How much for sharer to contribute-opinions please?

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pennyh

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Hi
I am looking to offer my horse on share (I'm reluctant to loan so I'd rather be paying part of the costs myself & be able to go along every week to see him/check he is OK, though I will have about a six month period when I won;t be able to ride) not something I have done before, I have a lady interested just not sure how much is reasonable to ask in terms of financial contribution.

So opinions please? how much per week, per day taken? etc

Further info:
16.3 warmblood
quality type with lovely movement
dressage background but not competed/ done much the past 12 months so needs polishing
capeable of advanced work with the right rider
full livery so no chores needed
yard has 60x20m floodlit arena, with only about 10 liveries using it
yard open til 9pm 7 days pw
nice countryside hacking from the yard
oppertunity to compete (& use my trailer if needed)
I will be paying all costs such as ins, vets fee's etc
sharer gets to pick their days (& i'm flexible, tbh she will pretty much have free rein for my 6 months out of action)

Any help much appreciated
 
How much does the livery cost per week?

Has the potential sharer volunteered how much she would be willing to pay?

Would you want it to be a 50:50 split of the costs or would you want the sharer to take over most of the costs as you will be out of action for 6 months?

What I am trying to ask is if it was sugested that she pay 20% of the costs of keeping a horse on full livery and pretty much having it full time as it all she could afford would you do it or would you feel a little bit sour? What would she have to pay to make you feel comfortable with the arrangement?

Would you be happy for the share arrangement to continue indefinately?
 
Hi,

Sounds like a lovely horse! In your position I think I'd be working out what the full livery costs me per day and then asking for that amount plus a contribution towards shoes if required. I'd also be doing it on the basis of a set number of days per week, payable in advance by however long your livery is paid up for (weekly or monthly usually) otherwise you'll find that sharer may not want to ride through bad weather and then won't expect to pay for horse despite (to my thinking anyway) sharing being a share in responsibility as well as everything else, the horse has to be paid for regardless of being ridden or not. At least this way you'll have a steady amount coming in, and then perhaps you can be a bit more flexible with extra days when you can't ride.

Also would suggest you have a contract and a month trial period before making anything permanent. I've had some lovely sharers for my horses but it can be hard to get the right one so I wish you luck in your search. :)
 
Thanks bikerchickone that's useful advice, a few good things for me to think about

Keimanp, in answer to yrs qu, no i wouldn't be happy for someone to have free rein with my horse & pay 20% of the costs unless they were a very capeable rider, to the extent that there would be a benefit to my horse/me in that he would have his schooling improved by the rider, for say 20% of the livery cost I think i'd pretty much rather not bother then at least I'm not risking my horse getting injured or something going wrong with the arrangement! I may as well just go with full loan in that case & then the loaner would be covering all the costs?

Part of me knows I should really sell him but I kinda can't bring myself to do it, I've had him almost 4 years & I looked for a good year before I found what I was looking for with him:-(
 
It depends on how much you need! When I have shared, I've paid for £10 a day (hence I only shared 1 day a week!) for one share arrangement where the horse was on DIY livery. Currently, I pay £60 every 7 weeks (for shoes) for my current one where I am able (theoretically) to ride 2-3 horses most days when home from uni, who all live out & are not at livery. A friend of mine shares her horse 2-3 days a week for £20/week, which I think is reasonable since the horse lives out in a rented field, needs minimal care and is only hacked.
I think it depends on how much your horse costs to keep, how much the sharer is able to do with your horse (i.e. would she be allowed to compete?), how much care the sharer needs to give (i.e. for your sharer absolute minimal chores would be involved as your horse is on full livery, which is a bonus for sharer) and if your horse has any problems/difficulties.
I think a 50% contribution towards a horse that isn't the sharer's own that they can't necessarily treat as their own (on the days that the sharer has him) and if they are only riding a day or two a week, is a lot - especially if, by the sounds of it, your horse is pretty expensive to keep. For example, if the sharer is willing to do any amount of chores then is it fair to expect them to pay for full livery? In which case, would your yard let you have a livery arrangement that takes this into account (i.e. full livery 4 days a week and DIY or part livery on the days that the sharer has your horse)?
 
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pennyh said:
Thanks bikerchickone that's useful advice, a few good things for me to think about

Keimanp, in answer to yrs qu, no i wouldn't be happy for someone to have free rein with my horse & pay 20% of the costs unless they were a very capeable rider, to the extent that there would be a benefit to my horse/me in that he would have his schooling improved by the rider, for say 20% of the livery cost I think i'd pretty much rather not bother then at least I'm not risking my horse getting injured or something going wrong with the arrangement! I may as well just go with full loan in that case & then the loaner would be covering all the costs?

Part of me knows I should really sell him but I kinda can't bring myself to do it, I've had him almost 4 years & I looked for a good year before I found what I was looking for with him:-(
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I wasn't trying to suggest that 20% would be acceptable, I was trying to guage what you wanted and what you would expect to be covered? At what point are you happy with the financial contribution? Would you just be wanting to contribute to the base livery and the sharer picking up bills for shoes etc? or would it be share all costs on the split you are happy with?
 
Average locally to me seems to be about £10-15 per day. Can be more if more advanced but can be free if owner just needs help, doesnt have enough time etc.
 
Thing is, if I were a sharer, I wouldn't just want to rock up and ride. I'd want to do all the care as well.

And if the horse cost, lets say £600 for the full livery, £60 for shoes a month. £8 contribution towards worming.... and I was expected to pay half that for 3 days a week riding - I personally wouldn't bother.

My own current full time ned costs less than that a month!!

That's just me though - plenty of people that are willing and keen.
 
Personally, I was loaning an ex-racer last year and had use of a welsh pony too. I paid £10 p/w. The owner sorted shoes/feed etc. I helped out as needed and did my fair share of poo picking etc they were in a filed with water,......that was it. No school, no stable, no lights, nothing. Very basic indeed. I enjoyed it, some half decent hacking. The next part loan I looked at was on a lovely livery yard only a 10min walk from my house with indoor and outdoor floodlite schools, brilliant private hacking all off road, nice stable block etc and she was asking £20 p/w, again, owner to sort farrier/vet bills/worming/feed. Only reason i didnt take this is because my mare then came on the scene so didnt need a part loan!
 
It would depend how much you want/need a share. if you don't have a share, you would have to pay someone to exercise your horse or he gets 6 months off. You say he hasn't done much for 12 months so if you did decide to sell, how much would he be worth compared to a similar horse but up to fitness and with recent competition history?

Again I think its a bit much to charge a sharer 50% of full livery + other costs.

Going rate round here is £10 per day.
 
SpruceRI said:
Thing is, if I were a sharer, I wouldn't just want to rock up and ride. I'd want to do all the care as well.

And if the horse cost, lets say £600 for the full livery, £60 for shoes a month. £8 contribution towards worming.... and I was expected to pay half that for 3 days a week riding - I personally wouldn't bother.

My own current full time ned costs less than that a month!!

That's just me though - plenty of people that are willing and keen.
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I agree :)
 
£10 per day is madness!!!! I would not part loan a horse for £10 per day! My horse costs me around £200 per month max, this includes diy livery, stable, use of school, feed etc etc I am thinking of part loaning my mare come summer once she is fully back in work (have been bringing her back from a 3 year break) and I was thinking of asking between £40-£50 per month. I dont need the money, I have the time to spend on her, but I think her having a differnet rider who may do different things is worth it. I wouldnt be looking for anything as much as 50/50. she is my horse and my responsibility, so I should pay more. It is something which needs careful thought and I wont jump in lightly, but I am not out for money, I am out for my horses best interests.
 
I pay an exact percentage of full livery charge, which equates to £200 a month for two days a week, plus exact share of shoes (£23). Expensive, but I'm in the near London stupid prices region of UK
 
My sharer paid the DIY livery of £30 a week. I paid everything else. She had no jobs to do and could ride whenever she wanted. She only ever did 2 days per week though.

For me it had to be a big enough contribution to make it worth while not doing it myself!
 
WHy not ask the woman what she is willing to pay? And work out what you can afford. That way you will get the competent loaner that you need. Good reliable loaners/sharers are like gold dust! The last thing you want is for her to say that she can't afford what you wish to charge her, then you are back to square one finding a loaner.

I recently had to find a sharer for my gelding due to pregnancy - our facilities are basic here so I couldn't charge too much, I advertised £20 a week just to cover stable rent- I really struggled! Couldn't find a competent adult at all who was willing to pay even a small amount. I ended up going for a sensible teenager who lives in the village. THankfully my horse is quite steady and schoolmasterly now so they just plod round the lanes - though I will have to reschool him in the summer. I am charging her £10 a week because she has all the stable chores to do and I would be stuck without her!
I know things are cheaper here up north but I used to pay £20 a week for 4-5 days to loan a schoolmistress mare on DIY with super facilities - arenas, xc, good hacking etc, chance to compete. The owner was glad to have someone competent and reliable.
 
Hello,

I school and ride a (potential :D ) dressage mare for a lady. Have been riding the mare for 5 months now and for the past 5 months have paid £140 a month for weekly lessons with my trainer to bring the horse on and have paid roughly £80 a month in petrol going over to ride the mare between 4-5 x a week (she's kept 26 miles from me!!)

The owner has a very bad back so basically cannot ride much anymore, my instructor still schools the mare once a week too so between me and my instructor she gets ridden 5-6 x a week for this lady.

She is also on full livery so no jobs, except for the weekends where I have been mucking out etc. I offered this straight up as I genuinely enjoy mucking out etc. Anyway, last month owner asked me if I wanted to become an 'official' sharer. I agreed and said I'd pay half the livery which would be £192 a month. That's fine as I basically have a free rein over mare. However, when I factored in my weekly lessons £35, £140 per month and petrol it was going to end up costing me nearly £400. I just couldn't afford it so said to the owner that if she wanted me to continue with the weekly lessons (she does) I could only afford to contribute £100 a month towards her livery. So that's what I pay, that and weekly lessons.

Had a lesson with me instructor on Sat as usual and she had ridden her the week before for the first time in about 6 weeks and she said she has come on so much, much more balanced in her transitions and is carrying herself more etc and said 'you must be working really hard with her' and I am. So although I may have a free rein almost and only pay a fraction of the costs, her horse is getting exercised and brought on. ETS (I am not a fantastic rider btw, just LOVE dressage and am pretty dedicated so get there slowly through hard work rather than natural talent ;) )

I should also add that I am allowed to compete also and owner takes me to shows.


With regards to cost, it’s difficult as the horse is obviously costing you a lot to keep. I think if you can get a good enough rider who may bring the horse on then I wouldn’t be asking a lot. However, if you get a rider that may not benefit the horse in terms of schooling etc then charge more. I think it’s right in that you should work out what the cost would be per day and then outline that to the potential sharer and ask that they pay this amount each day they ride.

But TBH you may still end up paying a lot for a horse that you’re not able to do anything with so I would consider finding a good rider who will bring your horse on and reach its full potential and full loaning out for a year. At the end of the day, if what you’re asking per month from a sharer is equal to the amount the sharer COULD have their own horse for then people won’t pay it.
 
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I dont know if this is of any help at all, I am currently 'part loaning' a horse, he's been out of work for a while as his owner hasnt had the time or money for her horses. As I still have my old mare Connie, i couldnt afford to take him on fully

however, we are on a DIY yard, I do ALL his jobs every day (muck out, water, hay, rugs, feeds etc etc) and turn both him and the owners other horse out every morning (including rugging both horses) - her son fetches them in. I have slowly brought him back into work. Our original agreement was that i would pay £25 a week for him - however due to the owners financial problems I am also paying half the feed (for both horses), and his farriery (his feet havent been seen regularly at all) - livery (stable/grazing/haylage & 1 bale of shavings a week is £31.50 at our yard)
 
I have a sharer for my Haflinger, she rides only weekends so only rides 1/2 a week sometimes not at all if she not about & she pays £100 & that pretty much covers his livery. I don't expect her to do any chores she literally comes & rides then goes. She has been with us for over 2yrs now :)
 
I paid £20 per week, potentially for unlimited days but I just did 3 days a week by agreement with the owner. He was on DIY, so, on my days I'd be responsible for going to yard and sorting him out as well as riding.
 
I used to pay (in 2007) £15 per week for 3 days for a happy hack, jumping cob. Plus I think shoes, or maybe every other set of shoes?

I was happy with this.
 
I used to charge £30 pw for 2 days and £40 for three days when I loaned out my horses. They were being kept at home on my livery yard and so there were no chores to do.

You will be very lucky to find a sharer who would be the type to be able to improve your horse. In my years sharing my horses I went through around 10 sharers (3 horses) and only one was equivalent or slightly more experienced rider than myself. I spent a lot of time giving them free lessons until I was happy they were to a standard where they could competently school my horses. Even then, I eventually gave up sharing as I didn't like the way it changed my horses' way of going.
 
I part loaned my horse last summer to 2 girls for £20 per week for 3 days of riding. I took them to competitions and there was minimal jobs to do (poo picking occasionally).

I am now about to embark on a new loan/share sort of agreement. I was looking for a sharer for my boy to be kept at my yard (no schooling facilities) but I have ended up agreeing to him being moved to a livery yard and I get to ride 1 day a week. My sharer/loaner pays for everything and I contribute a small amount for my 1 day a week. It is strange as I am the owner but i'm not loaning as such but it isn't really a share.

The best way is to work out a weekly cost for your horse and then divide it by the number of days you will allow (on a regular basis) for the sharer and see what you come up with. I think when you aren't riding for that 6 months you are going to have to either not have your horse ridden those days or relax the days for that temporary period but the sharer still pays the same as before. In effect they are doing you a favour.
 
ive thought about putting my boy on part loan at my yard when I have a baby in the future and I was thinking £80 a month, but i dont have a school or great hacking.
Id say a min of £100 a month for part livery on a yard with good facilities as a riding lesson is at least £25 a time now.
 
My sharer pays £25 week. She rides on three days, has no chores in the week as he's on part-livery but has to feed, hay and poo pick at the weekend.

She basically treats him as her own on those days, gets the chance to compete if she wishes etc.

I'm very flexible with days, she lets me know on a Monday which to week days she wants and on a Friday regarding the weekend.

We have an all weather floodlit arena and access to off road hacking.
 
I think it isn't cut and dry as presumably after six months you will be wanting to ride. A share in my area is a max four days roughly £10 per day.
 
Sorry should of said £100 to £150 per month where I live , regardless if horse in full livery etc, I think 50% is asking too much.
 
I loaned a horse for 3 years until summer 2011. He was vv similar to your horse and a bit of a schoolmaster. I paid £25 per week and half of all bills; shoes, worming, back, saddle fitting, teeth.

It was initially a half loan but i could ride any day of the week as his owner was bringing on a youngster and didnt have time for him.

It worked really well too! Had some brilliant times!
 
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