The riding school closed again the day after the government announced its most recent Covid lockdown.

All existing lessons have been cancelled and full refunds have been provided to clients as required.

The reception office is closed and we are operating a virtual reception on a very restricted service. We may not be able to answer your phone call personally at the time of your call, but we will respond to telephone messages, emails and Facebook queries as soon as we can.

The livery yard is open.

These are unprecedented times for the country and we long for the day that the Covid crisis is over.

We have responded to the lockdowns by doing our best to reduce fixed costs and delaying some of our planned investments. We have had to make redundancies as well as furlough or reduce the working hours of the team.

A winter lock down is very difficult for a riding school because unlike the summer lockdown, the horses cannot just be left in the field to graze the growing grass. Winter means needing to feed horses extra hay, increased costs for bedding in the stables and also increased vet and farrier bills.

CEC staff continue to care for the horses on a daily basis which includes keeping them fit.

It costs about £100-00 per week to provide for a riding school horse. Without additional support many riding schools will have to close.

With this little income now coming into the riding school, our monthly outgoings still exceed our income and we are struggling to maintain the business so that it will be able to open up again when all of this crisis has past.

We have been ever so grateful to those donors that have supported us in this time of crisis. However we still need your help and we are continuing to reach out to our riding centre friends, young and old who have enjoyed the centre and everything it has to offer over the years.

You can help by making a one off donation to the riding school by following the link below, or if you would like to make a regular monthly contribution please contact us directly by email at : reception@chelmsfordequestriancentre.co.uk.

If we can raise enough to cover the costs then we’ll come through with our wonderful family of horses thinking it’s been a jolly holiday in the sun.

It’s hard for our herd to suddenly lose everyone from their daily routine so we’re doing everything we can to keep them fit and well.

We hope you can help.

Love from

Chelmsford Equestrian Centre