how much do sharers pay?

[Snowberry]

We have found a sharer for Glen who wants to ride him 4 days a week (max) but how do we split the costs?
What do you expect to pay for as the owner? Do you share cost of farrier/dentist/vet/wormers/feed?
I want to get it all sorted before the loan starts to save any hassles - I have a copy of the BHS loan agreement for all the other stuff but I wanted to sort out money.
HELP??

 

[horsegirl]

I would divide up all the costs and split them based on the amount they are going to use the horse. Probably the owner would pay for the insurance though.

So if it all comes to £75 per week (example) and they are going to use the horse for 4 days a week £75/7*4 = £42.86 per week. Some people only ask for the feed to be paid or for a nominal sum, I suppose it depends how much you can afford?

 

[ihatework]

I think it depends on how much you are willing to let the sharer do with the horse.
If they have a fair amount of say in what they do and how horse is kept, are allowed to have lessons and compete then I would say halving the costs is fair.
If however you want to retain full control of the horse and have the final say in everything then I would say less than half.

 

[Vix1978]

There are no real hard and fast rules, but as a general rule of thumb, is someone is sharing 4 days pw I would want them to cover half the livery/feed/hay/bedding costs. I would also split the shoeing 50:50.
The owner generally covers the vets/worming/dentist costs (at least that is what I've seen).
At the end of the day it is about coming to a figure which is reasonable to both parties!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Few years since I shared, but I used to pay £25 per week and as horse was on DIY, I would also do the stable duties on my 3 days. £25 per week more than covered the DIY livery, but I didn't pay anything towards feed/bedding/hay/insurance or vets fees.

 

[Snowberry]

Glen is a kids pony, a genuine schoolmaster but is 23yrs old this year and needs a quieter life. We've qualified him for pretty much everything over the last couple of years and he has plenty left in him but I feel he deserves to take things a more gentle pace. There is a girl on the yard that can ride a bit but really just wants to hack out and have a pony to mess on with.
I was thinking of asking for a tenner a week as that covers his shoes - we wouldnt have him shod if they werent loaning him as we'd not ride over the winter etc..

I'm happy to continue to pay the insurance/wormers/dentist etc... but I want it all spelt out before the loan begins

 

[ihatework]

sounds more than fair, thats what I used to pay when i was younger and riding an old pony for someone

 

[katelarge]

I paid £100 a month when I shared. To be honest I don't think it's fair to ask for contributions to things like insurance, vets fees, worners or dentist. That's more involvement than most shares. It's quite hard to find good sharers so it would be a bad idea to ask too much in terms of financial contribution. For some of the figures quoted above the sharer could have their own horse on livery!

 

[the watcher]

I ask for £10 per week plus shoes and some help around the yard. I cover the balance of the livery, feed and all other costs. At the end of the day it is my horse after all and the sharer is helping me out by exercising the horse.

 

[Helga1980]

I suppose the arrangement I have could be called a share / partial loan. I pay for shoeing (he has to be shod every 4 weeks so works out at £69 a month) and ongoing items such as his breathing supplement, fly spray, hoof dressing etc.

Owner pays all livery charges, insurance, vet, bedding, feed, worming and all annual costs (saddler, dentist, back person). However I do all yard duties as she has a new baby so I think she's taken the view that covering those costs herself works out cheaper than full livery and easier than trying to balance a baby and DIY livery!

I don't really think there is any hard and fast guidelines to sharer 'charges', all depends on what works for you.

 

[airedale]

I pay the insurance and the annual jabs - to make absolutely sure that these get done without any arguments - and on time in the case of the jabs to avoid any competition hiccups in the future (even riding club insist on jabs on time )

after that I divide the livery fees, shoeing, tack/rug repairs, feed, whatever on a % basis according to the number of days in teh week - so your sharer would pay 4/7ths of the total costs.

If the horse becomes seriously ill and is unrideable - e.g. sprained tendon/colic surgery/whatever then as the owner of the horse I feel this is down to me and pay that - but I reserve the right whether or not to involve an insurance claim

if the damage is down to the sharer totally and this can be proven - I expect them to cough the vets bills - otherwise it's 4/7th to the sharer.

flyspray, shampoo, etc - we work it on an I buy one thing - you buy the next - so if I buy the fly spray then the next thing is wormers - they buy that - then I'll buy shampoo - whatever

I supply the tack as it's my horse. If they buy a numnah then they can use it and keep it for a horse of their own. If they lose any of my grooming kit they have to replace it with equivalent.

shows - we share and agree entries in different classes to suit interests/horse/availability.

training wise - if they want ot have pro lessons on the horse - fine by me - but I watch the trainer and have a clause that reserves the right to 'blacklist' the trainer if I think they are doing the wrong thing by the horse or 'damaging' it in any way - including pushing it beyond it's comfort/ability/physical strength. some trainers can get carried away and I don't want them wrecking a horse just to prove that they can jump it over 4ft

similarly I specify exactly and precisely in the loan agreement what and what NOT to do with the horse in regards to competition, flat work, jujmping, frequency of same, etc.

i.e. I don't like horses going round and round in circles or jumpjumpjump 5 times a week and never getting hacked or chilled out

the BHS loan agreement is a good starting point but add to it whatever you want and specify stuff up front (including 'simple' things like whether or not the horse is to be tied up and groomed outside or inside stable only, times to ride, places not to go, if their 'bestest friend ever' can or cannot ride the horse, etc) .

It's amazing what people can think of doing to your favourite horse - on a loan agreement just think of all the 'stupid' things you've ever seen people do with horses and make sure you've covered those bases in your agreement !!!!!

 

[vicm2509]

My best friend part loans my horse from me. We split the week equally. We do 3 days each then take it in turns to have a lesson on a Tuesday.

As we are best friends it quite easy, we both go to shows and share the classes out (I get first pick as its my horse).

I added up the cost of everything i.e feed, insurance, shoes, wormer, stable, turnout costs etc etc. Averaged it over the year and she pays half. That came out at £30 a week for her to pay.

All additional costs are my responsibility, for example vets bills or an extra farrier bill if he looses a shoe. During the summer I put her £30 aside to help with the winter costs.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

That sounds fair to me and similar to the 1st pony I shared many moons ago!! (who was also semi retired), were I just paid for the shoes.

 

[SarahRoads]

We have a great agreement, where we pay half of everything - except the insurance which the owner takes care of. It works out to approx £85 a month, plus the extras (shoeing, teeth, vacs as they occur), with no restrictions on how often we ride, and the owners do most of the stable work as they live very much closer to the yard than we do.

We are very lucky, the only other thing we have to take care of is rider only insurance.