Horse riding students bring extra cash

One way of earning a little extra cash during the summer months is by taking students from abroad to ride. Before enquiring abut this, you need to have teenage children of your own and well behaved horses and ponies.

There are several agencies in Ireland which will help you find a student for the summer – usually aged 13 to 18. Students come to learn English in a family environment and riding is useful as it keeps them busy and gives them exercise.

Our students this year came from France and we had two brothers, one who came for two weeks and the older one who came for three weeks. Agencies insist that students come separately as otherwise they will speak their own language to each other.

We had a lot of fun with our students this summer. Both are good riders so were able to ride most of our ponies, including one which is too lively for other children. We tried to give them as much variety as possible, including pony games, hacks, showjumping in other friends’ arenas and, the finale, a practice around a cross country course.

Agencies will pay families from €250 to €400 per week to take students so it is well worth finding out about.