Booking terms
What you are agreeing to when you book a ride with us. It is short, it is in plain English, and there is nothing in it we would not say to you at the gate.
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What these terms cover
They cover every ride booked through this site, and every ride booked by phone, by email or at the office. When you book you are agreeing to them, and you are agreeing on behalf of everyone named on the booking.
We are The Paddocks Riding Centre, Woodside Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18, Ireland. Ring +353 87 223 7981 or email info@paddocks.ie. Below, “we” and “the yard” mean the riding centre, and “you” means whoever made the booking.
What a booking is
Booking online sends the yard a request, not a confirmation. Somebody reads it, looks at the diary and at which horses are working that day, and replies. Only that written confirmation makes the booking.
The reply usually comes the same day, and always within one working day. If we cannot take you, we say so and refund in full anything you have paid, deposits included.
You do not need an account to book, and we do not make one for you.
Prices
Every price on this site is in euro and includes VAT. Nothing is added at the checkout: no booking fee, no card surcharge, no charge for hats or boots. The figure you see when you book is the figure you pay.
We can change our prices, but never for a booking we have already confirmed.
Livery, parties and film work are quoted on request. Those quotes are given in writing and each one says how long it stands.
How you can pay
- Online — card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Revolut Pay. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see or hold your card number.
- At the yard — cash, or a cheque made out to The Paddocks Riding Centre, handed in at the office when you arrive.
- By email — bank transfer or a Revolut transfer. Ask for it and we send the details. The slot is held for 48 hours while the money moves.
Bookings paid by cash, cheque or transfer are held from the moment the yard confirms them, not from the moment you decide to come.
Changing or cancelling
Change or cancel free up to 48 hours before your slot. Inside 48 hours we do our best to offer a credit.
Free means free: no fee, no explanation asked for. Use the link on your confirmation email or ring the yard.
Inside 48 hours the horse has been chosen, the instructor is rostered and the slot is usually too late to fill, so we cannot promise your money back. What we do in practice is move you to another date, or leave the payment on your name as a credit. That is goodwill rather than a right you can insist on.
If nobody arrives, the booking is treated as taken.
Please arrive 15 minutes early so hats and boots can be fitted. If you are late we will do what we can with the time left, but the slot ends when it ends, because the next rider is already tacked up.
If we cancel — weather, a lame horse, an instructor out sick — you choose between another date and a full refund. Refunds go back the way the money came, and a card refund takes a few working days to appear.
Pony Camp
A place is held by a deposit of €50 per child. The balance is due 14 days before the week starts, and a place that is not paid in full by then may go to a child on the waiting list.
Cancel more than 14 days before the week and the deposit comes back. Inside 14 days we can only return it if the place is filled.
Camp runs Monday to Friday for ages 5 to 17. Children are grouped by age and by experience. Tell us at booking if somebody other than you is collecting, and who they are.
Gift vouchers
A voucher is valid for twelve months from the day it is issued, and is redeemable against anything we do by whoever holds it.
If the ride costs more than the voucher, pay the difference on the day. If it costs less, the balance stays on the voucher until it expires. A voucher cannot be exchanged for cash and an expired one cannot be extended.
Lose the code and we can reissue it, as long as you can tell us the email address it went to.
Your right to change your mind
Irish and EU consumer law normally gives you fourteen days to change your mind about something bought at a distance. Leisure services booked for a particular date are the exception, so a ride on a named day does not carry that right — once it is confirmed, the 48-hour rule above is what applies.
A gift voucher carries no date, so it does carry the right. Tell us within fourteen days of buying an unused voucher and we refund it in full.
Who can ride
Minimum ages: Pony Play from 3, group lessons and Pony Camp from 5. A parent or guardian books for anyone under 18 and stays contactable for the whole session.
Maximum rider weight 95 kg (15 stone), for the horses’ welfare. It has nothing to do with how anybody looks. A riding-school horse carries riders all week, every week, and the limit is what keeps its back and its legs sound. It applies to every rider and to every activity, without exception. If you are anywhere near it, ring us before you book rather than after.
Give each rider’s height and weight honestly when you book. That is how the right horse is tacked up, and a wrong answer is a safety problem for the rider and for the horse.
We can refuse a ride on the day to anyone who is unwell, under the influence, or who we judge cannot ride safely. We would far rather do that than see somebody hurt. If we refuse because of something you told us when you booked, you get all your money back; if it only comes to light at the gate, we cannot refund it.
Hats, boots and what to wear
Long trousers and a rain jacket. Riding hats and boots are provided free. Hats are compulsory for every rider of every age, from the moment they are legged up to the moment they get off.
You may ride in your own hat if it meets a current safety standard and has not been dropped or damaged. We look at it before you ride, and we say no if we are not happy with it.
Walkouts — the one rule
Every walkout is private, at walking pace, on a lead rein — always. No trotting, no cantering, whatever your experience.
This is not a beginners’ rule that an experienced rider can talk their way out of. It is how every walkout at this yard has always run, and it is the reason somebody who has never sat on a horse can go up the mountain on their first morning. If you are looking to canter across the Dublin Mountains, we are the wrong yard, and we would far rather say so now than at the gate.
Horses, and the risk you take on
Horses are animals, not machines. A quiet horse can be startled by a bag in a hedge, and riding carries a risk of injury that no riding centre anywhere can remove.
What we do about it: horses chosen and kept for their temperament, hats and boots fitted before you get on, an instructor or a leader with you the whole time, small groups, and walkouts at walking pace on a lead rein.
What you take on: by booking, you accept that riding carries that risk, for you and for everyone named on your booking. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for anything else that cannot be limited under Irish law.
Do what the yard staff tell you, when they tell you. That is the whole of the safety system, and we can end a session without a refund if instructions are ignored.
Children who are not on a horse are your responsibility while you are here. This is a working farm, with machinery, feed and half a tonne of animal behind most doors.
If you want detail on the insurance the centre carries, ring the office and we will tell you.
Weather
We ride in the rain. Anybody who rides in Ireland rides in the rain, and the arena is covered.
We cancel for high wind, ice, lightning or ground that is genuinely unsafe, and that call is ours to make on the morning. If we cancel, you choose another date or a full refund.
If the forecast looks poor and you would rather not, that is an ordinary change and the 48-hour rule applies like any other.
Photographs
We take photographs around the yard, at Pony Camp and at the Friday show, and we use some of them here and on Facebook and Instagram.
Say the word at booking, or at any time after it, and nobody in your party is photographed — and anything already published comes down. You do not have to give a reason, and photographs are never sold on.
Take your own photographs of your own party, gladly. Please do not photograph other people’s children.
If something goes wrong
Tell us first. Email info@paddocks.ie or ring +353 87 223 7981. We reply within one working day. Most things are settled in one phone call.
Irish law
These terms are governed by the law of Ireland, and the courts of Ireland have jurisdiction over them.
If you are a consumer, nothing here takes away a right you have under Irish or EU consumer law, including your right to bring a claim in the courts of the country you live in.
If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest of it still stands.