How do you find a good sharer?

[Caol Ila]

Why not put something on the notice board at Weipers? New vet students are arriving and some of them may have had to leave their horses at home?

Good idea.

Could you ride Fin and find a sharer for your other horse?

My other one is 5, has only been backed since December, and we (me) are making an attempt at learning vaquero riding in the Western hackamore. I mean, if I could find someone who knew what they are doing with that piece of equipment, sure. I reckon my chances at winning the Euro millions are better.

 

[SDMabel]

I posted on facebook - quirky cob (made this very clear) and after going through the usual ' my little Timmy has just learnt rising trot and would love a pony of his own to share' and advising little Timmy would spend a lot of time in A & E , I found a vet student.

She couldn't afford/have the time for her own with her studies and it suited us both.

 

[HorseMaid]

I have a lovely lady that comes every Tuesday to take my mare out - found her when she came to buy my friend's tent/camping equipment and they got chatting, got told by friend "I've found you a rider!". Other people in the past have been hit and miss, I've found the worst thing is them consistently over estimating their riding abilities.

 

[SEL]

Good idea.



My other one is 5, has only been backed since December, and we (me) are making an attempt at learning vaquero riding in the Western hackamore. I mean, if I could find someone who knew what they are doing with that piece of equipment, sure. I reckon my chances at winning the Euro millions are better.

There's an evil streak in me somewhere because I would love to see responses to that advert! If you aren't looking for payment then you can find some very good but skint riders amongst students (I was one once too many years ago).

Worth mentioning to freelance instructors too. I got a ride when mine was lame by word of mouth that way.

 

[Orangehorse]

I was looking for a horse to ride, but I thought carefully and decided I didn't want to go for a share horse. It is a huge commitment. You have promised to turn up so many times a week and be responsible for someone else's horse. When I was riding my own it didn't matter if he was ridden twice a week or twice a month, it was for me to decide and if other things got in the way he just had to fit in.

It is hard to find someone good as they would probably be looking for something more than a bit of hacking. You might find someone older who is an experienced rider but doesn't want anything too exciting, or someone with small children who wants to keep riding.

 

[Annagain]

Word of mouth has always worked really well for me - the vast majority of mine (I've had a few over the last 20 years. All except one have worked well and ended for entirely valid reasons - moving away / babies / retiring horses) have been friends of friends. Tell every horsey person you know - or even non-horsey ones, one of my sharers did yoga with my non-horsey mum! - that you're looking and what sort of person you're after. If you do a search for my names and sharer, I've posted before about how to be good sharer /sharee as I've done it from both sides and have made successes of both.

The one that didn't work out (she never started to share, just came to see him) was from Facebook and she was delusional about her riding ability and how she was going to get to the yard without a car (bus and and then a 1 mile walk along an unlit, 60mph, busy country lane) I just knew she'd flake on me the second it rained / she had to get him in in the dark. She couldn't stop him at all in the school and turned him at the (1m ish) fence to stop him. He did but until that last second I wasn't convinced he would. She didn't think this was a problem at all and really wanted to share him!

 

[Goldie's mum]

You maybe could "head-hunt" one!
Looked at from the other point of view, I'm a sharer. I took one that wasn't what I was really looking for but was all I could find at the time & was on a big, busy yard. Someone else who saw me riding offered me a better deal that suits me.

 

[Caol Ila]

I semi-head hunted one and she tried him out yesterday. She shares another horse at the yard, who is not easy, and lost another share, who was easy, due to it being sold. I know she's a competent rider, but she admitted to not having any dressage background. Not that that should be a dealbreaker. She tried him in the school and did not find him straightforward. But with some guidance from me, she managed to get him going okay.

When you're used to riding green horses (I've forgotten what schoolmasters feel like), you make so many little corrections that you're not even aware of it. You ride like Buck Brannaman (I think) says. Stopping the thing that's about to happen from happening. Riders who are accustomed to horses who just go are not accustomed to that. @chaps89 has ridden him and did not seem to find him terribly difficult.