Irresponsible ownership?! Or am I being grumpy?!

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horsesatemymoney

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Ok, before I get jumped on- I'm not saying that you need a huge pot of £ to care for a horse well, that there's anything wrong with sharing or even buying with a friend. But on one of those facebook groups, I saw this...what would happen if the other party gave up? If they fell out?! :

'Am looking for someone to buy a horse with me... I would be looking for half the up keep on a him and shared duties etc... The cost of the horse is not the problem it is the up keep.. The horse would be at Heighington and he is about 15h 2 . Any one interested please let me know as i cannot afford this horse alone due to having 1 already'

:confused: Maybe I'm a grump. I can't see how this is a good idea (and, none of my business really, but I've never seen anything like this before and wanted opinions on if anybody has ever done it/ or if I'm getting more intoleratnt in my old age!):rolleyes:
 
I guess thhe difference is a sharer normally pays c.£20 ish a week (which IMHO is no where near half the full upkeep cost of a 15.2 in ridden work on a livery yard) and sharers come and go and most people can live without them (often it's exercise not cash that people want sharers for)
In this case what is the back up plan if the other half of this partnership decides to move on?
 
Tbh, it sounds fraught with problems, at least with a share, one person has overall responsibility.

In this situation who would make the decisions? What if the horse was injured and one wanted expensive treatment, which the other thought unnecessary, or they want different feeding regimes, different farriers... the possible conflicts must be endless...
 
Polos Mum said:
I guess thhe difference is a sharer normally pays c.£20 ish a week (which IMHO is no where near half the full upkeep cost of a 15.2 in ridden work on a livery yard) and sharers come and go and most people can live without them (often it's exercise not cash that people want sharers for)
In this case what is the back up plan if the other half of this partnership decides to move on?
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I've just never heard of it- I was reading and thinking ok, obviously really want their own horse, but then read they already have one- so must know the costs involved. Just seems like the poor horse will end up not having what it should if the other party moves on and, like you say, sharers usually come about if the person begins to struggle for £ or time, ownership doesn't usually start out with that problem?! odd..
 
Polos Mum said:
I guess thhe difference is a sharer normally pays c.£20 ish a week (which IMHO is no where near half the full upkeep cost of a 15.2 in ridden work on a livery yard) and sharers come and go and most people can live without them (often it's exercise not cash that people want sharers for)
In this case what is the back up plan if the other half of this partnership decides to move on?
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cappucino said:
Tbh, it sounds fraught with problems, at least with a share, one person has overall responsibility.

In this situation who would make the decisions? What if the horse was injured and one wanted expensive treatment, which the other thought unnecessary, or they want different feeding regimes, different farriers... the possible conflicts must be endless...
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What if somebody causes the accident, or is riding at the time- will the other pay, or say that's it, you were riding, you pay...I've just never seen anything like this and was wondering if it was just me who thought bad idea!
 
piebaldsparkle said:
Not so different from having a sharer as far as I can see.....
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There's a big difference between having a sharer because your circumstances changed, or because it's a bit of extra cash, and taking on a horse in the certain knowledge that you cannot afford it from the outset. If you take on any animal, it should be when you can afford to do what's right by it. Anything else is very irresponsible IMO. In my experience shares tend to be fairly informal things that come and go. Horses rely on their owners for everything - if you aren't in a position to provide, don't have one because the horse will always be the one to pay the price.
 
Oh, perhaps just someone who's not thought through the details yet then, maybe if they find someone and get to contract drafting stage she'll realise that there is a lot that could go wrong and she'd be left picking up the pieces.
 
That sounds like an utter disaster waiting to happen...

I think you can easily be in the situation where you can afford the upkeep but not the initial cost of buying a horse (we have 3 horses, and can afford for all 3 to be kept like kings, but could not afford to buy a horse IYSWIM...) though without it being an issue.
 
Lolo said:
That sounds like an utter disaster waiting to happen...

I think you can easily be in the situation where you can afford the upkeep but not the initial cost of buying a horse (we have 3 horses, and can afford for all 3 to be kept like kings, but could not afford to buy a horse IYSWIM...) though without it being an issue.
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Maybe better to look for a part loan herself and use the £ for that!
 
I've shared ownership of two horses in my time and in all honesty both were total disasters! One was with a friend I'd taught to ride years ago and all was fine until the horse had to be pts and she wouldn't agree, dragged things on for weeks saying she couldn't do it until I went ahead and booked the hunt without her. She's never forgiven me, but we had 3 vets agree there was nothing to be done and the horse was rapidly going downhill, it was severe cushings and the horse could barely move. Really heartbreaking.

The second time a not so good friend talked me into taking on an old ex riding school horse with her because she loved the mare and wanted to help her. So we took the horse on, I ended up paying most of the bills with her owing me :rolleyes: and when eventually I asked her to pay up I got called every name under the sun and mine and oh's car choices questioned because we 'wouldn't be struggling to pay for her if we didn't have gas guzzling cars' needless to say I eventually saw the light and walked away from this one. Cost me a fortune in time and labour and eventually the original riding school owner claimed the mare back saying she was never sold to us in the first place!

I won't ever share ownership again!
 
I knew 2 ladies who owned horses together for years. It seemed to work well for them, but I couldn't do it. Seems strange in this instance, as she already has one!
 
Wasn't there a thread on here a while ago about a livery yard owner selling half a horse to a livery but retaining use but it all went wrong with them disagreeing about vet costs.
 
I've seen this before with 2 women loaning a horse from a third woman.
It did not work and a. the horse was lame and b. the horse wasn't suitable for either woman's weight.
There was arguing over who was paying what and who was looking after the horse on which day, and who got to ride when. (Should have been sorted out beforehand IMO) and there was no contract amongst any of them.

Horse eventually went back to owner.
 
I've heard of these before quite frequently and have yet to hear of one failing within my group of horsey friends :o (albeit, in all the shared horse situations I've known, the owners have already been friends for a while).
 
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