Can your yard stop you from getting sharer?

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stanley101

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Hi

I'm looking at getting a sharer for my daughters pony, I'm finding the work too much and can't afford to pay for someone else to do it.

I was going to advertise but was wondering if the yard could say i couldn't get a sharer as they will want me to pay them to do the work, does this make sense?

Can the yard object to me getting a sharer?

Thanks
 
They could object to you getting another livery to help you out when you are on an assisted yard but a sharer is a second owner of sorts so no they couldn't as they will be paying towards the cost of the pony.
 
They could do - either potentially for security reasons, or because as you say, they might want to force you into paying them to do it.

However, I've not generally found that most livery yards have a problem with it - as you could remove your horse to somewhere that will allow it.

Check with your YO before you go and advertise for one though, out of courtesy as much as anything else.
 
Some yards (definitely *not* the majority) do charge a 'sharers use of facilities' type fee. I've heard it can be up to 4pounds/day. Their argument being that both owner and sharer could be there at the same time increasing use of tea room/walkways/whatever other facilities the yard has.

It is much more common for a yard to request that anyone riding your horse has rider insurance (which they can get by itself or as part of BHS gold membership) to try to prevent the yard being sued for damage horse does to passing cars or anything whilst in sharer's care.

Oh, and obviously if owners are charged for ad-hoc things, e.g. booking arena, then sharers would be too but it would probably be via your livery bill and up to you to get the money back from sharer.

It is courteous (and far less embarrassing for the sharer!) to either give them a copy of any yard rules or ask the YM to explain them to sharer in the same way they did for you when you arrived.
 
My old yard wouldnt allow sharers if they were more than 3 days a week share. Same as, in the working week, you werent allow to swap favours with other liveries since the YO was available and wanted to be paid for that. Weekends and bank hols was DIY so you could do what you wanted then.

On one hand it seemed unreasonable! and on the other its just about making a living, if they didnt charge for that then the other charges would go up - in the end the yard needed to make a certain figure for it to be viable, esp if its paying bus rates and having muck taken away etc.

So its poss the livery yard could have a prob if normally they are paid for quite a few extras and that will all stop if theres a sharer. Many wont but some might.

To my understanding, a sharer is not normally a formal joint owner, they are someone who pays the owner to ride/sometimes look after the horse on certain regular days of the week and has a contract covering terms and care. If they were a formal joint owner in writing, on passport etc and that was the case before the horse came to the yard and known by the YO that would then be something the yard couldnt complain about at all.

So it might depend on whether you want to actually share ownership or have a sharer to help out without going that far.

TBH most yards would be OK but I would check with them first. What most of them will not like is if sharers friends family, pets etc all turn up and get in the way and hog the facilities, both from an annoyance and security POV.
 
Thanks for you replies, at the moment the yard don't do anything for me other than bring in on the odd day, so they wouldn't be losing any business. I will ask and see what they think.
 
There's a yard near me that won't allow sharers, or loaners, but then again they will only allow 1 person on the yard per horse so no partners, kids or other family coming on either! They don't tend to have people stay there very long... I would ask and see, most yard owners are accommodating and as long as they know who is coming up to see to the horse are usually happy.
 
Mine won't allow sharers - YO is really fussy about insurance and claims if I want a sharer for the pony I need to pay her £100 a month to cover insurance costs :eek: Luckily I was only half heartedly looking for one for the pony and not desperate :rolleyes:
 
I would check with your yard owner/manager, discuss the situation and see what they say. It is probably different at every yard!


We do have some people at the yard I am at who have sharers for their horses, and generally speaking as long as everyone know's the rules, and obides by the rules then they are OK. At our yard though you would have to square that off with the yard owner, same as bringing people up to the yard who the yard owner does not know.
 
Obviously it is up to the YO at the end of the day, but I am failing to see why they should have a problem with it in the first place... If the reason for finding a sharer is financial, surely the YO is better off allowing the sharer and the owner of the horse being financially stable (pays bills etc on time) than potentially losing the livery due to their financial difficulties.

Obviously if it's part/full livery it's a different ball game all together as it really should make no difference. Check with the YO anyway, if they're funny about it, I'd consider moving, bit pathetic IMO.
 
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