The Making Of Cruan

February 2005 marked the culmination of years of effort in building up a riding school business at Cruan in Firth, Orkney as the Cruan Riding School and Livery was officially opened. The focus was the 'Grand Opening' of the indoor facility on Sunday 20th performed by Ernest Dillon, a Fellow of the British Horse Society. The business which led to the building of the massive indoor school, a facility which complements the Orkney Riding Centre at the Market Stance, began back in the late 1990s. As the Reid family we moved to Cruan in November 1998 and started taking some horses at livery. This was a service used mainly by horse owners who were going on holiday.

The business gradually expanded with some permanent liveries as well as our own horses and ponies. There had been no riding school in Orkney for several years and we began to receive requests from children without their own ponies to learn to ride.

In March 2001 we applied and received a local authority licence as well as insurance to function as a riding school and started giving lessons in an outdoor sand school. The number of ponies and clients increased but the Orkney weather meant that lessons often had to be cancelled even in the height of summer and it became clear that if the business was to continue that it was necessary to build an indoor school.

There then began negotiations with Orkney Enterprise, Orkney Islands Council and the Bank of Scotland to put together a business plan and funding package to enable the building of an indoor school. Building began in July 2004.

The equestrian community in Orkney had just completed a large indoor facility, but the indoor school in Cruan is used mainly by those who do not own their own equine and the two facilities complement one another.

Since starting the riding school, a new sub-branch of the Orkney Pony Club has been formed at Cruan. It's membership is mainly children who hire ponies from us for lessons and competitions, but also includes other children who live in the Firth area or keep their horses or ponies at Cruan. The membership of Orkney Pony Club is now much wider as children do not need to have their own pony to join.
The success of the Cruan school is evident in the progress being made by youngsters who have headed south for competition.
Treks are also available during the summer months and this offers another service to tourists who can now view the Islands' scenery from horseback.