help! how much contribution for a part loan?

[em_davies8]

Hi all! TIA for replies. I am about to put my horse up for part loan (3 days a week) for when I go off to University. He is on full livery, and I am quite stuck on how much contribution to ask for. His loaner would do no chores whatsoever only treat him as their own to ride and take out to compete etc. The livery is a very fair amount so I want to be able to cover some, but I don't want to ask an unreasonable amount. Does anybody have any suggestions or would like to add what they pay to give me a rough idea?
Many thanks!
Emily

 

[kc100]

It does depend on whereabouts you are in the country - but I'd say for 3 days a week, no chores and the opportunity to compete, and on the basis the yard has good facilities (i.e. an outdoor floodlit school) you could charge about £30 per week. I used to pay £120 per month to part loan a horse whose owner did all the chores, and I rode about 4-5 times a week. I did have to feed and turn out/bring in on occasions. I competed him locally in dressage as well.

I then moved onto part loan another horse, but this one was a WB dressage horse so better competition potential, paid £180 per month for her - she was on true full livery so I didnt have to lift a finger, and could ride every day if I wanted to. This was all in the West Midlands.

£10 per day is a fairly typical charge - but if you are in the South close to London you may be able to get away with charging a bit more. In your advert I'd put the price but then say it is negotiable for the right person; as I'm sure the right person is more important for you than getting lots of money out of the arrangement.

 

[LHIS]

Agree with the above. £30 pw is reasonable, but it does depend on where you are and what facilities are available. I paid £40 pw for mine prior to buying him, and did jobs when I was there in exchange for tuition.

 

[Palindrome]

I would have it as half the livery cost, without taking into account farrier and vet as you would have those costs anyway. So if for example livery is £500 per month, that would be £250. This is based on the fact that horse can work 6 days per week (1 rest day) so a 3 days share is half that time.
If livery is cheaper than share is cheaper but that is also generally reflected in the facilities available at the yard.

 

[kc100]

I would have it as half the livery cost, without taking into account farrier and vet as you would have those costs anyway. So if for example livery is £500 per month, that would be £250. This is based on the fact that horse can work 6 days per week (1 rest day) so a 3 days share is half that time.
If livery is cheaper than share is cheaper but that is also generally reflected in the facilities available at the yard.

The reason why people part loan is typically because they dont have the time for their own horse, or cant afford their own - I was the latter when I part loaned. I now own a horse, who costs me under £200 per month for livery. There is absolutely no way on earth I would have ever part loaned a horse that cost £250 a month; you can buy your own and have it on DIY for much less than that.

The type of livery is the owners choice, and the owner should be able to financially cover that choice; I for example cant afford full or part livery, hence why mine is on assisted DIY. It is not the part loaners responsibility to cover half of the lifestyle the owner has chosen - the part loaner is there for a reason (i.e. owner no longer has the time to keep the horse fit and in work) and isnt just an extra source of income.

OP - please keep in mind that you technically need someone to exercise your horse whilst at University; so the part loaner is beneficial to you both financially and in terms of keeping your horse fit whilst you are unable to ride. Don't charge the earth just to ride 3 times per week, that will put the majority of people off. Remember the part loaner is doing you a bit of a favour by keeping your horse ticking over whilst you are at uni, so dont be unreasonable and try and make money off the loaner.

 

[criso]

I always think £10 per day is a good starting point pushing it up or down a bit either way depending on the yard facilities, whether chores are required and how desirable your horse is.

But others have said, it can depend on where you are, round London you could pay £200pcm for that amount of days and the ability to compete if the horse was on full livery on a smart yard but that's against a background where that's still less than an hour a week at the riding school.

It may be an idea to put financial contribution in the advert but not specify then discuss after. Also consider if you are away and no one else is riding if it's easier to find 2 people doing 1 or 2 days each.

 

[Jo_x]

I've paid >200 a month to share a horse on part livery (all i had to do was groom, ride and clean tack) 3 days a week. I'd rather have paid less and done more chores, but that wasn't an option! I didn't have the time or the money for my own, and my parents weren't willing to take on the responsibility of owning, so it worked for me at the time. I couldn't have kept a horse anywhere with any facilities at all for £250 a month, even on DIY! That was in surrey, I think it depends where you are in the country.

 

[timbobs]

In Surrey a sharer tends to pay between £100-£150 per month depending on facilities/horse/chores to do etc.

 

[bouncing_ball]

The reason why people part loan is typically because they dont have the time for their own horse, or cant afford their own - I was the latter when I part loaned. I now own a horse, who costs me under £200 per month for livery. There is absolutely no way on earth I would have ever part loaned a horse that cost £250 a month; you can buy your own and have it on DIY for much less than that.

.

Not in my area of Surrey you cant. And there are few decent DIY yards to find.

I don’t have a horse on part livery, so the situation doesn’t apply to me. But if my horse was on part livery at £500pcm, and a nicely schooled, desirable horse to share.

I don’t see why for three days of riding (one a weekend) you couldn’t charge half the livery at £250

I’d be paying for vaccinations / farrier (about £95 every 5 weeks), bodywork, worming, injuries, equipment etc. So probably close to £650-£700 a month.

And if horse gets ill / lame / old / undesirable / or circumstances change, the paying sharer can just give notice and stop paying.

Your potential horse on DIY that goes lame / gets cushings / needs surgery, - as owner you are still paying the bills, the vet fees, the equipment, all the time and costs and doing the chores and possibly not riding.

The flexibility of no chores, paying for the horse to be looked after sharing, works for people that want to ride a decent horse, but don’t currently want to own a horse.

Sharing works if everyone is getting their needs met in the arrangement, and everyone feels are getting a good deal.

Depending on what is desirable for all – may be time / money / exercising / schooling / quality of horse etc. Key is to find a match with the right person.

 

[bouncing_ball]

The reason why people part loan is typically because they dont have the time for their own horse, or cant afford their own - I was the latter when I part loaned. I now own a horse, who costs me under £200 per month for livery. There is absolutely no way on earth I would have ever part loaned a horse that cost £250 a month; you can buy your own and have it on DIY for much less than that.

The type of livery is the owners choice, and the owner should be able to financially cover that choice; I for example cant afford full or part livery, hence why mine is on assisted DIY. It is not the part loaners responsibility to cover half of the lifestyle the owner has chosen - the part loaner is there for a reason (i.e. owner no longer has the time to keep the horse fit and in work) and isnt just an extra source of income.

OP - please keep in mind that you technically need someone to exercise your horse whilst at University; so the part loaner is beneficial to you both financially and in terms of keeping your horse fit whilst you are unable to ride. Don't charge the earth just to ride 3 times per week, that will put the majority of people off. Remember the part loaner is doing you a bit of a favour by keeping your horse ticking over whilst you are at uni, so dont be unreasonable and try and make money off the loaner.

If the loaner was to pay half the livery costs for three days riding, the owner is HARDLY making money from the sharer! As with farrier / vet / vaccinations / bodywork / equipment etc. the owner is still likely to be paying 60-70% of horses monthly cost, and all of the risk if the horse is injured or sharer leaves.

If you have a part livery horse, you are really looking for a sharer, who would keep a horse part livery, not one that would keep a horse DIY. Some sharers have time, but not funds, and want to do chores to help. Some sharers either don’t have time or have variable shifts / jobs / lives so cant commit to chores. These people chose to pay a proportion of part livery costs to be able to ride a nice horse regularly. It might not be what you would do, but it is not wrong, and there are sharers like this out there.

Original Poster – I would have a good look in Horsemart / Horse Quest / Local Facebook Groups and see what others in your local area are offering and charging for loaners. I would also evaluate how desirable your horse is in what is reasonable to charge, and how particular you are about who rides them. E.g. a young, sensitive, sharp horse that needs confident and capable rider – you’d be lucky to find one that wants to pay, and probably best to accept a no payment exercising arrangemetn. If you have an all rounder that carries 12 stone, is schooled to elementary / medium, jumps BE 90 and hacks nicely alone and in company, and your yard facilities are excellent, and you would allow loaner to compete and have lessons, then I think you could charge a fair bit, and have someone feeling they have a good deal to pay this. So it depends on your horse too.

 

[wingedhorse]

Obviously it is not fair on a sharer to charge more than your horse costs you to keep. So if you rent a field for small sum, and horse lives out, is barefoot, and has a little hay in winter, then charging a proportion of your costs to sharer seems fair. IF the reason you seek a sharer is cost based.

If you horse is stabled, in an expensive area, clipped, fed, mucked out, has regular bodywork, and is a higher monthly cost, IF the reason you seek a sharer is cost based then seeking to cover this seems reasonable.

If the reason you want a sharer isn’t financial, and is for help exercising or company, or help with chores, then not charging or barely charging seems perfectly reasonable.

 

[Charmel]

I charge £100 per month for my 3 part loan horses. This includes 4 days a week riding minimal chores, very occasional mucking out. Floodlit school and xc course and good hacking. All 3 hack alone or in company are safe and sane, will do a decent dressage test at prelim and one at novice, all three can jump a 80cm course 2 can jump higher, all three have hunted and are excellent to load shoe catch clip etc. They all have every bit of tack they will need for each discipline whether showing or jumping and have good manners on the ground. I offer transport to competitions when I am going or use of a lorry when I am not (for contribution to fuel) and there is an instructor on site should they want a lesson. All three sharers are happy...the horses are a 16.2 TB a 13.2 arab x section c jumping machine and an ISH hunter type at 18h. I think this is a pretty fair price and although there are others who charge more and some who charge less I think this is a fair amount as I have my own yard so costs are kept relatively low, but it reflects that these are well schooled quality horses.

 

[em_davies8]

Thanks all. I think somewhere in the 100 region is definitely a good price. My livery is 500 a month, the pony is a registered connie who can easily pop a course of a m*, schools really nicely and hacks fine, good to take out and about. Although the livery is to keep him happy and fit, I couldn't possibly base contribution on that as I'd still be paying 500 per month to hardly use my own horse. However from what people are saying I think 100 for 3 days, no chores and excellent facilities is the amount i'll go for-I don't want to put anyone off but also don't want to let him go for nothing!! I think the more committed sharers will also be likely to pay a bit more so this is another thing to think about.
Thank you all so much for your comments!!! Very helpful x

 

[EmmasMummy]

I am £34 a month for the sharer for each of our Ponies. I don't include the insurance,feed, farrier costs, worming.

 

[Leo Walker]

and there I am not even able to find someone to ride mine for free! Bombproof safe but forward cob, safe enough to put your granny on but not a plod, and I cant find anyone! Hes on full livery so no chores either! I'm happy if people want to hunt and compete him, in facr I'd love it! He gets the best of everything so no worries about saddle fit etc. I've given it up as a bad job and just pay the yard to work him when I cant!

 

[EmmasMummy]

and there I am not even able to find someone to ride mine for free! Bombproof safe but forward cob, safe enough to put your granny on but not a plod, and I cant find anyone! Hes on full livery so no chores either! I'm happy if people want to hunt and compete him, in facr I'd love it! He gets the best of everything so no worries about saddle fit etc. I've given it up as a bad job and just pay the yard to work him when I cant!

I actually had that issue with the Sec a! When I say sharer its a relative of the yard who is the right age and ability for him so I get a discount on livery. But I had ads up and no one came forward! I think where I am folk have an issue with loaning!

 

[AutumnLeaf]

When I have been looking recently I have enquired on numerous ads (people quite often don't pop the price on). The responses I have had is that they are wanting £200-300pm for a horse with no/few chores and 2-3 days riding a week and no weekends. They've all had access to an arena (mainly outside) for free too. I think sometimes people have priced themselves outside of the market.
I'd have loved to help them and would have filled the gap until someone who could pay more came along too to help them out.

 

[serena2005]

I'm in London, I change £15 a day or £100 a month which ever works out cheaper, that also includes them doing all the yard duties for both my horses