How essential is it to share before buying your first horse?

[jkitten]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply! I feel better about the situation now. I am continuing to keep an eye out for potentially suitable shares coming up (you never know, and after all I only need one!), but I won't worry too much if it doesn't happen.

For me, what was most helpful was finding a sympathetic livery yard owner. I basically turned up and said “I want to buy a horse and keep it here but I don’t know where to start”. I was able to help out and handle horses, plus have lessons on their horses before making the step to buying my own. I had tried riding in riding schools but you only got the time you paid for on the horse and I didn’t fit in with clique of teenagers and children that helped around the place. I tried a share - 3 in fact the first one the owner sold the horse and I wasn’t in a position to buy, the second one kept putting the monthly cost up and the third I thought was great to begin with but after the share put me in hospital for the nth time I decided enough was enough (it was only later I found out that yard staff refused to ride it and the owner would only hack in draw reins). A bit unconventional I know but it certainly worked out for me. You could try joining your local riding club and asking for pointers/offering help there

TBH this is pretty much what I'm doing! I took two or three lessons to make sure riding is still something which makes me happy (it is!!), then discussed my plans for ownership within a year or two. Everyone has been supportive, and the yard owner (who is extremely experienced but isn't there day to day) has made it a point to come over and talk to me about my ambitions. Since then I have been volunteering weekly.

I know what you mean about the pony club crowd, but I'm lucky in that I stumbled into a riding school which is definitely a cut above the average, both in terms of instruction and horse care (it just happened to be the nearest one to me!). It's also a really nice, pleasant atmosphere. On the days when I'm there, it's almost all adults, with one or two level-headed teens looking after their own horses.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

I find the human element of sharing/loaning incredibly stressful (more stressful than just looking after my own pony!) But there is far more financial risk in owning your own.

If you buy a nice enough horse that's just not suitable for you, then you'll probably be able to sell it on, maybe for a bit of a loss.

But if you end up buying something that's really not right full stop (behavioural issues, or physical issues, either very vague and never quite fixing, or very specific and not fixable) then you have to be prepared that you might end up having to make the decision to pts.

And actually the hardest situation is if you have a horse that won't come sound ridden, but which is perfectly comfortable in the field, in which case you have to choose between pts a happy comfortable horse, or paying out indefinitely for a very expensive pet, and having no extra money to ride something else.

So basically, horses are deceptively cheap to buy, and even "everything going right" costs of keeping can seem reasonable, but you have to think very seriously about all the different worst case and scenarios.