Didn't realise there were so many people looking for a share!

SuperCoblet

SuperCoblet

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I decided to put Coblet up for share for various reasons, so I put an advert up on my fb page and a couple of local horsey pages. I was thinking it would take ages to find someone and since 10pm last night I've had 5 people contact me and 3 of them want to come and meet him this week!

Who knew!
Ps...any tips for sharing Coblet? :)
 
Lots of folks cant afford to buy their own at the moment so it doesn't surprise me at all, but I think sharing is a fab idea and have had one for about a year now. The first one didn't work out great but I have a friend's daughter riding my standie boy and we have a great arrangement.

My advice to you is;

Dont take on the first person you meet - others might be more up coblet's street, might be available more/at times that suit your timetable and so on. Maybe tell your prospects you'll let them know in a few days/next weekend as you have a few folks interested.

If you're looking for financial contribution, you might want to think about requesting they pay by standing order on a weekly or monthly basis (been stung by folks saying they'll give to me when they see me then I don't see them for weeks or they dont have it on them when I do see them).

Request that they have their own insurance - my old sharer came off my appy and I had to take her to the hospital where they put her in a neck brace and told her to take a few weeks off work, for which her boss refused to pay her sick leave. If s/he's showing or riding on the road they'll also want third party insurance.

Turns out ^same girl^ was bringing every tomdickandharry onto the property, her best friend with a new boyfriend she didn't know very well and letting them ride my horse without my knowledge or consent. She even put a 2yr old tot on my somewhat unpredictable appy a week after said hospital trip. I only found out because I saw pics she'd been tagged in on FB so you might want to set some rules on who, if anybody they're allowed to bring and who is/not allowed to ride your horse.

If you find the right person (hopefully you will!) be with them for the first few weeks until you're confident you can leave them unsupervised with your horse (I read a thread on here not so long ago about a lady who let a young girl share her pony, NEVER supervised her riding and then said months later after sharer had become very attached that the pony was misbehaving - because the girl wasn't competent enough to ride the pony to the level he was accustomed. She then refused to help the girl develop and wanted rid when this could all have been prevented if she'd helped sharer to improve/decided she wasn't the right rider in the first place.

The other thing you might want to consider is specifying when s/he can ride and what kind of responsibilities you expect. My current sharer is there every day (through choice), I've been giving her lessons (she was in a riding school before) and when she doesn't ride she poo picks or just potters around with him. Her little brother rides my shetland too which works out great as our kids can't ride every day and pony is lammy prone/needs the exercise. I don't mind in the least but others might.

Have a contract signed, detailing the above plus notice requirements etc. You can find documents online or someone might be able to point you in the right direction.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but I do wish you all the best :) Happy sharing!
 
kellybee said:
Lots of folks cant afford to buy their own at the moment so it doesn't surprise me at all, but I think sharing is a fab idea and have had one for about a year now. The first one didn't work out great but I have a friend's daughter riding my standie boy and we have a great arrangement.

My advice to you is;

Dont take on the first person you meet - others might be more up coblet's street, might be available more/at times that suit your timetable and so on. Maybe tell your prospects you'll let them know in a few days/next weekend as you have a few folks interested.

If you're looking for financial contribution, you might want to think about requesting they pay by standing order on a weekly or monthly basis (been stung by folks saying they'll give to me when they see me then I don't see them for weeks or they dont have it on them when I do see them).

Request that they have their own insurance - my old sharer came off my appy and I had to take her to the hospital where they put her in a neck brace and told her to take a few weeks off work, for which her boss refused to pay her sick leave. If s/he's showing or riding on the road they'll also want third party insurance.

Turns out ^same girl^ was bringing every tomdickandharry onto the property, her best friend with a new boyfriend she didn't know very well and letting them ride my horse without my knowledge or consent. She even put a 2yr old tot on my somewhat unpredictable appy a week after said hospital trip. I only found out because I saw pics she'd been tagged in on FB so you might want to set some rules on who, if anybody they're allowed to bring and who is/not allowed to ride your horse.

If you find the right person (hopefully you will!) be with them for the first few weeks until you're confident you can leave them unsupervised with your horse (I read a thread on here not so long ago about a lady who let a young girl share her pony, NEVER supervised her riding and then said months later after sharer had become very attached that the pony was misbehaving - because the girl wasn't competent enough to ride the pony to the level he was accustomed. She then refused to help the girl develop and wanted rid when this could all have been prevented if she'd helped sharer to improve/decided she wasn't the right rider in the first place.

The other thing you might want to consider is specifying when s/he can ride and what kind of responsibilities you expect. My current sharer is there every day (through choice), I've been giving her lessons (she was in a riding school before) and when she doesn't ride she poo picks or just potters around with him. Her little brother rides my shetland too which works out great as our kids can't ride every day and pony is lammy prone/needs the exercise. I don't mind in the least but others might.

Have a contract signed, detailing the above plus notice requirements etc. You can find documents online or someone might be able to point you in the right direction.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but I do wish you all the best :) Happy sharing!
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That's fantastic, thanks!
 
Some great advice above to add - when they come to try leave him out in the field and get them to catch him, groom him and tack up unaided. That'll give you a very good idea of their experience and how they handle horses - much more than what they say they can do.

I had a 'very' experienced person come to try one of mine and she looked in horror when I handed her the bridle and couldn't catch my 18 y/o school master in the stable!!

Go with your gut and what you can see - not what they tell you - I had another that looked OK to me but horsey reacted strangely to her - I let her try him for a month, he started behaving very oddly then I caught her really shouting at him (for no apparent reason) she left promptly and he went completely back to normal so trust their guts too!
 
There are a lot out there, but few that have the necessary experience and reliability. Do select carefully and don't rush to accept the first few that show an interest. I do know someone who took a sharer on last month and they now have an issue with the sharer being unreliable. However worse than this they also now have a horse who won't let you put the bridle on, is generally head shy and won't let you pick out his feet. So they have had to put a stop to the share and have a more difficult horse now to find a sharer for.
 
Thanks everyone :) taking person #1 on a hack this afternoon and see how they get on. #2 coming tomorrow :) Will keep you updated as I may need help choosing... I'm awful at saying no :redface3:
 
Just a couple more to add, think about what level of experience you would be comfortable with in a sharer.
My first sharer was more experienced than me which was fantastic for me because after the first couple of weeks to make sure they settled in together I knew she'd be fine in any eventuality. My new sharer is a great rider but has no horse care experience what so ever which isn't a problem for me, I just need to spend more time with her till she's comfortable with the basics :)

The other thing I thought about was dogs because I take my dog with me to the horses and out for hacks etc (new sharer doesn't have a dog so nothing to worry about there) so with my first sharer I told her she was welcome to take her dog up with her and see how he got on with the horses and if her dog was good with them she was welcome to take him up every time.

He was great during the introduction phase where she would keep him on the lead in the field and after a few days we tried him loose, it turned out that she had to have him tied up while she was poo picking etc or he'd try to play with the horses (he'd drop the ball near them and do the "I want to play" crouch and bounce followed with a bit of barking if he was ignored which they weren't too impressed with) but whilst hacking he was great, he would scout on ahead a bit, keep away from Loki's feet and not bark during the exciting canters :)

I'd also agree on what you want them to do with your horse i.e mainly hacking/schooling etc, are they allowed to get an instructor in, would you be comfortable with them taking your horse on beach days/to local shows?

For my contract I just used a copy of the BHS Loan Agreement and just changed it to suit sharing :)

Good luck! I hope you find a really lovely sharer! :)
 
okay umm... sharer #1 ...interesting! Certainly not right for my lad, he'll take the P quite a lot :/ and she dropped his £400+ saddle which I was not impressed about :eek3: something just didn't add up and it was all a bit weird and too novicy for him. So far all I've said is i'm letting everyone try him and ill decide when I'm ready.
Lets hope #2 tomorrow is better :)
 
Send some my way! Advertised my mare and had little interest at all... Might be because she's 14.2hh but she's an absolute cracker.
 
coming from the other side of things (as someone with a share horse) I would make sure you let them bring him in/tack up etc, once I went to see a pony who was advertised for share, turned up, owner spent an hour grooming, tacking up etc (i offered to help at least 3 times- just stood there like a lemon!) but she said no its fine, rode pony, then I got on, all was fine, then she said ok brill can you do him tomorrow!!! now, I knew how to tack up etc, but didn't feel comfortable being on my own after I wasn't even allowed to tack up!
 
kellybee said:
Request that they have their own insurance - my old sharer came off my appy and I had to take her to the hospital where they put her in a neck brace and told her to take a few weeks off work, for which her boss refused to pay her sick leave. If s/he's showing or riding on the road they'll also want third party insurance.
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This would be personal accident insurance and it would not prevent a claim on your third party insurance. For reasonable cover for a risk sport like riding it's also extremely expensive and few people would be prepared to take out a policy that would cover that amount of time off work for that reason. But do check with your own third party insurance what their position is if your sharer has an accident.
 
When I was a sharer, i paid about £7 a month to insure myself.

It's funny, Shy's stable mate (a CRACKING CONNIE) is advertised for share, and I don't think anything's happened yet.
 
cptrayes said:
. For reasonable cover for a risk sport like riding it's also extremely expensive and few people would be prepared to take out a policy that would cover that amount of time off work for that reason.
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BHS gold membership gives you £10k of cover for personal accident, not a life changing amount agreed but it would pay the mortage for a while in a real emergancy.
 
Polos Mum said:
BHS gold membership gives you £10k of cover for personal accident, not a life changing amount agreed but it would pay the mortage for a while in a real emergancy.
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What accident? Usually, from policies I've seen, the level of accident is very high, like loss of an eye or a leg. And it still would not stop a claim on the owners third party insurance, which was the point I think the person recommending it was making?


p.s. have just checked and BHS personal accident pays only on loss of one or both eyes, deafness, loss of a limb or more, permanent disablement and death.Most of the possible payments are nowhere near ten grand. This is pretty normal for PA insurance. It will only cover a miniscule proportion of riding accidents.


It won't stop anyone claiming against the owner's third party insurance and in my opinion it would be completely pointless to insist that any sharer has it.
 
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Best tip I can give is make sure your horse is sound! once I turned up to view a horse to share and the owner told me he had mud fever so couldn't be ridden at the moment, I watched her feed him and turn him out and then went home, total waste of time. Another I went to see was hobbling round the school with the owner on and she insisted it was just how he moved and he'd always done it, poor thing.

Assuming you can tell when a horse is lame (!), things to discuss would be chores, contribution, what they would do in an emergency, having a phone out hacking, not letting other people ride your horse (at least without prior agreement!), your position on lessons etc
 
SuperCoblet said:
Thanks everyone, can I just ask is £10 a week plus maybe the odd skip out and tack clean reasonable for 2 days a week?
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Yeah definitely, that's what I ask mine for and in return she rides my horse, poo picks, checksthe water trough is still working every day and cleans it (if I haven't already cleaned it) - as an added extra bonus for me she will rug or de-rug the other 2 in the field and make sure they have no injuries on her day. Once in a blue moon she's agreed to come join me in my war against ragwort too :D

She was surprised it was such a small contribution but I feel me and Loki get a great deal out of it for all she's doing for us - secretly I feel I should really be paying her :o
 
SuperCoblet said:
Thanks everyone, can I just ask is £10 a week plus maybe the odd skip out and tack clean reasonable for 2 days a week?
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Yes more than reasonable I think. We pay £80 pcm for part loan of Boyo, which will hopefully become a full loan soon dependent upon finding the right yard for him. We get up anything from 2-6 times a week, owner is great, very flexible as he lives at home, and great communication. As owner doesn't ride him I see tack cleaning to be our job (tho I must admit it needs doing asap!), and we also muck out, poo pick, help out with yard chores whenever we go up. HTH
 
Consider an under 18. Ppp was 14 when she started sharing one of mine. Shes pretty much part of the family now and never been any trouble. I had a conversation with her mother about horses being animals not machines and my not being able to supervise at all times and off we went. Fab little rider who is now a fab adult.
 
Spotsrock said:
Consider an under 18. Ppp was 14 when she started sharing one of mine. Shes pretty much part of the family now and never been any trouble. I had a conversation with her mother about horses being animals not machines and my not being able to supervise at all times and off we went. Fab little rider who is now a fab adult.
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Mine is only 14 and a friend of the family - before she started sharing she was just learning to canter on a 13.2 kick along plod in a riding school so getting on a 15.2 ex trotter was a real eye opener for her, but she's worth her weight in gold and she's absolutely pony mad/just as interested in the non-riding things. I try to teach her a few times a week, and she's competent enough now to let her ride Ollie in my absence (although I always ask her to make sure she has someone else with her if I'm not there). We don't have set days any more either - we just work around one another. If I'm riding she'll often bring the kids' new pony along on lead rein, or she'll lunge him (that's another thing you might want your sharer to do competently) or she'll lead her brother out on our shetland. She has a keen eye for ragwort rosettes now she knows what to look for and asks a thousand questions a day.

Most folks wouldn't have time for that given that lack of time is often one of the reasons they look for a sharer in the first place, but I remember being in her shoes (cant afford lessons but desperate to be with horses) and I like her company. She's a great kid, trustworthy, reliable and keen. It takes more time than my old sharer who was more experienced than me and schooled my appy on set days, but I wouldn't change her for the world. At least this one poo picks, cleans tack now and then and is grateful for the opportunity. Couldn't ask for more really.
 
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