Policies
Opening Hours:
· We are open Tuesday – Sunday, we are closed on Monday’s.
· Our phone line will be answered within office hours 9am-5pm, but please do bear with us as we are often busy teaching and looking after our horses and ponies.
· If we do not answer, please leave a message or pop us an email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Booking:
- Please head to https://bentley-rs.ecpro.co.uk to create an account, register a rider and view all lesson options.
- Booking enquires can be made by contacting us on Facebook, email (bookings@bentleyridingschool.com) or by phone (07881375210).
- Please be honest about your riding ability when registering with us for your own safety.
- For new customers, you will need to be graded by us to enable you to book - Please get in touch.
- Your instructor remains the right to change your lesson/hack type or horse based on your initial assessment when mounted.
- A group lesson is a minimum of 3 people £35. If there are only two people the lesson will be reduced to 45 minutes, if there is only one person the lesson will be for half an hour at the same price. If a session is booked as an hours hack, it will remain as an hour hack irrelevant of numbers.
- Bookings on the system are shut off 24 hours before the session. This is so that we are able to allocate staff and horses.
- If you would like to book within the 24 hour timeframe, you will need to contact us directly. We do encourage clients to book ahead to avoid missing a slot.
- Instructors allocate riders to the appropriate horse/pony. Not only size wise but also based on ability. All of our instructors know the horses very well and will always try to allocate riders to horses that are going to help them progress the most.
- We are happy for you to put a request in the booking note if you/the rider has a favourite/horse they prefer to ride, we will try to accommodate this where possible but it cannot be guaranteed.
Cancellations:
- We have a 24 hour cancellation policy.
- If a session is cancelled within this period, there will be no transfer of lesson or refund of any kind.
- Should you cancel your session outside of the 24 hour period the money will be credited to your ECPro account for you to use to re-book.
- Notifications of cancellation is required, either on the app or over the phone.
- We do ask that you notify us of any cancellation as soon as possible to avoid us having horses stood tacked up waiting for riders that aren’t coming.
Age limits:
- Pony club half day minimum age 5.
- All day pony club minimum age 7 +.
- Tiny Tot’s age, we recommend 2 years to 5 years old.
- One hour lessons for your children only at the discretion from the instructor after starting out on half hour lessons.
Weight limits:
- We have a 13 stone maximum weight limit.
- This is due to the welfare of our horses and ponies.
- Each horse does have a maximum weight that they can carry based on their own weight, height, age, breed & build. This is continually monitored/changed accordingly.
- It is therefore extremely important that when registering riders, the weight and height is recorded accurately. If not, you run the risk of being allocated to the wrong horse and potentially not having a horse suitable for you when you arrive.
- We have scales on site should you not have access to any.
Photography/Videos
· We have a strict no videos/pictures within group lessons.
· You may speak to the instructor and ask to take a picture either at the beginning or end of the lesson.
· Please do respect the fact that not all riders/helpers/staff members would like to be, nor are allowed to be photographed or videoed.
· This is also for safeguarding reasons.
· Whilst staff will keep an eye on this as best they can we do ask that you please adhere to these rules so that instructors can direct their focus onto teaching the lesson rather than keeping an eye on the gallery.
Watching lessons
· We have a seated gallery round the right-hand side of the indoor school for any viewers/spectators.
· Please do not stand at the door to watch lessons as it makes it very difficult for staff/horses to get in and out when needed. We do also need the exit clear in case of an emergency.
· No dogs are allowed in the gallery.
· Please be mindful of moving around/making too much noise while a lesson is in progress as this may disrupt the lesson/spook the horses.
What to wear/not to wear
· Long trousers NO shorts
· No strappy tops/crop tops
· No open toes shoes/sandals/crocs
· Boots with a small heel are best
· Stud earing’s or very small hoops only
· No Go pros or videoing device to be worn/used when mounted
· No scarf’s
· No handbags
