Advice needed on sharing- am I competent enough to share a horse?

Twizzel

Twizzel

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Have found a horse local enough to me that needs a rider and am not sure whether I should email the owner or not. I'm nearly 20, and I've been riding for 4 years, currently only riding once a week in private lessons. Have ridden young and older horses and a few tricky ones too, have done a few dressage tests, can do leg yield, shoulder in, learning to do half pass and flying changes but not quite mastered them yet!! Also can jump a small course and have been xc. I've done my horse owners certificates stages 1 & 2.

Have found a horse down the road and the advert says the horse has great temperament, 100% in every way, sharer must have an interest in classical dressage, and that he's currently gone barefoot so only light hacking at this stage. No novices.

I need to start riding more than once a week as I've just got completely stuck and can't progress much more without increasing the amount of riding I do and it's really beginning to frustrate me. Would you part loan/share your horse with me? Or should I just stick to the lessons?!
 
I say go for it. You sound as though you have got to the stage where you will only move forward with the hands on experience of having responsibility of a horse, there is only so much you can learn through lessons afterall.
 
I'd share my horse with you and I've advertised her as not novice ride - you sound more than competent. I definitely don't know how to ride half pass in any case.

As for that ad, it sounds slightly weird to me, but I can't understand why you'd want to battle with going barefoot and making your horse footsore when people have been shoeing horses for hundreds of years. Thats just me though and owning a TB its probably not something i'll ever understand.
 
as ziggy101 says you sound more than competent and I would be happy for you to share mine.....shame you are so far away, as since little flea is getting her own gg I am now looking for a new sharer
 
Going on my track record with sharers, you sound just the sort I wish I could find. You should have the confidence to go for it. Maybe that might not be the horse for you though - I totally appreciate the reasons for going barefoot and I have a horse who is barefoot (and one shod). But it sounds like this horse is in the early transition phase if it is only doing light hacking. This is fair enough if all you want to do is hack, but it sounds like you could be working on your jumping and doing a lot more. Just my opinion, but I would look around a bit and hopefully find a horse you can do everything on and enjoy making progress
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Yeah that's what I was thinking. There's a couple of horses in the paper that need sharers, but am hesitant about ringing up as I'm not very confident on the phone and wouldn't know what to say... any ideas on what to say?!
 
I say go for it.
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I have just started to share a horse, I didn't know if I would be capable enough anymore. I had a break from horses for about 9 years, but did share, and own for about 15 years prior to that.
And I don't have any fromal qualifications.

I was honest about this with the owner, she was very sympathetic and invited me to come and meet her mare. I turned out poo picking the field, bringing her in, grooming, tacking her up and having a ride that day, most of which I haven't done for years, but it soon came back to me like second nature. She was really pleased and offered me a share there and then. She said that she was really pleased that someone other than a 14 yr old (no-offence meant) had enquired. As she knew that I would be more responsible, reliable etc, and I wouldn't just want to bomb her around the countryside.

You sound extremeley capable to me, and we all have to bite the bullet at some point and make that call, the worst they can say is no, but if it was me looking for a sharer, I'd probably snatch your hand off.

Just as an after thought, if they have left a mobile number you could always try texting them first? Some people prefer that anyway, they might be just as nervous about answering the phone to strangers.

Go on, make the call.
 
well the best thing you can do is go and view the horse, because otherwise you'll kick yourself later on in life if you think you may of missed an oppurtunity!
ive always shared horses, for the last 5/6 years, and it has worked really well most of the time. i agree that you can only get better riding more than once a week, and actually handling the horse every day improves confidence as well. you've done your horse owners certificates, and if i was a horse owner, i would definelty prick my ears up to that! the best thing to do with the owner is appear confident, but not too confident...they wont want u changing the horse's ways much....you must be open to what they suggest and how they ask you to ride - it may be a little different to what you've been taught, but every horse requires different aids...
thats all for now, pm me if you want!
x
 
I think you sound like a perfectly competent rider and very nice person, so I would call up, have a chat, say exactly what you have said to us and go see if any of the horses suit you. I am sure you'll find something really nice to ride (share the reservations about the light hack only horse, but if you are happy with light hacks then give it a try!). As someone who has looked for sharers before I much prefer someone who gives a modest description of their abilities as they usually surprise you on the day by being much more competent than they gave themselves credit for! Usually people who are certain they are 'experienced' fall off the mounting block!
 
As someone who just started sharing (3 months) I had a fraction of your experience (i.e. no idea how to hoof-pick, no idea how whether nose band went inside or outside rein strap for example)- was honest with the owner who concluded, with a quizzical look in her eye that "you are a crap rider but a nice person- the riding side will come but you can't teach someone to be kind to a horse- i'd love you to share/ride/look after *". Gradually improving under tutelage of RI + owner and am absolutely fastidious about looking after horsey + tack. From your post you sound like you've oodles of experience- be honest about your abilities, and go for it- made the switch from lessons and and it is just wonderful to have a horse to tend to/ride every week. Hope it works out
 
I'd say go for it horse sounds lovely but you won't know if it's for you until you go along and try him out.

I was in a similar position to you a few years ago going to a local riding school once a week and having a lesson. I shared a nutty PBA with my sister as a teenager so was used to riding a fizzy horse! But I got more and more frustrated as each week at the riding school as each time I would get a different horse, I couldn't work on anything in particular and felt that I wasn't really progressing. I found that out of an hours lesson I would get about 5 mins actual instruction as the class was fairly big and the instructor would concentrate on the less capable riders. I had some private lessons but these cost a fortune, I decided I would prefer to give that money to someone who's horse I could share and then I could get a lot more riding in and have lessons on the same horse each week!

I ended up sharing a lovely gelding and that was about 15 years ago and I have stayed really good friends with the owner. I now have my own horse which was a lifetime dream and thoroughly enjoy the fact that I and he can progress together. Best of luck let us know how it goes!
 
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