‘The stables have been busier than ever’

SADDLE Killinkere horse-riding school gets back up to speed after Lockdown

By Matthew Leslie

A loyal customer base has helped horse-riding school teacher Nicola Clarke get back on track after the pandemic.

Nicola, 27, runs the Derryham Stables at the heart of Killinkere with the facility boasting 19 stables, an Olympic-sized outdoor riding arena and a smaller arena for beginners.

Aside from horse-riding lessons, the stables offer therapeutic coaching sessions for children and adults with a variety of physical, cognitive, emotional and developmental disabilities and birthday parties for children that involve games, arts, crafts and pony rides.

However, as with many businesses, all that was threatened early last year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The shutdown meant that tough calls had to be made by businesses across the globe, with some closing their doors for good. However, that was never an option for Nicola – especially with a customer following keen to come back to take to the saddle.

She said: “I was closed for a total of six months last year when the pandemic hit. It was very hard. Lessons had to be completely stopped. When I did re-open, it was very gradually.

“You couldn’t have lessons for children because you would have to go near them to help them, so lessons were restricted to advanced riders – and even then, only a few per lesson.

“I was lucky that I have outdoor arenas – not indoors – so I could start back up when we were allowed to, but only with limited numbers.

“Thankfully I was not placed in a position where permanent closure of the stables was an option. We were able to tick over during that period. I’d die before I’d close this place down – hopefully it will never come to that.”

Nicola put the hiatus prompted by the pandemic to good use by getting a bit of maintenance done on her impressive facilities.

“I did lots of painting and kept myself busy so that I could get the place looking nice for when people were ready to come back.

“When we were allowed to re-open it wasn’t difficult to get the word back out that our doors were open again. In fact people were dying to come back.

“Everyone who had been here before, all came back. It was great to see everyone again.

“The stables have been busier than ever. We’ve summer camps on. I’ve eight weeks of camps fully booked.”

Horse-riding has held a place in Nicola’s heart from an early age, and she has not looked back.

“I’ve really loved horses for as long as I can remember,” she says. “I started horse-riding when I was five. I had a friend who had a pony and we used to go out together around the roads, hacking and all the rest and also getting some proper lessons.

“After a lot of begging, I got my first pony when I was seven and built a tiny little arena here. I did a lot of local shows with my pony. Then I got another one and another one.”

When it came to third level education, horses remained upper most in Nicola’s thoughts. She attended the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise in Enniskillen where she did her Equine Business degree. Remarkably she had completed all British Horse Society teaching exams by the time she was 18.

“Once all that was done,” she says of her considerable qualifications, “I was ready to start.”

She opened her Derryham enterprise with 10 stables and her own ponies.

“It was pretty hard at the start to get the business up and running. There was a lot of expense for something like this. You need massive facilities, arenas and stables plus horses are not that cheap.

“But once I got going, there was a strong word of mouth that helped the stables to grow. I’ve lots of people that I know around here and word began to spread further afield.

“There were other people who travelled from up to an hour away to get here which is crazy when you think about it, but it’s great as well.”

She credits her father, Stephen Clarke in playing a “massive role” in the stables’ success.

“He has been a massive help to me: he’s my hero really. My number one fan and supporter. He works part-time on the farm and part-time in the stables and he loves it.”

Nicola’s hard work was rewarded earlier this year when she triumphed in the Other Enterprises category in Macra’s Young Farmer of the Year award ceremony last year.

“It was great to put equine on the map as part of agriculture,” said Nicola. “When everyone thinks of agriculture, they tend to think of farming and cattle so it was good to get horses mentioned alongside that.”