Looking for sharer - advert help

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HuskyFluff

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For various reasons (health, weight, life) I'm toying with the idea of a sharer for my horse. Do you think the following would garner any interest, or should I drop the idea?

Looking for sharer for 13yr old, 16.1 hh appaloosa mare, 2 or 3 days a week. She is a delight to be around - excellent on the ground and ridden, although she can be a spooky. She's green as hasn't done much schooling, but has done a lot of hacking. The hacking is amazing - straight off the yard with no road work unless you want to explore the lanes near the common. Because of the spooking she's not a novice ride as she takes confidence from her rider, so would be unsuitable for anyone just out of riding school. Weight limit of 11st. No chores or financial contribution required apart from a commitment to pay for a fortnightly lesson with the on site riding instructor, who is excellent.

She's currently ridden by a friend while her horse is undergoing rehab, so she'd be able to let people know what she's like - most of the hacking she's done has been on her own, and recently when she went out with friend's horse he had a meltdown at a bicycle, and she just stood there, not doing anything. She also gave him a lead past a scary object. The yard does have a school, although I wouldn't expect any schooling to be done as I pay my riding instructor for that. I'm just worried about asking for the lesson - my reasoning is it enables my RI to keep an eye on how she's being ridden while I'm not there as I don't want someone contradicting what she's been taught - hence me not asking for a financial contribution. I suppose I could compromise on that depending on experience. Lessons are £30. Control freak, me? 🤣

ETA height of horse for information purposes
 
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Sharers are a mixed bag but a good one can be massively helpful. I would ask for a ridden video of them (helps also to judge their weight without asking) as some are not as competent as they will tell you, and if they come to try her you don't want a procession of unbalanced riders getting on. You haven't mentioned her height BTW.

You might find you actually get better quality if you ask for a contribution, real horse people know what horses cost to keep.
 
I'm sure someone will bite your hand off for the opportunity to share her though expect lots of questions about the spookiness as you've emphasised it so much. There's a huge difference between a spooked horse putting on the brakes with its head up, checking it out then walking on versus one that spins, drops its shoulder and bolts when scared.
 
As someone who keeps an eye on local sharer ads, it seems a bit contradictory to me, so I'd probably not contact you. "Excellent, but spooky" - that's not excellent? "No financial contribution, but you have to pay for a lesson" - that's a financial commitment (albeit not a contribution, I get that). Also, green but great hacking and then more detail about hacking, but the commitment is to school the horse...

In addition to this, in the extra bit at the bottom outside of the ad, you say you don't want the horse schooled, and only hacked. A) This should probably be stated, but also B) that contradicts the financial commitment you're requesting. Your RI isn't going to be able to keep an eye on the horse being hacked, and hacking can be just as influencial as schooling...

You could rephrase and say "my instructor" if you want to stick with this idea, then it sounds more involved. You could also say the instructor also schools the horse, to make it clear the lesson commitment isn't the only time the horse will be in the school (that's what it currently sounds like).

Have a look at other ads, on FB for example, of shares available, and see if you notice any that have more or less responses, and why that might be. Make some comparisons to see if you can be honest but appealing to potential sharers?
 
I’ve shared horses over the past 5 years (before coblet and since his retirement) and am in fact looking for another currently - you’re not in shropshire are you?!!! And would definitely respond to your advert, and be interested, although I’d want to delve deeper into the spookiness element also. The shares daughter and I have had over the past 18 months we’ve paid £5/ride (2-3x week) and have also done jobs eg stables on winter and poo picking in summer.
 
Abacus said:
Sharers are a mixed bag but a good one can be massively helpful. I would ask for a ridden video of them (helps also to judge their weight without asking) as some are not as competent as they will tell you, and if they come to try her you don't want a procession of unbalanced riders getting on. You haven't mentioned her height BTW.

You might find you actually get better quality if you ask for a contribution, real horse people know what horses cost to keep.
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Doh! How could I forget the height... She's 16.1hh. I like the video idea - thanks
kaiserchief said:
I'm sure someone will bite your hand off for the opportunity to share her though expect lots of questions about the spookiness as you've emphasised it so much. There's a huge difference between a spooked horse putting on the brakes with its head up, checking it out then walking on versus one that spins, drops its shoulder and bolts when scared.
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She's not that spooky - I just didn't want to give the impression she's a dope. She just stops, assesses the situation and then walks on. Although she doesn't like Shetlands...
Kat_Bath said:
As someone who keeps an eye on local sharer ads, it seems a bit contradictory to me, so I'd probably not contact you. "Excellent, but spooky" - that's not excellent? "No financial contribution, but you have to pay for a lesson" - that's a financial commitment (albeit not a contribution, I get that). Also, green but great hacking and then more detail about hacking, but the commitment is to school the horse...

In addition to this, in the extra bit at the bottom outside of the ad, you say you don't want the horse schooled, and only hacked. A) This should probably be stated, but also B) that contradicts the financial commitment you're requesting. Your RI isn't going to be able to keep an eye on the horse being hacked, and hacking can be just as influencial as schooling...

You could rephrase and say "my instructor" if you want to stick with this idea, then it sounds more involved. You could also say the instructor also schools the horse, to make it clear the lesson commitment isn't the only time the horse will be in the school (that's what it currently sounds like).

Have a look at other ads, on FB for example, of shares available, and see if you notice any that have more or less responses, and why that might be. Make some comparisons to see if you can be honest but appealing to potential sharers?
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All good points - thank you!
Kirstd33 said:
I’ve shared horses over the past 5 years (before coblet and since his retirement) and am in fact looking for another currently - you’re not in shropshire are you?!!! And would definitely respond to your advert, and be interested, although I’d want to delve deeper into the spookiness element also. The shares daughter and I have had over the past 18 months we’ve paid £5/ride (2-3x week) and have also done jobs eg stables on winter and poo picking in summer.
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I'm not in Shropshire. Used to live there though and am thinking of retiring back there! That's useful information - thank you. She's not really that spooky, just didn't want to give the wrong impression. I've probably over emphasised it
 
I've had a few sharers and at the start I would ask for some modest financial commitment - £5 a ride or something. When I did it for free people just didn't turn up (too rainy, too hot, windy, busy, overtime at work blah blah blah) so the exercise I thought they would get never materialised. They would never tell me so I'd get to the end of the day and then discover another day off !

Perhaps modest negotiable contribution or something. You can always stop asking for it after a couple of months if you get on with them and they get on with your mare.
 
Kat_Bath said:
As someone who keeps an eye on local sharer ads, it seems a bit contradictory to me, so I'd probably not contact you. "Excellent, but spooky" - that's not excellent? "No financial contribution, but you have to pay for a lesson" - that's a financial commitment (albeit not a contribution, I get that). Also, green but great hacking and then more detail about hacking, but the commitment is to school the horse...

In addition to this, in the extra bit at the bottom outside of the ad, you say you don't want the horse schooled, and only hacked. A) This should probably be stated, but also B) that contradicts the financial commitment you're requesting. Your RI isn't going to be able to keep an eye on the horse being hacked, and hacking can be just as influencial as schooling...

You could rephrase and say "my instructor" if you want to stick with this idea, then it sounds more involved. You could also say the instructor also schools the horse, to make it clear the lesson commitment isn't the only time the horse will be in the school (that's what it currently sounds like).

Have a look at other ads, on FB for example, of shares available, and see if you notice any that have more or less responses, and why that might be. Make some comparisons to see if you can be honest but appealing to potential sharers?
Click to expand...
I agree with all this. I get that you want to be honest but you also need to 'sell' her a little. I've suggested some changes.

Looking for sharer for 13yr old, 16.1hh appaloosa mare, 2 or 3 days a week. She is a delight to be around - excellent on the ground and ridden although not for a complete novice as she takes confidence from her rider. She's done lots of hacking but is less experienced in the school. We have amazing hacking straight off the yard with no road work unless you want to explore the lanes near the common and an indoor/outdoor school. Weight limit of 11st. No chores or financial contribution required but I would like you to pay for a fortnightly lesson with my excellent riding instructor to make sure you both get the most out of each other.

I've added a bit about the school (I assume you have one if there's an onsite instructor). I'd suggest month's trial first. I've been both a sharer and a sharee (not sure which way round they are 😆) and always insisted on a month's trial with a new sharer, it just makes it easier to say no if you need to.

Trust your gut with people, I said no to one person who came to try Archie not because she couldn't stop him in the school (he'd always test someone by doing what I called a "slow bolt" - tanking off in trot, perfectly safe and he was never going any faster but just a test for any new rider) but because she thought that was funny (or rather I think she played it off as funny as she was embarrassed rather than admit it was a problem). The next person was incredibly nervous and much more novicey but straight away I could see he liked her and was going to look after her. She struggled to stop him too but asked for help straight away so I knew she would look after herself and him.
 
Annagain said:
I agree with all this. I get that you want to be honest but you also need to 'sell' her a little. I've suggested some changes.

Looking for sharer for 13yr old, 16.1hh appaloosa mare, 2 or 3 days a week. She is a delight to be around - excellent on the ground and ridden although not for a complete novice as she takes confidence from her rider. She's done lots of hacking but is less experienced in the school. We have amazing hacking straight off the yard with no road work unless you want to explore the lanes near the common and an indoor/outdoor school. Weight limit of 11st. No chores or financial contribution required but I would like you to pay for a fortnightly lesson with my excellent riding instructor to make sure you both get the most out of each other.

I've added a bit about the school (I assume you have one if there's an onsite instructor). I'd suggest month's trial first. I've been both a sharer and a sharee (not sure which way round they are 😆) and always insisted on a month's trial with a new sharer, it just makes it easier to say no if you need to.

Trust your gut with people, I said no to one person who came to try Archie not because she couldn't stop him in the school (he'd always test someone by doing what I called a "slow bolt" - tanking off in trot, perfectly safe and he was never going any faster but just a test for any new rider) but because she thought that was funny (or rather I think she played it off as funny as she was embarrassed rather than admit it was a problem). The next person was incredibly nervous and much more novicey but straight away I could see he liked her and was going to look after her. She struggled to stop him too but asked for help straight away so I knew she would look after herself and him.
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That's much better.
 
The problems you’re going to have are that firstly we are heading into winter and sharers are often of the fair weather riding variety; secondly you’re not charging. What that leads to is people going, ‘Oh I fancy going shopping today,’ or ‘It’s a bit hot/windy/cold/wet’ or a million other excuses. They come at first then life gets in the way. Without feeling they will lose money if they don’t ride, they simply…don’t.

I’m about to advertise a sweet little pony who I wanted to keep with us if possible. She’s an absolute angel but sharers are inconsistent, my children are about to need roller skates on her and she needs work. At least she has plenty of experience with random children now, so the time was not lost!
 
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