and giving myself a task to do by, you
know, filling up peanuts or water buckets and just thinking
if I don't do that job today, nobody else is going to.
So that horse needs me. So it gave me, it also gave me a
bit of that responsibility that I needed to be there for the
horse because nobody else would do it otherwise.
Oh, that's such that sense of purpose, isn't it, that they
give up? Yeah, in the fresh air and
moving, which is so important for our mental health that we
don't talk enough about. We often talk about hitting the
gym or going for a run, but actually horses get us outdoors
and moving and lifting, when actually we might have stayed
inside otherwise and sort of moped around.
So it really brings in such benefits to us, doesn't it?
And tell us when you thought, that's it.
I'm going to set up this riding school.
I'm going to set up some free lessons, as you say, using the
power of social media. How on earth do you begin to do
that? I think you've really got to
probably just be really brave, a little bit crazy as as we are
all horse people, we're all a little bit nuts.
It's probably too many hours in the stables mucking out and
doing all of the jobs that we're meant to do out in all the
weathers as well. In all that nuts.
But yeah, I would say you need to be brave.
You need to put yourself out there and you also there is a
little bit of not really caring whatever people think.
You've got to remember there are 8 billion people in the world.
And if you're worried about, I don't know, Susan down the road
thinking whatever they think about you, There are 8 billion
people in the world and she's just one person.
So do not worry about what people are thinking.
They are going to do their own thing, but you go and do your
thing and keep doing what you want to do.
Tell people about it and hopefully you can get some
inspiration from someone and you can then be the inspiration for
someone else. And how are you rallying this
fundraising effort on social media?
So I think it really has broken down into what you can do on
TikTok, to what you can do on YouTube and to what you can do
on Facebook. It's all about the ways we could
have monetized those platforms and build an audience.
But the audience, again, is more like a community to us.
And again, it's that it really is that equestrian community
that drives projects like this forward.
And there's so many people out there that want this to happen
because they find it so relatable that they were once
that person that could have really done with a project like
this and the help from it. And I think the help that I'm
asking people to do is also relatable because everybody
needs some help somewhere along their journey, doesn't matter
which journey that they're going on.
But nobody got to where they were today without a little bit
of help on the way. 100% and for those who haven't seen, Chloe
talks to camera every day and marks each step of the journey
by saying day one, day 2, day 30, day 60 of the journey and
doing little mini vlogs across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook
as well. People have been donating as
well, Chloe. Yeah.
So we've had a few PayPal donations and that was amazing.
The January 1 really hit off where, again, a lady donated
quite a big sum to us. And that was just absolutely
incredible because that really kicked the project off in
January. And I feel like now we're on a
bit of a roll where we're continuing all of that funding
and the outreach and just getting this out to the right
people now. It's amazing because you came up
on my feed, not surprisingly, because obviously I love horsey
content and I'm always looking for, you know, the latest
stories. And then what's happening with
horses on social media and your face popped up all bright and
smiley, you know, on a dreary January day, talking about your
dreams and what you wanted to do.
And like so many others, I'm sure it really resonated with me
seeing so many riding schools close around me and in all sorts
of different areas in the UK. And seeing those empty barns and
the gates close and then going for housing development, as you
say, and losing the land and seeing you on a mission was so
refreshing to want to bring something for free to those who
can't afford it. Just tell us where you are in
your journey now. Because you're on day 60, aren't
you? Oh, come.
On day 64, day 64, I can't actually believe we're on day 64
because it feels like I've just started still.
But yeah, we've, I think we've got, I don't know how many
followers we've got now, but it's got to be closer to the 50
mark, I'm assuming. 50,000. I think we've got over 50,000.
I would say now that's even across Instagram.
And although Instagram doesn't necessarily, you can't monetize
Instagram necessarily, but I would absolutely not skip on
Instagram because the reach on Instagram is great for putting
yourself out there and finding people who are in the same, the
same boat as you or they want to be able to support you.
And tell us, Kevin, you've just started rolling out some of the
free riding lessons and what does that look like and who are
your clients? So we've got an application
process that we have done through our YouTube channel.
People then get directed to the website, they find the secret
link, as I say, and then they can apply for the lessons.
So in the application, there are a few questions in that
application that hopefully, you know, people are honest with
their answers. They fit the boxes.
These are people from, you know, low income families, people
struggling with their mental health, people that have been
through a bad time recently. And I think also like just also
looking at like sort of the Make a Wish sort of foundation how
that works. Not just the people suffering,
but also the families around them.
Maybe they're just going through such a hard time that they could
really do with something that would uplift them and help them
get through whatever they're going through.
Oh, that's wonderful. And so do they, when they apply
Chloe, do they automatically get put on your waiting list?
It would be great in the future to be able to fund like a full 6
week block of lessons for the people.
So then at least they're making sort of a progression.
At the moment we've only been able to reach reach a certain
level of offering them a free session and then going from
there. But the idea eventually is to be
able to offer them a a full 6 week course of those lessons so
they can at least get up to walk and trots and getting off the
lead rain hopefully and. What was your first free session
like? How many?
How many people did you have in your session and what did you
do? So we ran smaller sessions for
children that had never ridden before or only had ridden a
handful of times because they'd gone for pony rides and the odd
experience here and there. We ran small sessions of four
children at a time just because it was slightly easier for us to
run, especially if they were all complete beginners.
We took them through their paces, their, you know, beginner
sort of level position, got them in the saddle.
It was absolutely amazing to see a few of those children who were
quite shy and seemed quite timid at the start of the lesson, open
up throughout the lesson and then just start chatting away,
smiling and really starting to feedback to me about, you know,
how comfortable they became while they were around the
horse. And I think also growing in
confidence yet again with themselves and the horse.
And how did it feel to see it all coming together, Chloe, and
seeing your first three sessions actually happening in front of
you? Yeah, it felt amazing,
absolutely amazing. I think that's what's spurred me
and it's keep, again, snowballing into me keeping
doing this and thinking that this is a very real thing that
can happen and it's possible. It's just you've got to take one
day at a time and keep doing what you're doing.
So how many sessions do you have at the moment per month that are
free to your funded places? So at the minute we've raised
around the £400 mark for our February sessions.
We've not quite closed that funding off just yet because
we're waiting up until that last week where we can start running
the sessions to roll them out then and I'm hoping we can get
to the round, the £500 mark. We raised 750 in January and it
would be great to get to that goal yet again.
But who knows, who knows what we're going to be able to do.
You just, you just don't know. One day at a time, tomorrow
someone might see the content and they might feel like they
could help us along with the journey so.
And so you you roll out the fundraising throughout the month
and then you put into place those free sessions in the last
week of that month. Is that how it works?
At the moment, that's what we did in January.
So yeah, we're just waiting for that last sort of week and then
hoping to put on those sessions again.
And how do you fit that in within your normal riding school
schedule? We just opened up for an extra
day of the week and we run them specifically on that day.
We then had a few more sessions the day after that we did for
our home educated children. And again, those are children
that again, I find relatable because they're children that
not necessarily got on with school.
They felt shut down in the classroom, they couldn't cope,
maybe experience bullying in in whatever setting that they were.
And they just again, they couldn't cope.
So mental health comes back into that.
And they're a really great bunch of kids and they love the
horses. They just want to be around the
horses. And you can feel how good like
this bunch of kids are. If once you get them in the
right place, really. Chloe, how do you think you
bring in your experiences, what you went through as a child and
a teenager, into your lessons as an instructor?
I think just remembering how difficult I found things when I
was that age and also even the experience.
I said a couple weeks ago I learned how to ski and that was
a great experience to remind myself how difficult horse
riding is especially and how scary it is as well.
If you've never done it before, it can be quite intimidating to
just even go up and touch the horse to start with for a lot of
people, and it's that even that is a great experience to give to
someone if they've never been around a horse before.
Tell us about some of those reactions of those children that
experienced for the first time horses and riding in your free
sessions. What were they like after after
their lesson? Yeah, you could tell that they
had come out of their shell completely different child to
when they first started to the end of the lesson.
They were so much more like giving with their answers when I
was asking for feedback. They just, they just had such a
better outlook to them to when they were on the horse from at
the end to the beginning basically.
And Chloe, tell us about your riding school for those who
maybe have never ridden in one, or for those who want to know
about your approach within the riding school, tell us about
your horses and how you keep them physically and emotionally
and mentally happy in their work as a riding school horse.
Yeah. So all horses have a very varied
work routine. We try not to do any more than
two hours maximum of workload with them per day, so they're
not overworked whatsoever. And that has also come into how
we're running the free sessions as well.
Obviously they have got X amount of hours per week to to work, so
we can't go over that. So all of the free sessions are
carefully planned and worked in with how we run as a normal week
as well. When our normal regular clients
come, we really encourage them to get a bit more hands on with
the horses. So we do, we sort of say you can
come, you can groom, you can tack up, you can learn all of
those bits before the lesson and also after the lesson,
untacking, washing down and rugging up as well.
We really encourage all of that to go hand in hand with the
riding part because otherwise sometimes they're never going to
get that opportunity to learn all of those things that you've
got to do with the horse as well.
And even when I was young, my mum taught me how to ride and
she'd always say horse first, then you can sort yourself out
after. Even if I was tired, sweaty,
messy, whatever it was, always untack your horse, wash your
horse down, feed your horse, and then you can sort yourself out
after. Oh.
I'm talking of your mum. Your mum was previously running
the riding school since the 80s and you've now taken over for
the next 5 years, which is a big pressure isn't it Chloe, to take
over and and to fill your mum's shoes.
Have you felt that responsibility and do you think
that's why you've wanted to put your own stamp on your ride in
school? Yeah, I think compared to me and
my mum, we were doing things very differently.
We've definitely we both got a very different way of doing
things. Sometimes that's not for the
best where we butt heads a little bit.
I always say this they say you should never work with horses,
children or your family. Your.
Families and children and then your family that's I've never
heard the family one, but I can totally imagine how he did that,
Yeah. So there's all all three there.
So as you can imagine, it's it can be a very interesting day.
Chloe, how does it feel showing up on social media every single
day? You're not only running the
riding school, you're an instructor at the riding school
as well. You're trying to fund these free
places and you've got to show up on camera every day.
How do you manage that without getting burnt out?
I think there is a little bit of an aspect of getting burnt out
and there there is a risk of that with this.
But if you think of it, you've just got to make a short clip
which is one minute long per day on TikTok.
It's just got to be over one minute to monetize it.
So that's what we've been trying to do.
The more I've been doing this, the harder it's actually got to
keep it to a minute. I've been going over and then
I've had to because so much has happened.
The more I've been doing, the faster this has been getting.
I think if you think of it, it is just try try to do one minute
which might turn into 5 minutes with a bit of editing and
captions. But one minute of your day is
achievable if you look at it like that.
Breaking it down rather than looking at the whole year ahead.
And will you keep doing this, Chloe?
So you're now locking in with your social media posting and
content so that you can monetize and and get money from your
pages. That means you've got to show up
every single day for the years ahead, for the five years ahead.
Is that right? I think for the minute, I've got
to keep doing it. Everyone keeps holding me
accountable. They're they're really rooting
for me. They're it's been so positive.
There's been so much positivity around this that I just thought,
yeah, I've got, I've got to keep doing it.
And I've been with YouTube. We can now start going into like
longer format videos, maybe even doing one a week to build up the
monetization there, building up the views and the hours because
we've got to get to 4000 watch hours over there.
So we've now just started thinking and planning where
we're going with the content to really be able to monetize more
basically. Yeah, And for those wondering
how difficult is it with your just over 50K followers across
all platforms? You mentioned Instagram isn't
monetized, but how much money does that equate to for those
who are thinking either you're rolling in it or oh she's barely
making 10P, how much does that actually work out to when you
talk about posting these videos? It can work out to be a 5 LB
video through the engagement or A5P video through the
engagement. And that's where you've got to
build the community and the right audience to get people to
engage with your content. And also when you're making
those videos, remind people to engage with your content, it
triggers a little light bulb to people to say, Oh yeah, I, I,
I've got to support this. I'll throw them a, like, I'll
put a comment on it or even a repost and a share.
And that's again, those repost and those shares push the
content content out even further.
And it all helps. And that's how we've got here
today so far, just by people doing that.
And have you found Chloe? The ripple effect of people
finding your equestrian centre who might actually want to
become a paid client. Yeah, so we're busier than ever.
Brilliant. We've had a fair few inquiries
like that as well. A lot of people still say,
although I've been running for the last five years, a lot of
people still say didn't even know you were here or on the
map. So we've really put ourselves on
the map across Cornwall again and that has further generated
more inquiries. So it's still worth doing that.
Not everyone wants a free session and they want to start
coming and being a paid client as well.
That is so exciting and great to hear considering the climate as
well with horse ownership and horse care being, you know,
absolutely the most difficult financially it's ever been with
the cost of living and and the hay crisis.
And get back to the conversation in just a mode.
But first, have you subscribed to our completely free
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discussed and lots more. It's completely free.
Link in the description. Chloe, before you started this
this initiative, how worried were you about the survival of
your riding centre? I mean, we've been doing all
right, but for the next five years or where I want to be, it
did start to feel a little bit impossible.
We have got a lovely indoor arena bar stabling we have been
fixing up year after year, spending more and more money on
trying to mend a few aspects of the yard because it is older and
a little bit more worn and torn. So where I want to really be
able to put the money back into the place is with our stabling
and also a sort of clubhouse where we can offer our clients
somewhere warm and dry to have a drink and a coffee.
And also with our home educated students, they could come in and
sit down somewhere warm and dry in a sort of classroom, a
classroom environment. So that I think I was thinking
of how am I going to get there when I am breaking even.
So I thought, yeah, if I, if I can do this, you don't know
where it goes. You even with opening maybe a
CIC, there might be some more access to direct funding.
There's so many options that we've got.
And I think a lot of people have opened up the CICS, but I've
also seen a lot of people even struggling with accessing the
grants through that as well. So it's not always as easy as
just opening up CIC and getting grants because that doesn't
always happen either. So I think this way of doing
things is also going to be really helpful.
As you say, it comes back to that community, doesn't it?
Supporting what you're doing, believing in you and the horses
and the power of what you're doing.
Every share not only boosts your content and potentially hopes
monetize that content, but it gets new eyes on it, doesn't it?
So then someone might stumble across you and then donate some
money to help you along the way. So that importance of having
that community. And I was hearing actually, you
know, in the world of content creation, obviously everyone
wants as many followers as possible.
Now we've all seen that there's a digital career that can be had
if we have 10s of thousands or hundreds of thousands of
followers even. But also there's a big power in
having a small niche at the moment.
Apparently that smaller base, like you say, sort of 50K, you
know, a few thousand, but people that just want to get behind you
and, you know, either donate or subscribe to your content or
share what you're doing and and believe in what you're doing.
And apparently that is also a real key to success online now
is having that close knit community.
And I can imagine on days where you've had, as you say, like A5P
video and you think, oh, that's not going to do anything.
I imagine it's that community that keeps you going.
Yeah, it's definitely the community.
A comment, just a nice comment that you read or someone sharing
their story with you is absolutely what you need on
those days because it can feel a little bit useless when you feel
like your contents not being pushed out there.
Nobody's seen it, nobody's engaged.
The importance is keeping doing what you're doing and ignore the
views, Ignore the numbers a little bit because over time,
that video that yesterday you made might have got 500 views,
but in 30 days time it might have got 5000 views because that
all accumulates and it counts for something as well.
And then one day the algorithm might change and it might push
your content out even further. When you had this bolt of
lightning, Chloe, and you thought this is what I want to
do, I want to help make riding more accessible.
I want to really boost, you know, the exception of our
riding score and spread the word of what we're doing in Cornwall.
Were you someone who was already into social media or did you
have to get to grips with mics and recording video and
uploading it? Yeah, so I've always, I've tried
a little bit here and there and I probably would tell you that I
just did it for fun. And then when I really did try
to do something with social media, I would be that person
that it didn't really get a lot of engagement.
Nobody's really seen it. I got a little bit disheartened,
so I stopped doing it or I just didn't find the time to make the
effort to go and do it. But I've still got all of that
content that I can still re share now especially.
But I think again, that is the importance of no one watches
your content. Keep doing it anyway.
Nobody's commented. Keep doing it because one day
people might see it and it might just get pushed out there.
Especially, I think TikTok works in mysterious ways.
It does, doesn't it? It really does.
And I say this, I'm laughing,
Chloe. So as well as being a presenter,
I know exactly what you mean about Tick Tock working
mysterious ways. Because I also run a little
animal sanctuary with my mum with rescue horses and sheep and
we post all sorts of beautiful videos of sleeping sheep that
are dreaming and sort of stirring their sleep.
We also post like galloping horse videos and all the rest of
it. But we posted in the icy January
the smashing of the ice in the through and because it was ASMR
apparently it got 14,000 views. And it's like why that video?
Why not the horses rearing and playing or the sheep snoozing
and sunbathing? It has to be the ice breaking
the through. And I was like if that was about
our YouTube channel or our Patreon, that could have been
life changing for the sanctuary. But no, it was just the smashing
of the ice trough and that's what went semi viral.
And it's like, it doesn't make sense, does it?
No it doesn't sometimes and you've just got to roll with it.
But yeah, it is what it is sometimes.
And you do 1. And why did they push that one
out rather than the rest? Yeah, you do.
You do. You do wish sometimes it was
just the right content. Yeah, it's the stuff you really
want to go viral, doesn't. And then the the the sort of
video that you throw up can suddenly just start spinning on
everyone's feeds. It's really peculiar.
But yeah, just keep keep going. And I love that you've also
started calling out sort of media outlets, Chloe.
So you've sort of started tagging Radio 1 and other the
broadcasters to kind of try and ramp up the traction.
And all the other people on my platforms have done that for me
as well. So I think that's important too,
just to try and get people to engage.
And I think if you ask, if you ask your viewers to do
something, they will engage and they will do it.
So that's also another form of engagement and how things can
get pushed out to other people such as like celebrities or
radio stations as well. That is the power of asking
something actually is, particularly in Britain.
We're not very good at, are we? You know, we're not very good at
asking for help. I feel like everyone feels
shamed about asking as well, don't they?
And it's sort of like a taboo thing to do or no, you can't ask
for help. So I think everyone needs to
realize that and wherever anyone is nowadays is because they've
had help with it on their journey.
And I think as well as I watch a lot of Simon Squibb, I
absolutely love Simon Squibb. Oh.
I love it. He asked.
Everyone what is his dream in life and everybody has got to
realize that you've got to think what your dream is and find your
dream and don't be afraid to ask, he says.
He literally says nobody became a millionaire without help to
get there. And that's the realisation that
yeah, just ask for the help, even if it's asking someone to
like your content. And he also says money is energy
and I really love that he says that because 20 pounds, 30 lbs
might be completely nothing to some people.
And yet for you, that is part of the way towards a session.
You know 30 lbs would pay for a group session for for someone
who can't afford it. And yet for someone that might
be their, you know, their pleasure money that they could
throw away almost or drop in the street and they wouldn't notice.
So to the fact that he says money is energy, I think is so
motivating because it can be 5 lbs, it could be 30 lbs, it
could be 100 lbs. But to to you, that's huge on
your journey and actually helps and has that ripple effect
helping those who can't afford horses in their lives.
And it's about finding those people, isn't it?
Yeah, and I think that's important as well because if
I've got 50,000 followers and I ask everyone to subscribe to my
Facebook for £0.99, even if half of those people actually went
and subscribed for 99 P, that would be 25,000 lbs potentially,
obviously without the fees and everything on top.
And that is where like it could be life changing.
And then I've seen people with a million followers and that's
where you even think like now at that point, their content is
just monetizing their and fully funding their life at that
point. So it it is possible, it can be
done. You've just got to be brave and
put yourself out there. And you are absolutely smashing
that Clary every day, turning up, talking to camera.
What is it, do you think, that really connects people to you
and your story in Cornwall? Because some of these people who
are donating and sharing won't live in Cornwall.
I think it's being relatable and again, their own journey and
their own story of how they side with horses.
A lot of people didn't have the money when they were younger to
even own their own horses. But now they've grown up,
they've been able to fund their own horses.
And it really stems from where they started with out with
horses in their own riding school environment or you know,
even thinking how important the horses were to have with their
own. Even if they had their own
horses, they were lucky enough how important they were to them
to have at that moment of their life as well.
So I think again, to be able to help or give that to someone
else is again so special to a lot of people that they can
relate with that. And Chloe, I hope you don't mind
me asking this question, but I think it's a really important
one for those who have no idea how much the running costs are
for a ride in school in 2026. But what are your overheads
every single month? I wouldn't be able to tell you
exactly. I try not to look at it like
that. I just feel just pay.
The feels and worry about it later.
Yeah, I feel a bit better if we've gone up in the positive
rather than gone down at the end of the month.
We are, we're getting by. We're doing all right and this
is what I'm hoping to now be able to sit down with someone
and just get a bit of business advice with where we need to be
going and which direction we should be taking at this point
to be able to then go forward with what we want to build here
and keep offering those free sessions as well.
And Chloe, do you think what you're doing?
And I know you've got the the mission behind you now to make
riding schools more accessible to those who can't afford it.
But do you think this is a lesson for all riding schools
and a modus operandi, a way forward for all riding schools
to start surviving and making it through?
Yeah, I think there's definitely something in this journey that
people could take away from. I won't be able to be the proof
that they this can happen and this is possibly the way forward
for a lot of people. Just by putting yourself out
there, telling people what you are already doing and then also
telling people what you want to do, where again your dream is
and what you are aiming and trying to achieve.
Because it doesn't always have to benefit just yourself
sometimes think where you can benefit everybody else on this
journey as well. It's the exact rules of
business. If you get paid, everyone else
around you gets paid with the money that we fund.
We do the free riding lessons but it also goes back onto the
cost of keeping the horses, feeding them, shoeing them,
looking after them and also my staff and all the people that
come in to look after our horses as well.
And for those who are thinking, why can't you just offer a free
riding session considering the paid clients that are already
paying for their lessons? But you've said it there, the
costs are so huge when looking after a horse, that horse in the
lesson needs to be paid for, doesn't it?
And all the care surrounding them.
Exactly. Yeah, Unfortunately this is just
such a a huge, costly business. There's only so much I can do
and I am using all my free time and energy to put myself out
there at the moment to try and get this to work.
All I can hope is that we can start doing this on a regular.
It keeps working and it just snowballs into something that
can eventually fund itself. And I've seen nothing but
positivity and support Chloe. But I'm just wondering, have you
been hit by the online trolls on this journey?
There's been a few and I think that was probably in the early
stages of starting people telling me that I couldn't do
this because because of the cost as well.
They were like, you've got no idea that.
I think they missed the part where I'm I'm already doing
this. Yeah, you're already doing.
You're not someone who's just saying I'm going to start up a
riding school out of nowhere. Yes, I think that would have
been a big, a big hope and a dream, But you've you've got to
think like get get to where you want to be.
And then even if you are where you want to be, what else can
you bring to the table? What can you offer and what can
you do for people as well? Just have a little bit of that.
I don't know, it's the word humility of offering something
that you've already you're already lucky enough to have.
Because something's got to change, hasn't it?
We're seeing now that crunch point of the of the UK high hay
crisis. We were talking about this on
Curious Question back in the autumn, you know, when we were
first seeing stocks swindling of hay and we were talking about
the impact for livery yards and for track systems for horses
that are only eating hay and don't have any access to grass.
We were talking about impacts for owners and how the cost has
doubled and tripled, but yet their wages aren't going up any
higher. So therefore, how are people
going to afford their horses? And we're seeing these costs
rising and rising. And for you as a ride in school
as well, the cost of living and the increase in bills in energy
and and water costs and all the rest of it.
Something has got to change moving forwards or we're going
to see more than 350 or 330 riding schools closing around
us. We're going to see gradually,
but actually very quickly, more and more gates closing and
social media. You're saying Chloe could be the
answer for them in that raising awareness, sharing stories,
building community and actually showing people what you do,
which is more than just riding horses around a sand school.
Yeah, absolutely. I think that is important and I
think even now heading into the new tax year in April, riding
schools are classed as leisure businesses, whereas you know the
government sort of sees us the same as a hotel.
We are having our business rates put up and that is again
unfortunately going to affect the cost of our pricing.
So come April, that is in the forefront of our mind at the
moment and how we're going to mitigate around that.
Unfortunately, the government thinks that we can just sell
more riding lessons and work the horses extra, when that's not
necessarily the same as a hotel would be selling more bedrooms
or rooms at a cheaper rate. These are living, breathing
animals. You've got to think about the
welfare of the horses. I really feel like the
equestrian industry needs its own sort of sector because it's
such a niche market and you cannot treat animals as as as
hotel rooms. It's interesting that horse
riding is labeled leisure, and perhaps because it is a costly
hobby for those who want to do it.
But what it doesn't acknowledge by calling it leisure is all the
things that you get from that. Which is real therapy, isn't it?
For people like yourself who couldn't stay in school and who
didn't have a focus until horses came into your life and really
gave you a channel for your mental health.
For myself, mentioning the undiagnosed ADHDI didn't even
know I had it, nor did anyone around me because I was masking.
But horses gave me that release from from worrying and from the
overactive mind. And that's only two examples of
people, thousands and thousands of people across the country
where horses are giving us that therapy, which is labeled as
leisure time. Yeah, definitely.
I think the equine industry now fits into so many different
brackets, including therapy and also like education as well
because we're not just teaching horse riding at the end of the
day. We are also thinking about
alternative provision and home educated children and how we can
provide like an education through the horses along with
the therapy as well. It's really interesting, isn't
it, Because we have our therapeutic riding
establishments and then we have our riding schools, but actually
where there are horses and children and teenagers and
adults all coming together, there is inevitable therapy,
isn't there? Yeah, definitely.
I think as well. It's, it's, it's not just
children, it's it's adults too. It's such a big market out there
and you can do so many different things with a riding school and
you've really got to think about unlocking all of those different
aspects of the businesses to be able to make it work as well
nowadays. And Chloe, just share with us,
you've got a five year stretch ahead of you.
You've just signed on for another five years to turn this
riding school around and to make it work.
What are your dreams? Where would you like to be in
five years time? And what would you like to be
saying to us here at Curious Equestrian?
I'd like to be saying that we've got next amount of followers,
maybe 100,200 thousand, a million.
You know, the possibilities are endless.
I'd like to say that we are fully funded through our socials
especially I think YouTube is might be able to do that
eventually. It's just keeping doing this and
staying on the journey. For those listening Chloe who
think I really want to help and support this amazing initiative
to make riding lessons accessible, how can they get
involved and get in touch? So yeah, you can see me on all
my socials, Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube and Facebook, Chloe and
Cornwall and you can follow for the journey and watch us on
there. Like, comment, follow and engage
and help us fund our free riding sessions.
Chloe, thank you so much for coming on Curious Equestrian.
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Anna.