21 years on and still surviving
The real story
Prescott Farm and Farm House were purchased jointly in December 1986. My father, Reg
Stone, bought Prescott Farm Buildings and some land which he gifted to me shortly afterwards.
Richard bought the very large Prescott Farm House and Gardens and then purchased a further 28
acres of grazing land at a later date.
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The premises were in an extremely run down state at the time and in addition to many rodants
we had a few horses which were being cared for by a couple of very dedicated girls Jacci
Morgan and Paula Wyatt plus a few equally committed customers, in return for riding would
take care of them out of their love of horses receiving little monetary reward.
When we took over we knew very little about horses let alone about running an equestrian
business. I had once owned a pony as a child doing Pony Club things and then worked briefly at
a racing stables in my teenage years, Richard was a Wine Merchant and knew even less!!
In line with the parable my fathers intention was to see how we got on for a couple of years
then if not successful convert the many large buildings which were empty and needed filling to
storage.
We spent the first 3 months cleaning up and removing rubbish from all the rat infested buildings
whilst attempting to continue with the dilapidated riding school which had managed to survive
somehow. Jacci was an enthusiastic instructor and kept going while we attempted to come to
terms with the mess that we had been gifted .
At the time my two boys Andrew and Oliver were away at boarding School, and my three
daughters Angie, Emma and Zoe attended The Corbett and Baschurch Primary Schools. Zoe
was only 6 years old at the time and found herself suddenly plunged into a world of horses and
was somewhat neglected by her Mother.
I am not afraid to admit that I was terrified at the prospect of running a large business, I had
because of circumstances, moved from domestic bliss and a touch of ‘The Good Life’ in a lovely
country cottage with goats and a very large vegetable garden in Yockleton where I was a full
time Mother an housewife.
Everything happened so quickly and we were suddenly expected to be at the centre of a service
generated industry. The first winter hit very hard as snow covered the yards throughout January.
We were living in the flats over the stables at the time because Prescott House needed thorough
renovation before we could move into it. Frozen pipes caused even more problems and poor
Richard had to put on his plumber’s hat to keep the wheels turning.
We experienced constant daily problems and I found it more and more difficult to come to terms
with the amount of physical and mental work involved especially when my heart was still at
Polemere (Our old house)
I was determined not to fail as I had always wanted to impress my father hopeing that one day he
would be proud of what I had achieved. He had given the business to me and I felt duty bound to
make a success of it and in addition to add to the pressures all the rest of my family loved the
place, excited by the enormous amount of space and finding it an exciting challenge, especially
the boys and Richard.
Gradually the business started to improve and we gained more control and understanding of its
requirements. Richard worked tirelessly maintaining what appeared to be like the fourth bridge
as well as being general cook and bottle washer when it came to the shows.
The years went by and by some luck and some good judgement we saw some good times but
with the inevitable bad ones.
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I often reflect on those times.
We struggled through the recession in the 90’s and Foot and Mouth in 2001
My daughter, Emma, had a very bad riding accident which resulted in her having life threatening
surgery in 1991.
There was a horrible accident at Newport Show in 1998 which involved one of the horses from
my Musical Ride team resulting in many spectators being injured and although I was not found
negligent in any way it left a horrible scar with me for many years.
But one of the worst and saddest times of all was the tragic death of a student following a road
accident near Baschurch in 2004.
Even with the many set backs we managed to survive and the riding school continued to flourish
in the background.
Whilst I never wanted to take up a ‘horsey ‘ business even though I dreamed of it as a child all
our children took up riding and have all achieved amazing things through their contact with
horses.
Flexibility and Diversification
This has played the biggest part of the ‘survival’ of the business as it seemed every time we
found a niche and started generating a return something came along to compete with it, so we
then had to find another revenue generator. (This tends to be the problem with all small
businesses some will not change direction and die, others keep searching and survive).
There are a number of ‘cash cows’ which have somewhat ‘dried up’ a little and others that have
stopped ‘milking’ altogether over the years.
Liveries
We had a successful period with Liveries in the early years as not many other yards were
available but as farmers were forced to diversify because of the decline in agriculture many
started converting buildings into stables offering livery at a much reduced rate so consequently
with our huge overheads it was not viable to reduce rates to compete with them.
Training
From 1987 onwards we offered work experience and training to students on the new
government schemes such as YT which became known later at YOP
By 1992 most equestrian training moved into Agricultural Colleges as they themselves were
forced to diversify. The popularity of these ‘horsey’ courses exploded giving the commercial
industry a huge boost. In 1994 PEC became a ‘satellite centre’ for various colleges offering
hand on experience and training to college students at Prescott. As the years went by the success
of the new ‘horsey culture’ gave Colleges the incentive to build their own facilities and during
the early 2000’s more and more collages took on equestrian training in a ‘talk and chalk’
environment thus removing the need for Satellite Centres with some colleges. Unfortunately in
2004 we lost the Manchester College contract greatly reducing our ability to take full time
training students. The introduction of National Minimum Wage made it impossible to train
students with no subsidy and yet still have to pay NMW. It was not cost effective to continue in
this way as the NMW legislation does not allow deductions for training through independent
training establishments and with the government funding offered to colleges we could not
compete.
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Competitions .
Although we had been running unaffiliated competitions since 1987 in 1995 we were asked by
BSJA Area 25 to run affiliated Show Jumping competitions as there were few alternatives at the
time. Prescott Arena was formed and at the time was another good opportunity, however after a
lot of work, expense and struggle to get it off the ground the Colleges once again copied the idea
and quickly they were able to provide bigger and better facilities by using government money
and as they are constantly being financed by the tax payers money it was not essential for them
to generate profits. As a result we found our numbers reducing as they entered more and more
dates which clashed with ours greatly reducing our entries and consequently our show viability
suffered forcing us to reduce our dates which impacted on our profitability..
More Recent Years.
As the years went on the old farm buildings began to show their age and the maintenance of
them became difficult and not commercially viable. It was with good fortune that we were able
to sell them for development in 2004.
With soaring business costs, stringent Health and Safety regulations, Litigation, Employment
Law and a definite downturn in business profits was it time to ‘show the white flag’ and retire?
Yes, should have been my answer while I had the chance, but with constant family support it was
difficult to ‘throw in the towel’ and I owed it to everyone to rebuild the New Prescott and try to
move positively forward. My main objective when all things considered is I did not want to let
my family down but most of all my Father.
Work on the development started in 2005. Firstly a new house was built to the west of the lake,
where I now live. The work took twice as long as estimated causing more difficulty as I had to
live off site until it was completed finally in May 2006..
Work on the New Stable Block and Offices commenced in April 2006 and was completed in
November 2006.
Whilst the building work was taking place we continued with the business but this probably in
hindsight was a mistake as the whole place became an ugly tip and we saw a downturn in the
business as some of the remaining Liveries and Riding School clients left (who could blame
them). The increasing decline in the income impacted on the business and staff and with the
inevitable overspend on the building works my moral began to wane as we started hemorrhaging
cash to such an extent that I had to inject my own savings to keep the business solvent.
With all the pressures it was not really surprising that life impacted on everyone and Richard
and I went our separate ways. Richard has been simply fantastic throughout the years giving
support for Prescott and without him the business would never have got off the ground. Richard
still repairs and paints all the show jumps which he made himself and does a lot of maintenance
jobs on a weekly basis. He is still very involved with the place and gives us a tremendous
amount of help. We are now the best of friends.
Unfortunately for Bob he came into my life! I do not think he expected to be taking on such a
massive operation as well as me!! The support he has given me is immeasurable both mentally
and physically. My depression and negative attitude cannot have been easy to cope with and
without doubt he took me on at the worst time in my life. During our first three years on top of
all the massive building works, clearing out three houses and the old stables at Prescott I had
four family weddings (My own children)and the death of my Mother following a long painful
illness. My emotions were on a ‘rollacoaster’ and poor Bob had to suffer the impact.
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Dutifully Bob has taken on the job of cooking every Sunday at the shows, building show
jumping courses on a Saturday afternoon, shopping for the show food, painting, floor laying, as
well as supporting me through three weeks of residential Pony Camp and generally taking on the
regular maintenance jobs which he swore he would never do!.
Business in 2008 finally has started to pick up with the new build offering exceptional facilities
although we are again in the middle of the current recession. I really do hope I can weather the
storm again. It would be so sad not to continue now after so much pain sweat and tears.
Prescott has been the hardest challenge I could have had in life and I have so many good and
happy memories and oh so many hard and sole destroying times but through it all I have the
determination to make it through as I owe it to my Dad who sadly suddenly died last year before
the work was completed which is of course my biggest regret.
“Just hope you are looking now Daddy”!!
Loyalty
I have been very fortunate in that I have had so many loyal staff over the 21 years together with
my own families commitments.
Jacci Woodhouse nee Morgan was the first person I ever saw at Prescott and she is still here
today. Jacci left shortly after we first came to Prescott when she was expecting her first baby
and she moved away from Baschurch. She did the motherly thing for about six years but
returned when her children were older and has worked here ever since which is quite
astounding.
Another person I met on one of my first visits was Jane Hunt. Jane has been an amazing help to
Prescott throughout the years and as a BSJA judge has always supported us with her constant
loyalty.
I also met Pat Mcgregor at Prescott during our first week in 1986. Pat taught and worked with
the RDA and has done so ever since, bringing her riders to Prescott weekly. Pat also had a horse
on livery here for many years and she has continued to support us in so many ways for the whole
21 years.
There are of course many other employees and friends I owe so much to, unfortunately far too
many to mention here but one last big thank you goes to David Williamson, commonly known as
Disco Dave. He has been involved with us from the very beginning and has played a very big
part in helping with the ground maintenance including the fields and arenas. I really do not
know what I would have done without him.
Five Haydon Children
Andy who at the age of 17 year old hitched to the South of France on his own to sell ice creams
on the beeches went on to travel the world in his twenties for several years before he came back
to England to train as a Farrier, he then returned abroad and lived in Mexico working for the
Mexican Olympic team for a further 4 years. During his time in Mexico he traveled back to
Europe with the show jumping team on the European Show Jumping circuit. Whilst in Europe
Andy decided to move closer to home staying in Germany where he was based with Ludgar
Beerbaum (The worlds no 1 Show jumper) working freelance in that area for a further four years.
He has since come home to England and now has his own very successful Farriers business and
shoes for many top show jumpers in the area as well as shoeing Prescott horses. Andy’s main
love was Hunting and Team chasing which he actively pursued for many years. He always was
the one to live dangerously! Andy married Marie a solicitor in July 2005. Andy, at the ripe old
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age of 40 this year, along with the help of his hard working wife have made the most beautiful
home together near Oswestry.
Oliver
Leaving School with reasonable exam results Oliver drifted for a while uncertain of his future
plans. After a spell of farming experience on an International Agricultural Exchange in Australia,
at the age of 20 Oliver returned home and commenced training for his BHS Stages Exams at the
at Brackenhurst College passing stages 1 11 & 111. Following this he had a short spell working
for a show jumper in Switzerland where he gained valuable experience as well as a some strange
Swiss/German dialect. He later returned back to the family business at Prescott to work and also
continue his training and he soon passed his teaching qualification thus gaining his full BHS AI.
Oliver spent one year on a paying pupil scheme at The Talland School of Equitation achieving
his Intermediate Teaching Certificate. He returned to Prescott again and continued to teach full
time as well as competing successfully. He continued training in his spare time and over the
years and successfully obtained his full BHS II followed recently by the much coveted BHS I
Teaching and the BHS Equitation certificates.
Oliver married Helen in July 2007. Helen has been the inspiration that Oliver needed being
invaluable in helping him to achieve his exam success this year. Oliver and Helen have made a
lovely home together near Shrewsbury. They are the future of the riding school business and
Oliver became a partner in the business last year for his sins!
Angie also took an interest in riding. She competed successfully in Dressage locally but enjoyed
the more leisurely side to the sport and did not pursue her training. She has been employed by
Tesco’s full time since 1991 so her time was limited. Although Angie works elsewhere full time
she also takes a very active part in the success of Prescott Shows working in the arena at nearly
every one since they began. Angie has the unenviable task of being on the gate which involves
picking up poles in the arena at the show jumping competitions and is in fact probably the most
important part of the team as she tirelessly opens and than closes the gate for everyone doing the
job of three people. Angie is now a partner in Prescott Arena.
Emma had a bad riding accident at the age of 15. However she was determined to return to
riding even though I was very against it. Emma continued BSPS Showing, and Working Hunter
classes on her pony Taran..
At the age of 16 having had pretty bad exam results Emma decided, against my better
judgement, to peruse her riding career. To fulfill her ambition we sent her to The Talland School
of Education. Emma took this opportunity and within 6 months had passed BHS stage I II & III.
At the end of this training one of her friends had gone to Holland to work for Anky Van
Grunsven and asked Emma to follow. I was very reluctant to let her go and the fact that she was
only 17 years old did not inspire me with much confidence. However eventually we agreed and
deposited Emma at Anky’s yard in Holland in March 1994. We did not imagine that she would
want to stay long but she proved us wrong by remaining there for 18 months. She was fortunate
to travele with Anky to many countries as her groom, and also was selected to travel and look
after the world famous Olympic Bonfire on his international flight to Los Angeles where he went
on to win the Volvo World Championship. 1994
Emma eventually returned to England. At this point she changed directions completely moving
to London where she trained as a Gemologist. She is married to Jerry Barton an Accountant and
they have made their fantastic home in London and have a beautiful daughter Daisy who was
born in July 2006. Nothing more to do with horses surprisingly but also thankfully!
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Zoe also had a ‘horsey’ childhood and competed in all types of disciplines including Showing
and Working Hunter with her pony Chez and Taran when Emma had grown out of him. Zoe
worked for the business as my Secretary for a while but her expertise and ambitions were in
other areas and she felt the grass was greener on the other side left to become a very successful
Company Directors PA. However she has never lost contact with the business and has continued
to organize all the shows and schedules for me and dutifully arrives every Sunday at 8.30 am
throughout the winter giving up her domestic life to run them. How dedicated is that? Zoe is
totally invaluable and the Prescott Shows could not run without her. She has also trained to
become a BSJA show jumping judge which of course helps Prescott enormously.
Zoe married Dan, a Graphic Designer, in July 2005. They have a lovely home near Wrexham.
Dan is totally uninterested in horses but they do have a very nice dog called Mutley!
In conclusion
I have attempted in these few pages to express my feelings in respect to a business that should
probably have closed many years ago but because of my stubborn character, my deep love of my
father and the support of my family and some loyal friends and staff I will see it through and
when it is in a viable state I shall hand it on to my family as a legacy and let them have the full
experience of running it alone first hand!!!
‘Well boys did it live up to your excitement and expectations of December 1986 !?’
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