Horse share - is this normal?

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Eccz8L3x

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Hi all, my riding school have offered me a third share of a horse at their yard. I'm not sure why it's a third share, is that to prevent me having equal ownership to them? I was expecting to pay towards the upkeep but they have asked for £1500 for the share plus £180 per month and a bit extra for farrier when needed. This includes a free lesson a week. Is this normal? Thoughts? Thanks all
 
I've never heard of a lump sum being exchanged at the start of a share. Would you actually be a part owner?

It's not a deal that I would consider.
 
This sounds very odd. Who looks after the horse, insures it, rides it... What access do you have to enjoy it vs the other 2/3rds of the ownership... It is just wrong. Either this is a loan.. No purchase price and you pay for livery etc, or a share covering some costs, again no purchase .. This is just too uncertain in my opinion.
 
Doesn't sound right. I know of yards that do shares/loans of their horses and it can be a very good way to ease into horse ownership but sounds like they want you to buy the horse and pay it's keep.
Locally you would pay about £40 per week for a part share at a riding school.
As above- what happens if you want out?
 
Likewise, have never heard of a lump sum being requested - what for? - the monthly payments sound quite standard, depending on how often you can ride.
 
s4sugar said:
sounds like they want you to buy the horse and pay it's keep.
Click to expand...

Yes, this! I've never heard of a share like this one before and it's definitely not one I would consider. You might as well be buying your own horse for that £1500 rather than have a third "share" in someone else's. Very strange.
 
Never heard of that before! I think that the cost per month is expensive assuming that the rest of the time he will be working and earning money in the riding school? For that amount you could keep your own horse somewhere on DIY.

If you are buying a third of the horse I imagine it might be tricky if either of you wanted to sell him.
 
They're trying to have you on!

For 1500 you could buy a nice allrounder at this time of year. Perhaps if you don't have the time for a horse 7 days a week then find someone to part loan your horse off you for a few days a week.

Unless the horse is an exceptional showjumper or something, steer clear!! Even then I'd be apprehensive.
 
The word sharing is used in a multitude of ways in relation to horses, but only in a few cases is the actual ownership shared. I would ask what is actually implied by this word sharing and then take care.

If you know and love a particular horse and a school is suggesting that you increase you involvement with that horse, then almost any such arrangement becomes an attractive proposition. It might also be a constructive school wanting to offer students an intermediate supervised sharing period to prepare them for leaving the school and sharing or owning a horse. But if a school is tying you in advance to their livery charge and their teacher to stop you shopping around, that is a different matter.
I am a riding school rider. I pay more than that to ride twice a week and, if this arrangement offers you two days access and insurance cover, to ride your favourite horse unsurpervised or hack solo, it might be worth exploring. The three person share suggests that each person will have two days a week.
My understanding is that there are strict legal regulations about what riding schools may or may not offer and that these affect sharing and hiring out a horse and whose insurance gives cover. I would be concerned about what you are being offered and how that affects your insurance and your status within the school.
I would also enquire about the work load of the horse throughout the week. Once you share a horse, you have a responsibility (I felt when I shared) for the welfare of the horse - depending on its age and health - assessing what it could or couldnt manage when I rode. And if there were other sharers that would seem a grey area to me.
 
This is a very expensive horse - total purchase price £4500, plus total monthly costs of £540. Are they also going to be using it in the school? Sounds like a nice little earner for them. I think you would be better to either get an ordinary loan pony/horse, and not at a riding school either, or even buy your own for that sort of money. However, my first pony was a half share - my parents and a friends parents bought a pony, and we had her for a week about, which worked well for a year. Then my friend outgrew the pony very quickly, so we bought them out, and she was all mine. I don't see that it would have worked with more than two owners though.
 
My jaw just dropped to the ground reading this! I have never heard of a share where you have to come up with a lump sum just to have access to the horse.

Shares are usually arrangements between the owner of the horse, who remains the owner, and another person who shares the horse on specified days and for specified tasks in exchange for either helping out with caring for the horse or for money.

If they are suggesting you buy 1/3 of the horse that is a very bad idea - why would you ever put yourself in such a position? All three owners would have to agree if the horse had to be moved, or have veterinary treatment, or be PTS, etc. and I could imagine there would be massive rows if one owner took more than her fair share of the horse's time.

They are taking the mickey, walk away and find another RS!
 
I really wouldn't be accepting that. All sorts of foreseeable problems and ridiculously expensive unless it's a Top show Jumper or dressage horse.

Lots of ways to share without paying out that sort of money with very little say in what goes on.
 
At my riding school it is £35 a week to 'loan' a horse, which includes a lesson and riding for 1 hour five days a week. You have to visit the horse at least four days a week and skip out/ muck out the stable, do hay nets, poo pick and clean tack. I don't have a loan horse, but the people who do say it works quite well, and it is very good having loan pony people helping with the stable jobs! They don't pay anything before, and no one else can use the horse. The horse is used in lessons and on days where the loan person can't ride, me or one of the other yard workers will exercise it.
 
I think it would be very difficult to sell-on your share when you want too end the agreement, You would probably end up losing the purchase money as the RS would find some reason to reduce the horse's value or veto any new buyer you introduced. Walk away, or if you really love the horse buy it outright.
 
What everyone else has said!

I think you would be better finding another share either privately, or with a different riding school. For the £180 a month round my way you could find a nice horse 2 or 3 days a week and have enough left over for a weekly half hour private lesson
 
I've never heard of that. I had a RS pony on share, 2 days a week for £95 a month. Never had to pay for any extras (eg lost shoes replaced).

Agree with Elsiecat- you could buy your own for £1800!

I wonder how many riding schools use horses in their lessons that are worth £5400 :o
 
Hi all,

Thanks for all the comments and feedback. I thought it would be polite to update you on what I decided to do.

I met with them and discussed in a lot of detail, and reviewed the contract for the arrangement. Essentially it's a 49%/51% split as she wants to retain control. The £1500 is fully repayable if I want 'out' at any point in time. I already pay £160 per month just in lessons. The £180 per month is for half the full livery cost - I work full time in the city and it's not realistic for me to commit to care during the week. Although this is for half the livery, it includes a free lesson a week, so is essentially only £20 more per month than what I pay now - but this gives me exclusive access to the horse at any time that I want. Like I said, it's all protected in the contract. On that basis, since the £1500 is refundable and it's only £20 a month more than I already pay - and I'm learning Western, and there are fewer western shares around - I decided to go ahead.

Thanks for your input.
 
But if the 1500 is refundable and they have 51% of the share meaning you can't make big decisions.....Well WHY do they need to charge the 1500 in the first place?!

Very confusing to me but happy that you are happy with the horse :)

ETA - just wanted to ask, how man lessons do you currently get for 160??
 
Thanks MasterBenedict - yes I agree it is unusual. I think the hope is that one day I might swap this share for a whole horse or part payment towards one and in that case they would keep the money... but as long as contractually I can get it back, then it doesn't bother me.

For the £160 I get a lesson a week, so 4 a month at £40 each time. Each lesson lasts an hour.
 
Good luck then OP - if you are happy with the arrangement then it seems immaterial if it is normal or not. I will be interested to hear how the refund goes later in the day when you are looking for your own horse or a slightly less draconian share agreement. ;)
 
As long as you are prepared that you may lose your £1500, just because the contract says you can have it back doesn't mean it will happen. which will then be either a long, exhausting court case that you may not have time to deal with or you just cut your loses. However that's horses for you, most have us have lost our money paid for a horse at some point for lots of reasons. I have also never heard of this type of share/loan and think it could go wrong whatever the contract says. Contracts do not mean people stick to them and it's hard to get people to pay up however great they seem to be now. If you're aware that that could happen then go ahead with it, you know the horse and are comfortable with it which is a great advantage when 1st having one of your own. The full livery fee is about right in my experience. Make sure you know the routine so they don't feed him just before you are about to arrive to ride etc
 
I am mistaken thinking that you are owning half a horse (well 49%) so you and the original owner will be splitting everything done to the horse in future 51%:49%?

Does this also mean that the livery/bedding/feed/farrier/vets/livery bills fall in to this arrangement or excluded from this.

I think calling this a horse share is incorrect which is why you got the reaction to your original post.

Is there something in the contract what the horse is currently valued at and if the value goes up or down, you are guaranteed your original money back? SO if values goes up, you loose but if values goes down, you win.
 
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It all sounds very strange. So you own nearly half a horse, yet pay practically all the livery costs (at £180/month)? And how can you possibly have access to a horse whenever you want if it is a riding school horse? Won't it be used in lessons still, so basically only available to you when not being used?

Sounds like they saw you coming.
 
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