Kirstineridesagain
Active Member
My daughters have been sharing some ponies for over two years. The eldest is growing out of the biggest one (it's quite tiny and my daughter is 11). But that isn't the issue, really, as she can probably ride it for another year.
The main issue is how we are treated by the owners. We pay every single week, year round, despite us being away for every single school holiday. That just means that every ride is quite expensive. We pay 45 pounds per week for the two ponies to take them on a hack, groom them, and do 30 minutes of poo picking. We also pay for part of the shoeing. We have a slot, but frequently we get asked to change it as the owners want to go to events with the ponies, have friends who want to ride etc. There are also plenty of other sharers, some even on the same day, and we get asked to be back at a certain time, not to go out for too long etc. If there is an issue with a pony I am always told it's our fault. "Anna must be a nervous rider, I've never seen Seabiscuit do that with us." That sort of attitude. Last year we kept being promised the opportunity to go on a beach ride, but I realised it would never happen after a while. This week they cancelled our slot because of their own commmitments - when I asked if she could find us another slot, she replied that the share isn't about just riding, it's sharing the ponies. Well, my kids don't want to come to just groom and poo pick.
The tack is also not optimal. It takes me so long to saddle up as the girths are too short. All in all, I'm becoming a bit fed up. The reason we have kept going is that the ponies are generally lovely and my children have been enjoying it. But I could spend some money on lessons and get their skills upgraded instead. I just worry that the children will miss the ponies, and for my youngest, it's a really good match still size wise. I guess I am realising we're just one of many sharers and even though I'm friendly with the owners and have done them many favours (don't want to be too specific) I just feel like they are taking the piss sometimes. We bought a full set of showing gear, for example, as a couple of years ago my children were allowed to go to a show with them and do some classes. The owners reassured us we would be able to use the clothes plenty of times, but they've invited other people along the other times and my children have outgrown their gear now.
The solution to all this would of course to get our own ponies, but financially we can't right now.
How much is normal to pay for a pony share once a week? Is it really fair to keep paying whether we can ride every week, either due to circumstances on their part (injuries, owners' using the ponies) or us being away? We also lose a fair amount of rides due to the weather. I think the owners have been quite clever in their setup, as they make about seven or eight thousand pounds per year on this (based on my own calculations) and can dictate exactly when people can ride.
By contrast, someone we know who has a similar share just pays ten pounds every time she rides, and can choose when that is. When she's unable to ride she pays nothing. And as for me, I don't pay to ride at all, I exercise someone's horses and they're very happy that their horses get ridden. I guess this just makes me question the arrangement I have for my daughters... (having said that, I think it's reasonable to pay for a share, I know it's expensive to keep horses!).
We're in the southeast, I don't know if that makes a difference to how things work.
The main issue is how we are treated by the owners. We pay every single week, year round, despite us being away for every single school holiday. That just means that every ride is quite expensive. We pay 45 pounds per week for the two ponies to take them on a hack, groom them, and do 30 minutes of poo picking. We also pay for part of the shoeing. We have a slot, but frequently we get asked to change it as the owners want to go to events with the ponies, have friends who want to ride etc. There are also plenty of other sharers, some even on the same day, and we get asked to be back at a certain time, not to go out for too long etc. If there is an issue with a pony I am always told it's our fault. "Anna must be a nervous rider, I've never seen Seabiscuit do that with us." That sort of attitude. Last year we kept being promised the opportunity to go on a beach ride, but I realised it would never happen after a while. This week they cancelled our slot because of their own commmitments - when I asked if she could find us another slot, she replied that the share isn't about just riding, it's sharing the ponies. Well, my kids don't want to come to just groom and poo pick.
The tack is also not optimal. It takes me so long to saddle up as the girths are too short. All in all, I'm becoming a bit fed up. The reason we have kept going is that the ponies are generally lovely and my children have been enjoying it. But I could spend some money on lessons and get their skills upgraded instead. I just worry that the children will miss the ponies, and for my youngest, it's a really good match still size wise. I guess I am realising we're just one of many sharers and even though I'm friendly with the owners and have done them many favours (don't want to be too specific) I just feel like they are taking the piss sometimes. We bought a full set of showing gear, for example, as a couple of years ago my children were allowed to go to a show with them and do some classes. The owners reassured us we would be able to use the clothes plenty of times, but they've invited other people along the other times and my children have outgrown their gear now.
The solution to all this would of course to get our own ponies, but financially we can't right now.
How much is normal to pay for a pony share once a week? Is it really fair to keep paying whether we can ride every week, either due to circumstances on their part (injuries, owners' using the ponies) or us being away? We also lose a fair amount of rides due to the weather. I think the owners have been quite clever in their setup, as they make about seven or eight thousand pounds per year on this (based on my own calculations) and can dictate exactly when people can ride.
By contrast, someone we know who has a similar share just pays ten pounds every time she rides, and can choose when that is. When she's unable to ride she pays nothing. And as for me, I don't pay to ride at all, I exercise someone's horses and they're very happy that their horses get ridden. I guess this just makes me question the arrangement I have for my daughters... (having said that, I think it's reasonable to pay for a share, I know it's expensive to keep horses!).
We're in the southeast, I don't know if that makes a difference to how things work.
