Has anyone ever part loaned from a riding school?

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Mrs C

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I've only recently taken up riding again but am slightly obsessed already! I will never have the time for my own so think in a few months I may start looking for a share. I would still want to continue with lessons and am loving my instructor so far. They do allow shares on some of the riding school horses and so far they are great horses! Really resoponsive. But not sure how I'd feel about everyone else riding 'my' horse!!! Has anyone else gone down this route?
 
I loaned from a riding school from the age of about 13 to 23 :) had a variety of horses from a 14.2hh gypsy cob to a 17.3hh new forest x giraffe . I never really minded other people riding my horse as such as not many people wanted to as I always had the slightly mad ones :) You just have to give a bit more though as to when you ride so for example if the horse had already done two hours in the morning then generally I wouldn't ride again in the afternoon or if I did it would be something a bit more sedate . We also had to take it in turns to go out competing as they obviously couldn't have all the horses going out on the same weekend so there had to be a bit of give and take there. A real bonus for me was that in the winter the horses workrate stayed at the same level so I always had a fit horse that was ready to go where as if I had been just on livery I probably would have roughed my horse off during the winter due to the hours I work.
 
It can be a really good way to be able to ride a lot more and get more involved with the horses without all the time and money commitments but there are also down sides and I think it really depends on the riding school.

I sometimes feel that the biggest problem arises with how the sharer and riding school view the horses, from the sharer's point of view the horse/pony becomes their little darling and wants the best for it whereas the riding school probably see it as an animal that has a job to do so unfortunately it can sometimes turn out that the horse has to work when it is maybe not at it's soundest but the sharer is unable to say / do anything as it is still a working horse and the RS still need to make money and the horse needs to earn it's keep. Not saying that this is always the case but I think it is something that does need to be taken into account as have seen this happen a lot leaving some very fraught people on the yard and ill feeling between sharers and RS.
 
I did it, and for the most part it was wonderful! Like you I had a break from riding and got back into it at a local riding school. I became totally absorbed by it again so part loaned a 16.3hh TB ex point-to-pointer. He was gorgeous and taught me so, so much.
Only words of caution is to make sure you know exactly what is expected of you, for example with poo picking etc, and also what the arrangements are for when you can ride. The loans at the school I used claimed to be "all the fun of owning a horse without the hassle, expense and commitment" but in the end it turned out to be quite a lot of hassle! Most of that was caused by an unprofessional YO slagging off all the liveries and loaners and her little darling (not her daughter, just her favourite) riding the horse I was loaning whenever I wanted to ride. She would basically just gallop him round the field and leave him too tired to do much with me. It did upset me that I spent loads of time schooling him and turning the horse from a bit of a nutter that hardly anyone rode into a fairly calm, safe ride that would hack out alone and school nicely etc (unheard of before!). Her little darling then started doing dressage competitions on him, I wasn't invited. I know he didn't belong to me and that as her horse she could do what she liked with him, but I was upset all the same that I had put all the work in!
Having said all that, if I had my time again I would still have loaned him. I would just make sure all the expectations of both partied are clearly set out from the start.
If you have a more professional yard that I was at, I'm sure it will be the perfect solution for you.
Good luck, and enjoy! xxx
 
Hi don't know where you are but our RS (www.chessingtonequestriancentre.co.uk) has a lot of people who part loan horses. Mainly it's the hunters, but even some of the little ponies have part loaners. It's a great situation, you get the horse a few days a week (when it's your day, we won't use it, or at least it will do less work to fit round you) and the horse gets some consistent riding and also a mum!
 
My little sister (she's 14) has a pony on part loan from the riding school at our yard. She's been loaning for a couple of years, it's really good because it means she has a pony to ride but doesn't have to do all the mucking out etc! She's on her 3rd loan pony now, they were really good about putting her onto a new one when she outgrew her earlier ones.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice- appreciate your views. Ooh I can't wait till Thursday for my next lesson!
 
I part loaned from a riding school from age of 13 till eighteen when I started Uni. I did enjoy it and it taught me a lot. It also gives you the social aspect of having other loanees to talk to. Only downside for me was it was a bit restrictive in that I wasn't allowed to hack out much (obviously that depends on the riding school) and also because of the horse being used several times a day in lessons. For me it was a good starting step before I bought my own horse once I'd finished uni. Also it was cheaper than privately part loaning a horse.
 
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