Loaning Questions

[PreciousSnowstorm]

Hello,
I'm a teenager in Britain and I have recently been thinking about loaning, since I know that it's 100% impossible for me to actually buy a horse at current time, so I was debating this with myself, and since I haven't ever loaned a horse before, I have a few questions:

1) What different types of loaning are there? And what are the details of these types?
2) How much (on average) does it cost?
3) When you loan, are you able to keep the horse at the owner's yard or is it compulsory for the loaner to have a yard?

And I was also thinking about asking to /possibly/ loan a horse from my stables so..
4) Any suggestions on how to approach the owner of the stables and bring up loaning one of the horses?
5) How to ask my parents?

So, a bit of background:
I have been riding for six, almost seven, years and I'd say that I'm a novice. I can walk, trot and I'm learning to canter. I've dealt with some more "difficult" horses. However, my care management needs some work. I tend to go on hacks a lot and I occasionally have lessons.
I can saddle a horse (not too good at bridling), I can groom horses and lead horses.
I would probably be able to spend two/three hours Monday-Friday with the horse and four/five hours at the weekends (maybe more, depends).

The next few years will be quite important education-wise, and I feel that this year and early next year will be the only times I have left to fully compensate to horses, before I go to college/university and move on with my life. I just feel like my time is being stolen, and I realized that if I don't do something in the near future, I won't have much experience and nor will I have much time.

I honestly have zero experience with loaning, and I just feel like my riding is cruising along at the moment, without going anywhere, and since I can't buy a horse, loaning is the second best option.
Any advice is greatly appreciated

P.S.
I'm just thinking about it at current time. Nothing is set in stone - I haven't even mentioned it to my parents yet. And no, they probably won't have to pay for it, depending on the actual price (I save my money). Also, the times will be adjustable and I'm currently just looking for answers to my questions, so that I can think about it a bit more and decide whether it is what I want.

Thanks so much xx

 

[{123756}]

Welcome to the world of loaning - ive been apart of it for a few years and have only recently actually bought my own.

Theres two main types of loans
a)Part/share - this is where you essentially 'borrow' someones horse for a set number of days and usually would make a small contribution depending on the amount of days or work your'e doing with the horse.
b)Full loan - This sort of loan is where youre taking on the responsibility of a horse, essentially keeping it as youre own without being the registered owner. This type of loan would be the same as having youre own in terms of care and most full loans i know of you would take the horse to your own yard or stables and the owner would have minimal contribution unless stated otherwise.

The costs very drastically depending where you are but i would say the average for a part loan would be £10 per day but I had part loans that were free, £5pd or ive seen some as expensive as £15 a day. A full loan as stated above you would be paying for all costs of the horse unless agreed otherwise with the owner.
Part loans are usually kept on the yard of the owners choosing and the loanee would have little to say in this however a full loan can be either way. Any full loan ive had I made it clear I wanted the horse in at my yard but i know of a lot of owners that wouldn't trust this and thus would want to keep the horse at there yard where the horse is in the supervision of wither themselves or people that they trust.

If youre thinking about asking your yard owner just be honest and simply ask 'If you have and horses or hear of anything that i might be able to loan, let me know as this is something im very interested in'
Again with your parents, just be honest. Maybe have a plan as to how you would get yourself there and back without there help to show youre responsible enough to do it on your own.

I honestly think loaning is a great experience and if you can do it then you should. Youll need to find a safe horse just to get youre experience up on ground and ridden but theres lots about at the moment so worth having a look at whats around you at least!

Good luck!!

 

[chestnut cob]

To be honest, and not meaning to be discouraging, but if you are just learning to canter and struggle to bridle a horse correctly, I'd say you would be better to do some stable management courses at your riding school. Generally if someone part loans a horse, they don't want to have to be at the yard each time with the loaner to show them how to do things. If you full loan then you take on full, complete responsibility for it which means all jobs, care, riding & costs. I think you need to budget £300 per month at least for a horse. If I totted up mine I'd say it's around the £550 mark.

Lots of riding schools offer stable management courses so ask about those. Yours might also do loan a pony days which are brilliant for getting to spend more time with horses while having your instructor there. I'd try a few days like that.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Oh bless you, you remind me of me when I was younger.

In your shoes I would speak to the yard owner and see if you can help out at weekends in exchange for rides or see if you can help out at a local RDA. That way you can get hands on time and learn whilst still having time in the saddle.

You could also try offering poo picking services in exchange for an owner taking you under their wing a bit. Perhaps put an ad up in your local tack shop or try Facebook.

 

[11bluewolf]

Go for it! Do not be put of by not being that experienced as we all have to start somewhere and you'll never learn if you don't try!
I would recommend a 'share' so you are not responsible for the horse all the time but can still have some freedom. Also I would make sure that you have someone who can teach you and help manage the horse, perhaps a yard owner or friend.

 

[Amye]

Hannah covered most of it tbh.

I would also recommend a share/part loan, with your experience I don't think a full loan would be the right thing for you. A full loan you're completely responsible for the horse (and the cost!!) and some owners have minimal input so you'll basically be on your own.

A share could work for you, you would be responsible for a couple of days a week and pay for the days you look after the horse. You may need to spend some time with the owner to get your groundwork up to scratch. Some owners want someone who will just take over for their days and not bother them, but you'll need to find someone supportive who will help you incase you have any questions or have a problem. Or if the owner isn't around much, make sure you have someone to ask.

I did a couple of stable management things at my riding school at first, then part loaned and it was great. Looked after the horse a couple of days a week, me and the owner had a really good relationship and I could ask her any questions if I was going to do something new with the horse and didn't know what he'd be like. She took me to XC course and when we were both free we'd do some jumping together. She was around the first few times I went up to the horse to make sure that everything was OK and I could handle him (he was a strong willed TB) and then was left to my own devices. But I knew that I could always ask her if I was unsure what rug to put on or something !!

If you could get some experience doing stable management first at your yard before looking at loaning that would be good, as it would help you know the basics of horse care and help you with your tacking up Just tell the YO that you are interested in learning more / loaning a horse and if any opportunities come up could they let you know.

Just one word of warning - don't over horse yourself. Even in a share it is possible. I know someone who had a very similar experience level to you, knew some of the basics and could walk/trot fine, canter most of the time but this was still being worked on. She loaned a pony that seemed lovely and the owner helped her out at first. Then she was left by herself and the pony became a nightmare, rearing up on hacks etc and she was becoming scared of the pony.. This isn't a story to scare you!! Just to let you know that if it's not working, let the owner know! My friend didn't let the owner know for ages and I warned her it was going to get dangerous if she didn't... No one got hurt but it knocked her confidence a lot. She did tell the owner eventually and the loan was stopped and she found something more suitable. But it really didn't help her confidence and I wouldn't want that happening to you.

Let someone know if you are having a problem and don't keep it to yourself



ETA: In terms of asking your parents. I think you just need to be honest with them. Say you'd really like to get more experience while you can as you know it'll be difficult when you got to uni etc. Let them know that you've thought about cost, and how you'll pay, and how you'll get to the yard (obviously this is difficult as you don't know what yard you'll need to go to but some sort of plan would show you're serious) and let them know that you've thought about the responibility of it all