Horse sharing - Is it a good idea?

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Lucyboniface

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I am debating on whether or not to share my 15.1 Section D mare. It would be for her benefit more then mine as I do not have time to ride her as much as she or I would like. Does anyone have any views on it? Is it a good move? Thanks x
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I have shared my horse in the past,it was my TB mare(Sadly not with us!) and if you find the right rider and one that is committed.....,looks after your horse and it's belongings,then it is a benefit for both owner and horse,gives you time off and gives the horse more exercise,but it is the finding of the right person which is the tough bit....I never charged and asked for very little in return,I had to learn to grit my teeth if on the odd occasion I asked for my mare to be mucked out and it was not quite the way I did it,if tack was returned dirty,the list is endless...if and only if you can except that things won't quite be done the way you would necessarily do them,then go for it.....it was one of the best things I did in some ways and in others not!

I hasten to add I won't share my cob that I own now!
 
Now thats a tricky one. I had my own horse a few years ago and had a variety of sharers for her, currently I am sharing a horse due to finances and work. Personally I have good and bad experiences of when I had sharers for my horse, you need someone you can trust to treat the horse like their own and someone who knows what they are doing. I would also say that you need to understand that someone else will never do everything exactly the same as you no matter how hard they try so you need to be a little flexible, my horse went lame for good when a sharer was riding and that was something I had to live with.

Personally with the two horses I have shared in the last few years I try to consult the owners on everything and if in doubt I dont do it. Having had my own horse I understand how the owners feel and always bare that in mind but even so I did have a accident on one of them which scared both me and the owner a lot particulalry as he is a competition horse. Because of this I would consider what you want to do with your horse and whether you could cope if anything did happen when someone else was riding.

I know this is long but I think you need to be sure it is the right thing fror you. But I have to say I have a really good relationship with both owners and I hope they would say I am a good sharer and we all gained from the situation (money, time, excercise etc).
 
I had a sharer for my Welsh sec D a couple of years ago and she was fab! Loved him to bits and treated his tack etc as if she had bought it herself. It was only a short term share as she got a job in London and moved away. I had no problems at all although I did turn a few people away before I met her. The hard part for me was seeing someone else with my boy! The sun always seemed to shine for the perfect hack on her days...lol. Personally I wouldn't do it again, but if you find the right one give it a try.
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If you can find the right person it can be really good cos it means you can share the enjoyment, time and expense. You've got to be confident the rider is good enough and will not allow your horse to pick up bad habits. I would say you need a rider who is either at your level or better and someone who is happy to look after your horse the way you want them to. Good luck finding someone.
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I have toyed with the idea but I couldn't be unselfish enough. I want to be able to ride my horse both days at the weekend and whenever I want during my holidays or in the summer. I work very hard to be able to afford my horse and I wouldn't like the idea that I couldn't ride her whenever I wanted because it was my sharer's day. That said I will be looking for one if I decide to try for a baby because I want D to be ridden while I am pregnant but that would be different because it wouldn't be a time when I would want to ride anyway. I suppose it depends on your circumstances
 
Sharing has its good points and bad points. If your circumstances demand that you need a sharer and you find the right person for your horse who listens to what you want etc, then it can be a really good thing, but on the other hand if the person has no experience and is prone to saying they can't do certain days with next to no notice I would be fuming! I couldn't have a sharer for my mare, she is very one person orientated, and I would just start being very nit picky about how things are done!!
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Thaks everyone for your advice. It would mainly be for her benefit she is looking fed up and a bit bored, I could never sell her she has had to much of a tough time before I had her just trying to look for a good solution! xx
 
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