Hill Farm Riding School in Elmswell celebrates ten years

Having started in the aftermath of the economic recession, the owner of a popular riding school jokes that it is appropriate it is celebrating its 10 year anniversary during a crisis.

Hill Farm Riding School, in Ashfield Road, Elmswell, marked 10 years of being established on Monday, June 29, with a small gatherings.

Owner Sarah Moorbey, 43, said: “It is quite exciting to reach 10 years as, with so many riding schools closing, I am almost amazed to have last for so long. We started in 2010 during the recession and we turn 10 during Covid-19, but nothing is easy!”

Miss Moorbey has 25 years’ teaching experience and started the organisation at a disused riding school, having seen a gap in the Suffolk market when she moved to the county from Bedfordshire.

“I drove past a few times, and saw the riding school” she said. “It got me interested and I tracked down the details. That led me to start up with our original four ponies.”

It allowed Miss Moorbey to continue her life-long passion for riding, which became a career when she found herself coming back to her stables after college.

She has three children, and one of her daughters is now working for leading trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Alongside partner Kayleigh West, she has seen the business start as a pony club before gaining accreditation from the British Horse Society in 2016. It now offers lessons in riding and horse care to ‘all sorts of people’, from lifelong riding fans to those who have it on their bucket list to do once. Thousands of people now pass through the stables each year.

“We go from strength to strength and some of the customers have been here since the beginning,” continued Miss Moorbey, who has two other part-time staff. There are 18 horses and ponies, with everything from a small Welsh pony to a large shire breed. Miss Moorbey added: “Communication is key to our effectiveness as instructors. I grew up with an instructor who would just shout at me. There are lots of ways to show a rider how to do something, and I have learned how to say the same thing in 10 different ways so anyone will understand.

“A riding school is a stepping stone to have a horse of your own, and we teach students everything about riding and care.”

An ‘achievement’ she lists of the centre is the developing work with the disabled community, with the school now offering free lessons.