Getting a Sharer - Pros and Cons?

3Beasties

3Beasties

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Today I have been thinking about sharers and wondering if it would be worth me getting one. It wouldn't be an immediate thing but maybe something I would think about doing in a month or so.

I've got two horses but would probably only want one of them to be ridden. I've only had her 3 weeks so obviously need to get to know her more myself before advertising for a sharer. She is only 5, a big 16.2hh ISH. Very sweet on the ground but is green and has had some silly/sharp moments (this might just be due to needing more time to settle in etc). Obviously she's not going to be a novice ride so would need someone fairly experienced that would be confident and competent enough to deal with any baby moments.

I don't have a school but the hacking is fairly nice, quiet lanes or a 100 acre private orchard. It would be nice if someone wanted to come and ride 2/3 times a week, either with me on my other horse or by themselves. Would also be able to box out to nicer rides, lessons, possibly competitions or hunting depending on what the sharer wanted. I don't particularly want her schooled or improved by them (but equally don't want a joy rider that is going to charge about everywhere!), I bought a young horse so I could do that myself, likewise I don't want them riding her every day as it would be fairly pointless keeping her. Just though it would be nice to either have someone to ride with sometimes or good for her to be ridden on the days that I can't ride.

So, do you think I would find someone suitable? What are the Pros and cons to having a sharer? Anything I should look out for or avoid?

I'm not sure I'd want a financial contribution, I guess as long as they were reliable and turned up when they said they would (and maybe mucked out, fed both etc - Reasonable?) then I'd rather that as it would be a big help.

At the moment it's just a thought, not sure if it's something I'll go for or not but any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated :)

*Offers round cheeselets and milky bar*
 
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I wouldn't.
Even an experienced rider can have very different idea's to you, and if you want to bring her on yourself, she is better off being ridden just by you for now.
 
I'm a sharer, seeing my pony twice a week, to school him on a little. It can work well, as long as you vet the person carefully. The other girl who rode Idiotpony another two days a week, just tended to hack out and ignored his owners wishes to help break him of his napping and bucking work-avoidance tactics, and let him get away with it a bit more so it was hard for me to try and school him on when I can only go twice a week and work on them.

I'm now the only sharer, although his owner's advertising for another.

I regularly text his owner to chat about his progress and we have a book to record everything we do with him, which is nice as I tend to go during the days and only meet his owners during school holidays.

I pay for his trims (no shoes) and do all the chores needed on my days, be it poo-picking or mucking out.

I'm really grateful for the chance to ride and play ponies twice a week (it'd be more if he wasn't a 4hour round journey) and he's finally starting to bond with me and work, rather than argue with everything we do
 
If you do make sure it's someone you get on with rather than just put up with because they are paying you and that you feel going out to shows etc with them will be enjoyable.

Do it because you want the company not because you need the money and take your time finding someone not the first person that comes along.
 
On a young horse i wouldn't personally having had plenty of sharers for one of mine - most of which never did as asked bought all there friends - with cars and loud music to see him - i caught them drinking and smoking not good!! and they razzed him when he was unfit and was very ruff and nieve and now he will not have a bit in his mouth .... due to them being to ignorant or not caring wether they bashed his teeth, so a definate no no in my opion in a young horse you don't want it ruining!!

Just to add the horses live in a nice area and i paid for adverts and still ended up with - loss for a better word - SKANKS!! :) and so many novies you needed 3 hands to count them honestly its not worth it - beleave me :( :)
 
I've been on both ends of this.

I was a sharer. Found a cracking little horse that was quite green, needed schooling on. Did loads with him, got him to work in an outline (but can't get my own to do so!), did plenty of jumping with him once he was going well and ironed out the dirty stopping he had gotten into. Then his owner sold him from under me to a 12yr old girl who liked him cos he was nice to look at.

So bought my own steed not long after that. Needed someone to ride him in the week to keep him exercised as school didn't have floodlights. She sounded lovely on email and phone. Had her own horses in the past, wanting to get back into riding, used to dressage and showjump. Super duper - come over and see what we all think.

Couldn't put brushing boots on, had no idea how to put a bridle on and had to hold onto the saddle and kick like a child to get into canter. Hmm, dressage you say?!

Be careful with your questions if you do look for someone!!
 
I have a friend who rides my horse 1-2 days a week.. Wouldnt call it a share though - She is a good rider who can't afford her own & wants to ride more... BUT we set out goals for each time she rides her & when I work on something new with my instructor I make sure she understands also...
I Don't ask for any sort of financial contribution - her help with the schooling is enough & tbh I don't think I would go down the full share route - just a personal thing but wouldnt feel I was in full control of what was being done with my horse.
 
Speaking as someone who's shared and owned, generally, sharing is more trouble than it's worth. As a sharer, it's hard to know exactly how the owner wants things done and to get it right - you're not psychic and you never get a run down of EVERYTHING. Everyone has their own methods and means. Having friends that have shared out their own horses, a lot of them developed (what the owner considered to be) bad habits. Why? Because people don't ride the same, and horses are easily influenced. Add this to the fact that sharers are often less careful (they won't be paying the vets bills, and there's no tie), it's a bit of a risk.

As others have said, I'd be reluctant to share mine out at all (far too attached and over-protective ;) ), but with a youngster I think it's inadvisable.
 
If you have two, and are really looking for someone to ride with a few times a week, I would be tempted to get someone to share the older of the two, rather than the youngster. I have had sharers for my pony in the past, but he is bombproof, and pretty much un ruinable, as he is easily ironed out, and susses people out before they get within 20 paces!
When one of mine was young, and seriously foolish, it worked well, as the lady wantedsomething safe to ride twice a week, but couldn't do many chores as had ME.
 
I'm a sharer and currently looking for a new share horse - my current share horse is up for sale now so despite all my hard work bringing him on (lots of hard work in the school) the owner has decided she doesnt have time for him and is selling him asap.

I think as a sharer, it sounds ideal that you dont want a financial contribution (all the horses I have viewed recently have wanted at least £25 pw) as long as the sharer does chores - with my current share I do all chores in the evenings (I have him 4 days per week), yard take care of everything in the morning, and then I ride him and pay £110 pcm plus half his shoes every 6 weeks. At times I do feel like I've been taken for a ride by improving the horse and doing all the chores yet paying a lot of money for the priviledge! But on the other hand I love the chores, I love looking after my boy and enjoy being around him so I dont begrudge the chores at all, just the amount I'm paying I guess.

However my main concerns as a sharer with your horse would be as follows:
1. You have only had him 3 weeks, so dont know the horse well yourself, so you would be going blind into this share with 2 people that dont know the horse's temperament very well and any bad habits may not have been recognised yet
2. You dont want the sharer to school him, your main reasons for wanting someone to share is to have another person to hack out with. I, as a 25 year old sharer, and if I were looking at a 16.2 ISH I would be ideally looking to school the horse with the view to competing eventually - so without schooling building up to a competition would be pretty pointless!

I think you might manage to find someone, perhaps an older person, who just wants to hack out and do some light riding - but you might take a while to find that person. You dont have the facilities at your yard to offer much riding in the evenings, as there is no school and hacking out at night is less than ideal on a youngster, so again you might struggle finding someone that wants to ride during the day (most of us sharers have full time jobs) or someone who would be happy doing 1 day per week at the weekend when there is enough light to ride.

If I were you I'd try advertising on all the usual sites (Preloved, equine ads etc) and see what comes up. Make it clear your main aim of this share is to find a hacking partner, that the horse is green and needs an experienced rider, plus you dont want a financial contribution as long as the sharer is willing to do chores. And browse the same sites for the 'share/part loan wanted' adverts too, lots of adverts go up from the sharers themselves so you could save yourself a lot of wasted time in novices contacting you about your ad if you go and look for the sharer yourself.

If I were in your position personally I wouldnt think about sharing your horse until you have had her a year or so, are happy with her progress and feel she is ready to get the experience of other people riding her. If you want to control her development then you would be best keeping her to yourself for now. But if you do really need a hacking partner and need someone to exercise her then place an advert and see what comes up - it may take a very long time to find the right person (I've been looking for my next share for weeks and no joy just yet, although I saw a very promising horse yesterday so fingers crossed for the second visit!), you just have to be patient and weed out all the novices before the ideal person comes along!

Good luck!
 
I have a kind of sharer at the moment. Hopefully another in the pipeline too!

I advertised for someone to help ride two horses, needing an experienced rider as one was sharp, the other very big and strong. I asked for someone over 30. Got various replies, mostly from "all about me" types, but one from a lady who lived nearby but was "probably too novice for what you want". I was more attracted to someone being honest, so invited her for a ride. She was too novice for the sharp horse, but was fine hacking out with me while she was on the bigger, quieter horse. When I was on holiday she had a lesson on the big horse and my instructor had to cancel the lesson as the horse was taking the mick too much. The girl was worried I wouldn't want her to ride, but she just hacks out with me when I'm around, which still saves me time as I only have one to ride, not two.. She is good because she is very honest, reliable, and helps out with mucking out on days that she rides.. I feel like I get on with her as a friend too.. Someone else more experienced has been in touch, that I hope will be able to ride the sharper mare when I'm not here. She can only ride at weekends, which I work a lot, so that should work.

I don't take any money, but ask them to get rider insurance for themselves. For me, the type of person counts for a lot - sensible, flexible people who would fit in with my family and our riding. In return I try and be fair and make sure that they all get plenty of riding themselves. My sharer is happy to learn and would not go off and do something if I'd asked them not to. Someone like that would be fine with a youngster.. Make sure you ride out with them a lot first of all and really feel happy that you trust them to ride your horse how you like. You have to be a bit flexible yourself as well though. It has to be good for both sides.. Its early days for me, but so far so good.
 
I've been on both ends so sorry for the long post!! I think you need to trust your judgement and feel happy to tell people they are not suitable...

I got a sharer for my horse as I worked in London and found it almost impossible to ride during the week, he needed exercise, I needed some more time in my life, and the money helped. First one was awful so I called it a day, said no to a few other people and second one was great with him and only gave him up as he broke.

I now share a youngster as didnt want to own another one as already got a teenage retired horse and dont want to end up with 2 broken ones! I help out with stable duties most days as its on the same yard, we ride together (horse owner has another horse) and are both committed to bringing him on (he is 4yo ISH), I ride him, she rides him and my instructor schools him once a week.

I'd be wary with someone else who I didnt know with a youngster. For us I think it works as she knew me first and we are both on the same page, we both have lessons and school him in a similar manor, ultimately I agree with what she wants to do as its her horse but she is nice sympathetic rider so she is easy to agree with.

I think it would be okay if someone just wanted to hack her gently (assuming she is good to hack?) providing they werent going to hang on to her mouth and gallop everywhere, or if they were committed to helping you school her in your way, perhaps even with your instructor. I'd be worried if someone thought they were "doing you a favour" and schooling in their own way...

On the flip side I was offered a horse for share but turned it down as I knew i'd be doing all the hard work - owner rides 3 times a week at a gallop round the bridleways, and a friend of mine shares a horse that the owner is too scared to ride and so only gets ridden twice a week by friend when really horse needs to be a lot more work.

Be sure to ask a lot of questions, don't be afraid to go on your first impression - would you be happy to leave the care of your horses to this person should you go away for a weekend? What do they want from a horse? Happy hack or something to compete on? Could you see the person as a friend? All the best sharing relationships I have seen come from people who know each other or are recommended.

Good luck!
 
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