Halkirk riding centre given new lease of life
North Highland College UHI graduates Steph Cowe (22) and Stacey Claxson (21) have started up Achavrole Livery, near Halkirk, on the site of the former college equestrian centre.
The two girls took advantage of the college moving to new premises and seized the opportunity to start up their own business.
“It’s a passion of ours to work with horses,” said Stacey. “Steph is really keen to teach and I’m keen to ride so that’s how we are going to work it.”
“When we left college, we realised there were no jobs so we talked to a tutor who suggested this,” added Steph.
The purpose-built facilities provided the perfect start-up for the two keen horse riders who were determined to work together with the animals that they grew up with.
When speaking to the college tutor about the centre becoming vacant, they realised they would not get a better chance than this and seized the reins with both hands.
Over the past weeks, they have been scrubbing and fixing up the centre in order to put their own stamp on the livery, with an eye to opening to the public soon.
Being penniless students, they have been working on a shoestring budget. But their quick thinking got them appealing to local businesses in return for advertising space at the centre.
Stacey’s mum got her interested in horses at a young age. She is also interested in falconry and has been putting her Harris hawk to good use clearing out birds from the rafters.
Close friend Steph has had a long journey to make it this far. In her first year at college, she was involved in a bad car accident which set back her education some time. However, she is now on the road to recovery and recently got married and had a baby.
She owns three horses and said she has been interested in equines since her grandmother used to take her to the now-closed riding school at Dunnet.
The equine studies students both have British Horse Society approved qualifications and will be putting them to good use, not just through their livery packages but through teaching lessons and much more.
Once up and running, the girls will be offering packages for stabling and caring for horses – everything from a DIY package to full-time care seven days a week. It will be the only livery in Caithness with an indoor all-weather school.
Other facilities at the centre include a huge outdoor all-weather sand school, a locked and secure tack room, grazing fields and paddocks, 20 large stables, communal rooms with tea and coffee facilities, toilets, hacking routes and a shop.
Steph hopes to handle the teaching side of the business while Stacey will focus on the showjumping and training side of things.
All of this will happen on the site which is fully secure, disabled-friendly and covered by CCTV cameras to give horse owners peace of mind.
