How to make myself more appealing as a part loaner

Identityincrisis said:
If I was loaning my horse and he wasn't a highly strung Arab and a more sensible sort, I may advertise no novices as I wouldn't want joy riding teens who just want to rag them around. I would be much more open to a grown adult who maybe isn't owner standard but is ultimately sensible and trust worthy. I would certainly not be offended if you rang and were completely honest but said you are sensible etc

Ooooo I'm also North East - Durham - so let us know where you are and we may be able to help :)
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I'm very north Durham 🙂
 
Gropony said:
If I was looking for a sharer for a sensible horse (so someone like you) what would interest me is:

- are you confortable in walk, trot, canter both in the arena and on hacks
- have you experience of hacking alone
- are you willing to have lessons regularly
- do you have experience in basic horse care/able to recognise when there is an issue that needs attentiion
- are you independant enough to arrive, catch the horse, tack up, make sure everything is secure after and look after my stuff
- what interests you, why you want to share a horse (I would be wary of people who say they want to build a bond without having any other aim in mnid, even to do something they are currently not capable of doing)

I wouldn't be expecting you to train my horse, just to be competent enough to not teach bad habits and to enjoy time with them. So just be wary if it seems that the person is asking you to do too much. And make sure you have a written agreement of who is responsible for what, what days/times you can come, who pays in the event of injury to the horse or damage caused by you or the horse (with mine it is always me unless the sharer did something irresponsible then they pay half, and my sharer has insurance for third parties and themselves in case of accident).

I think people put no novices because they are inundated with people that once went on pony club camp when they were nine and have no idea of what it really takes to ride all through a winter, and tend to drop out fairly quickly.
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This is great advice thank you!

The box I can't tick is the hacking alone box unfortunately. I've walked them out alone at the yard I help out at, but in hand not ridden.

Your point about being wary of someone saying they want to create a bond and nothing else is interesting, may I ask why that is?

This thread has definitely given me more of an appreciation of how hard it is from an owners perspective and the absolute minefield it must be trying to find someone honest, sensible and reliable!
 
JFTDWS said:
Which is precisely what would've made you unappealing as a sharer to many horse owners at that point.
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Not so. I may not be a star rider, but I am known as a good sharer. I am an elderly weekday rider. I have always been on time, paid the same day, ridden regardless of weather, and untacked and returned the horse to her stable.
Sanversera said:
Sorry if my reply goes a bit off topic but I strongly feel that people need to accept that horses and ponies are big potentially dangerous animals that can kick bite push people over and stand on toes.
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I agree. That is why I didnt ride till our kids had grown up and left for uni. I was 61.
 
peacheswillow said:
This is great advice thank you!

The box I can't tick is the hacking alone box unfortunately. I've walked them out alone at the yard I help out at, but in hand not ridden.

Your point about being wary of someone saying they want to create a bond and nothing else is interesting, may I ask why that is?

This thread has definitely given me more of an appreciation of how hard it is from an owners perspective and the absolute minefield it must be trying to find someone honest, sensible and reliable!
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For the bond, it would depend, but I would want to be sure that the person was going to enforce boundaries and also understood that the videos you see of people working with horses at liberty and riding tackless etc with an amazing connection to the horse come from hard work and consistent handling, in all seasons. And that a bond is created over time by being a confident partner to the horse. I would just like to be sure the person doesn't just expect the horse to love them instantly, and that even if it does, there will still be days when it tells you to "talk to the hand!"
 
Skib said:
Not so. I may not be a star rider, but I am known as a good sharer. I am an elderly weekday rider. I have always been on time, paid the same day, ridden regardless of weather, and untacked and returned the horse to her stable.
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You may think that, but as a horse owner, I wouldn't have had any time for a rider who couldn't put a bridle on a horse. It's nice that you have so much confidence in your qualities, but most owners looking for sharers are really not looking to babysit someone without basic skills.
 
I 33rd write your own advert. I would offer to send a video of you riding (try get a good few minutes of walk, trot, canter, maybe in an open space)

Shame you’re not near me, a lot of folks here in Brum would rip your arm off for the pure fact that you’re an adult!!

I think part loaning/loaning is tricky. I considered it before selling my Suffolk, but decided I would need a clean break realistically as I’m rather precious about how they are handled/ridden etc.

For me though ground skills would be much more important then ridden as he was an angel under saddle but could be a strong on the floor. It is much harder as an adult to gain that floor time I think. Is there an RDA or therapy program near you that may love an adult volunteer? A) it may get you more in with different horsey folks and more likely to find a word of mouth share (b) you’ll be getting a bit of a horsey fix and learning more skills and (c) queen of wishful thinking you may just meet the share of your dreams there! Sorry if you’ve already mentioned doing this or the like but just an idea! Another idea may be to contact a competition venue and ask if they need dressage writers etc, just another little networking idea that gets you out and talking to people you may not normally come across… then when people ask about your horse you can mention you’re situation and someone might just pop up with an ideal friend of a friend??
 
Gropony said:
For the bond, it would depend, but I would want to be sure that the person was going to enforce boundaries and also understood that the videos you see of people working with horses at liberty and riding tackless etc with an amazing connection to the horse come from hard work and consistent handling, in all seasons. And that a bond is created over time by being a confident partner to the horse. I would just like to be sure the person doesn't just expect the horse to love them instantly, and that even if it does, there will still be days when it tells you to "talk to the hand!"
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Thanks for explaining. That makes perfect sense 👍🏼
 
4Hoofed said:
I 33rd write your own advert. I would offer to send a video of you riding (try get a good few minutes of walk, trot, canter, maybe in an open space)

Shame you’re not near me, a lot of folks here in Brum would rip your arm off for the pure fact that you’re an adult!!

I think part loaning/loaning is tricky. I considered it before selling my Suffolk, but decided I would need a clean break realistically as I’m rather precious about how they are handled/ridden etc.

For me though ground skills would be much more important then ridden as he was an angel under saddle but could be a strong on the floor. It is much harder as an adult to gain that floor time I think. Is there an RDA or therapy program near you that may love an adult volunteer? A) it may get you more in with different horsey folks and more likely to find a word of mouth share (b) you’ll be getting a bit of a horsey fix and learning more skills and (c) queen of wishful thinking you may just meet the share of your dreams there! Sorry if you’ve already mentioned doing this or the like but just an idea! Another idea may be to contact a competition venue and ask if they need dressage writers etc, just another little networking idea that gets you out and talking to people you may not normally come across… then when people ask about your horse you can mention you’re situation and someone might just pop up with an ideal friend of a friend??
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Aww I rode a Suffolk punch once and he was magnificent 😍

All great advice thank you re the networking rather than Facebook (which sounds a bit of a nightmare for owners!).
 
JFTDWS said:
You may think that, but as a horse owner, I wouldn't have had any time for a rider who couldn't put a bridle on a horse. It's nice that you have so much confidence in your qualities, but most owners looking for sharers are really not looking to babysit someone without basic skills.
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To be fair .. it wouldn’t take very long to teach someone to bridle a nice normal horse … maybe 2 half hour lessons at the very most to teach it from scratch ..

Solo hacking though .. that’s a whole other ball game these days , there’s so much traffic on the roads where I am and endless “training opportunities “ like barking dogs and bin wagons and huge groups of walkers and prams, children and cyclists … and horses galloping up and down the hedge line as you are walking past . You need to have experienced and managed all of this and mastered all the physical skills like gate opening and getting through narrow spaces without getting your stirrup iron stuck or your knee squashed … most horse owners would want to check you could do all this before letting you loose on your own with the precious cargo ..
 
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