Rider

4

4x4

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 September 2010
Messages
856
Location
The Country
Visit site
If you were looking for someone to come out and ride would you be looking for someone who would pay a bit towards keep/shoes etc or would you just advertise for free hacking and hope for the best?
 
That would depend on my financial circumstances as to whether I wanted a contribution or not. Personaly I am very fussy about whom I let ride my horses, but that's probably because I am older and cynical and have seen the 'I can ride well' brigade in action.
I don't expect Olympic contenders, but I cannot cope with anyone who lacks balance or who is not giving with their hands. I feel mean as I say it, but riding school only riders are often the worst and I know everyone has to start somewhere, but sorry not on my horse.

That said my daughter has just got a young lad sharer who helps with chores and a little with cost and he is a great lad - keen and kind rider :)
 
For me, it depends on whether they are doing me a favour or whether they are costing me money.

I've invited someone to ride one of mine once or twice a week because the horse isn't getting enough work to keep him happy because I don't have enough time and she doesn't have anything to ride at the moment. She's doing me a favour, I don't want money.

If I was having to give up the opportunity I do have to get on my horse, or if they were riding several times a week I would expect them to share the costs.

I always expect someone riding my horse to do a share of that day's jobs, though.
 
Well, this is the thing. I've had a friend over once or twice but she throws her weight about a bit too much and I let her 'sit' on the youngster who is only just broken for hacking and she pulled him backwards with a misguided notion of getting his hocks under him - ditto jabbing my other horse in the mouth on hack then saying she was doing a half-halt. So this is the problem. I was just thinking that maybe there was some kind soul out there who might have had to give up their horse due to redundancy or something - but then again if you ask for a contribution would you get someone more reliable? I just don't know..
 
Aaah, Mag Sparrow, jobs, now that's a good one. Cleaning tack, pooh picking? Are people still keen to do that sort of thing in this busy world or do they just want to ride and go? (More pondering).
 
I would say recommendation is best, at least then you should know what you are getting. My daughter had a friend out and well her poor pony - friend banged about in the saddle it was pitiful and what do you do at that stage ? Ask them to dismount? She never got invited to ride again. It can be very awkward.

Perhaps ask about locally or on here - no poor riders would dare apply now :D :D You need to say where you are though ! :) I would go for a 'trial session' - observe them on a hack and take it from there.
 
Regarding jobs, my tip is this: I say 'The jobs that need doing are x, y, z. Which would you like to do, and I'll do the others?' That gives them a choice while making it clear that work is expected ;)
 
OK then let's kick on - north-ish of Hartley Wintney, private yrd, good hacking on reasonably well behaved cob. Takers? PM me preferably thanks.
 
Depends on why you are doing it I suppose.

We have someone come and ride daughters pony , just so he can have fun off the lead rein, ad therefore blow off steam before daughter gets on him, this works well, girl is happy at free rides, so we are doing her the favour there, and in return she does us the favour by getting him some proper exercise.

So for us, I ask her to do nothing, except feel free to ride as often as she would like, but if se is free to help at shows and pony club, then I am very grateful.
 
YasandCrystal said:
That would depend on my financial circumstances as to whether I wanted a contribution or not. Personaly I am very fussy about whom I let ride my horses, but that's probably because I am older and cynical and have seen the 'I can ride well' brigade in action.
I don't expect Olympic contenders, but I cannot cope with anyone who lacks balance or who is not giving with their hands. I feel mean as I say it, but riding school only riders are often the worst and I know everyone has to start somewhere, but sorry not on my horse.

That said my daughter has just got a young lad sharer who helps with chores and a little with cost and he is a great lad - keen and kind rider :)
Click to expand...

I agree here- far too many people seem to enjoy hauling a horses mouth off or repeatedly kicking the poor soul till it gets sick of the rider and dumps them. Then it's the horses fault of course!
Someone with balance would be a must for me!
I would trial ride everyone- and see whom the best rider/personality is for that horse. Then I would take the rider with or without the contribution ;)
That said- I honestly take a genuine novice who only knew the basics but was kind with there hands, and would listen to the advice I'd give them. :)
 
Before I had my own, I rode out for a friend and got on really well with her Mare and got to the position where I rode her 4/5 times a week on my own as well as hacking out together - for this I made a contribution to shoes etc of £100 a month.

Twenty years later, I have had my own and then lost him :( The same friend still has more than she can ride so I go and ride whatever she points at, follow the instructions and muck out / do jobs etc in exchange.
 
I am going to be looking for someone to come and hack one of mine while I ride the other, with the possibility of them taking lessons / one to dressage while I take the other after we've established a certain level of trust.

I have decided no shares, no loans, they are on full livery so no jobs, as I want to keep control because their my horses. What I will be asking is for some tack cleaning and occasional help with comp preparation (possibly). But basically as it is to help me, with it being 100% my say, happy for it to be at no contribution.
 
To be fair I did have a really lovely girl who came via this forum but she came from quite a distance away and only came the once for a trial run, to see how long it took to drive to me, sadly it was too far.
 
I have found it hard to find anyone suitable. We struggle to keep horse fit during term time and it would be great if I had someone I could trust. I would happily pay someone if I found the right person.
 
I'm in the opposite boat. Looking for a pony to ride, but am in London so most yards are miles away and I don't drive. I did reply to an ad to come during the day and offered to travel over 90 mins on public transport but she said she feared I was too far away to commute. :(

I am currently unemployed while waiting for my new job to start but was happy to pay my way doing stable chores, I'm not even that fussed about competing, I was just looking for something to play with and be a happy hacker.
 
Depends on the situation. I ride a dartmoor thats in desperate need of extra schooling from a more experianced rider than his small child (shes good but not big/experiacned enough) and dont get paid although his owner does pay for an instructor to be there some times, so I get a lesson with a diffrent instructor and more experiance bringing him on (and he helps me find the superglue on a regular basis :cool:). I also ride one of JFTD's beasts some times I do pole and photo duties if the ground is up to it or if not we tend to hack about once a week when I'm at uni.
 
dafthoss said:
I also ride one of JFTD's beasts some times I do pole and photo duties if the ground is up to it or if not we tend to hack about once a week when I'm at uni.
Click to expand...

Should I be paying you or you me? :p

I used to ride other people's, never charged, because I wanted to ride them.
 
JFTD said:
Should I be paying you or you me? :p

I used to ride other people's, never charged, because I wanted to ride them.
Click to expand...

Not a clue :confused::p I enjoy pole picking, photo bitching and being nannied by J so dont mind either way.

Thats kind of how it works with dartmoor I enjoy it (not so much the superglue testing :cool::eek:) and pony gets proper schooling, we managed 3/4 of a circle in canter last time :eek: thats unheard of in the dartmoors world. His owner enjoys seeing him go well and not getting away with his little tricks he has picked up along the way and hopefully he will be better behaved for her daughter and I get a lesson and more experiance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top