Sharer? Where to look for one

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stacey_lou

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Hello

I am looking for a sharer but been looking on FB pages and Pre-loved as well as Horsedates with no joy where else can I advertise?

Ive had the odd email mainly from very young girls who sadly with my mare isnt a good idea and from people who only want to pay £15 a week unfortunatly I pay this a day for livery.

Any Advise ?
 
Yep got adverts up in them, i have a paid and free add on horse dates also I am on 3 pages on FB which I renew dailyly.

Its difficult becuase I am sure there must be riders out there who have had to give up horses on their own becuase they canbt afford it and would love a share?

I have no issue with my bills but it would be nice to free up some time and have a little extra money to go towards BE this season as we all know its not cheap.
 
Contact your local riding clubs. I look after my riding club's e-mail account and have united three or four sharers and sharees through e-mails into the club inbox. They often know of people who have had to retire their horses and want something to ride, or members who are looking on behalf of friends.
 
Maybe its your advert that might be putting people off? Hope that doesnt sound mean but there may be a few tweaks you could make to help get more responses?

I'm an adult sharer and happy to pay a contribution however there is a limit (I'd never pay £15 per day!), when I look for a new share I start with Preloved then go to Horsemart, Equine Adverts and sometimes Horsequest (but layout doesnt make it easy on that site so I'm not that keen on it). I'm a member of various horsey FB groups so keep an eye on those too.

Maybe post your ad (or PM me if you'd like) and we could give suggestions?
 
My add

LOAN - Still Looking for a sharer for my 16HH TB X Mare based near Woodbridge, Suffolk. Experienced and confident rider needed. She is very loving, a fun ride both in and out of the school and is a real joy. Hunts and 2014 BE. No yard jobs required doing due to livery, simply needs exercising, grooming and kept happy. Offered is 2/3 days a week hacking / schooling with the potential to go out show jumping/dressage to help with time and costs. A trail will be offered please contact with any questions
 
Ok so first things first - you havent mentioned facilities at the yard. As an older sharer who works full time I want to know if the yard has a school with lights at the very minimum so I can ride in the evenings during winter. So put a short paragraph in there about the yard facilities (any hacking details are also a bonus, if there is off-road hacking then definitely include it).

You havent said how old the horse is, this isnt hugely problematic but for me I tend to look for a share horse between the ages of 5 and 15, if there was no age on the advert it is a bit annoying having to message the owner to find out how old it is.

Remove the 'still' part, to someone new looking at your advert this makes it sound like there is something wrong with the horse hence why you havent found anyone to loan her yet. This is how I'd re-word the advert:

--
PART LOAN - I'm looking for a sharer for my 16hh xxx yr old TB X mare who is based on a yard near Woodbridge, Suffolk. Opportunity to ride 2-3 times per week (more days may be available by discussion) on a fantastic yard with xxxxx and xxxx facilities.

She is not a novice ride, can be xxxxx and xxxx (explain why she needs a confident rider) but she is a fun ride and schools nicely. I take her hunting and will be competing her BE in 2014, the sharer will also have the opportunity to compete.

Sorry but no under 16's and I am looking for a contribution of xxx per month. No chores required as she is on full livery, just riding, grooming and fussing her. Would like to find someone reliable who will love her as much as I do. Please get in touch if you have any further questions.
--

The bit where you have put potential to go out jumping/dressage to help with time and costs doesnt make much sense - do you mean you want someone to help out with your costs competing? Or are you helping with the sharer's costs when they go competing? I'd remove that bit entirely and just say the sharer has an opportunity to compete.

Hope this helps!
 
That sounds great, thank you

I have added to my FB posts that she is on a professional event yard but havent mentioned that we are a 2 min ride from 3 forests to explore plus school and stables all in a barn.

I will amend now

Thank you
 
Looking for a sharer for my 12 year old 16HH TB X Mare based near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Not a novice ride so a confident rider needed as she can be light on her feet but a safe ride. She is very loving, a fun ride both in and out of the school and is a real joy. Hunts and 2014 BE.

We are based at a professional event yard within minuites of miles of forest rides, floodlit menage with in door barn stables.

Sorry but no under 16's and I am looking for a contribution of £150-£200 per month.
No chores required as she is on full livery, just riding, grooming and fussing her.

Offered is 2/3 days a week hacking / schooling with the potential to go out show jumping/dressage to help with time and costs.

A trail will be offered please contact with any questions

I Would like to find someone reliable who will love her as much as I do. Please get in touch if you have any further questions
 
Ouch £150-£200 per month is a heck of a lot for only 2-3days, appreciate you are down south so everything is a bit more expensive but wow, that is an expensive share!

With my last mare (before she was sold) I could ride her unlimited times per week (normally around 4-5 but I could do more if I wanted), she was bred from a GP dressage stallion, great yard facilities etc and she was £150 per month. So I think in your case, if the sharer can only ride 2-3 times per week then £150 would be the upper limit, you'd put a lot people off I think with the £200 per month mention.

There are 2 sides of the coin to the costs of part loans - on one hand you can argue that riding lessons are expensive so the sharer is saving money by having a part loan. However on the other hand if you as an owner wanted your horse exercising by someone reasonably experienced you'd normally have to pay for that - so you have to meet in the middle somewhere. The sharer doesnt want to feel like they are paying through their nose to exercise and keep your horse fit, but also you need to get a reasonable contribution as someone will have the privilege of enjoying your horse who is your pride and joy.

I'd stick with £150 per month maximum and be open to discussion on contribution if they are only doing 2-3 times per week, I'm sure finding the right sharer is more important than how much they can afford to pay you. Generally the reason why we share is because we cant afford our own, if you start getting into the £200 per month territory you could probably afford to keep a horse on grass livery at a very basic field/yard. I appreciate the money is a big attraction of getting a sharer, but generally even us good sharers are not very well off, £150 per month really stretched me especially if I wanted to have lessons and compete. Sharing can be tough for us sharers, horses get sold frequently, owners lie....its not (in my experience anyway) easy and many times I wish I could just buy my own to save on the heartache I seem to be going through every 6 months with horses that I share. Money is the only reason I share, if I could afford my own I'd never share again so keep in mind that people who are looking for a share are not going to be hugely well off.
 
I used: http://www.equineadverts.co.uk/ to find my sharer for my old horse (and also found my old share through there years ago), deleted the "I used to ride when I was a teenager and now my 12 kids are over the age of 6 months I want a nice horsey to ride and for the kiddies to brush" (yes, please, come and play My Little Pony on my ex-racer) and I ended up with a WONDERFUL sharer who had trained and competed TB's at home and was here studying so living on limited means. She actually schooled my horse to a higher standard than I did and I felt embarrassed that she was paying me not the other way around!!

£30 a week or so seems to be the average cost of sharing.
 
I did look at it this way and in our area you pay £25 for a half an hour lesson on some donkey of a riding school horse this way your effectivly paying £16 for a long hack or hour school/ jumping which ever you choose with out anyone telling you what and when on a horse who is of a compeition standard ( If im allowed to say this without risk of sounding arrogant)

There are others local to me who do have sharers @ £200 a month who happily pay and tbf if I didnt have my mare id rather pay extra pennies to avoid muddy fields, mucking out ect after a long day at work which is why of course I go for full livery.

I wouldnt sell my horse for all the money in the world I was unemployed for several months and still was able to keep my livery and her, god knows how but I managed it doing ****** little jobs here and there.
 
I do understand where you are coming from, and get the riding school comparison - but you are looking for an experienced rider not a novice, therefore someone of riding school standard probably wouldnt be the sort of person you want to share your mare. So how much would you pay to have someone experienced exercise and compete your horse for you? Hence why I think there needs to be a balance - yes the sharer is getting a good deal by having an opportunity to ride a competition horse, but equally if you are a good rider technically you are doing the owner a favour by exercising their horse, keeping their horse fit and in some cases bringing the horse on a bit if you are decent at schooling horses.

Plus thinking about the riding school/lesson cost debate, the person is paying for instruction and their riding will be improving despite the riding school horses. When you start sharing you dont have lessons anymore so from a selfish point of view your riding doesnt improve as quickly as it would if you were at the riding school. Ok so you can have lessons on your share horse, but that again benefits the owner because the horse is being schooled under supervision from a pro and is extra cost for the sharer.

Just saying you need to think of this from a balanced point of view, not just the view you are saving the sharer money by not having riding school lessons. There are plenty of people out there who would just be happy to have their horses exercised for free, because they know the benefit of what an experienced rider can do for their horses - so remember you and your horse will get a benefit too if you are asking for an experienced sharer.

As someone with nearly 20 years of riding experience (I'm in my mid twenties now), 2 years of sharing experience and having worked on pro yards as a groom I'd like to class myself as a decent sharer - I'm not a novice, have done a bit of dressage and ride sympathetically, and most of all I always form a strong bond with my share horses and love them to bits as if they were my own. Me personally I wouldnt pay £200 per month for a share I could only ride 2-3 times per week. I'd consider paying £150 per month for 4-5 rides per week but only if the horse was of a really good standard.

All I'm saying is that if you have struggled with a lack of responses so far, the high cost could well be a reason why you are not attracting the right people. Perhaps put in your advert that costs are negotiable but you are looking for approximately £150 per month, that should be a bit more appealing to the type of person you are looking for.

Good luck finding someone!
 
Thank you, I dont want anyone to compete not unless they want to go local small events. If it was a case of needing someone to compete her id up my livery to £160 a week and have my yard owner ride her but I simply want someone to help with time and financially although I can afford this myself would be nice to to limit myself to just one competition a month during the season.

Ive owned horses for the last 13 years I guess but never really shared only for a short time up till i bought the horse I was sharing and back then for DIY on a 3-4 day a week I was paying £70 a month for some ****** DIY yard and that was at the age of 13.

I guess I will see what happens but cant take £15 a week which is being offered I pay more than that a day on livery lol
 
I'm kinda with KC100 on this one.
You're not after a just learnt the basics happy hack type sharer, you need someone who at the least will maintain your horses way of going. So they will have to be a reasonable standard.
What you pay for livery does not really come in to the equation when working out what to charge a share.
I think you might need to decide which is more importnt to you, Time or Contirbution.
If time then a lower contribution from a better rider. If money then you may have to accept a lower standard of riding and be prepared to put time in to your sharer by way of instruction.

As a comparison I ride (share?) 3 horses for the same owners. One is my sole ride, the other two I school a bit and will possibly compete them along with the owners. Two of the horses have wins at BS foxhunter level and the other competed on the european circuit (none of this was with present owners). Yard has 2 superb schools, lunge pen, horse walker, xc field etc. I ride up to 6 times a week. Total cost to me is just my petrol to get to and from the yard.

You may be lucky and find someone who will pay that level of contibution and ride to a decent level but most likely they will be one or the other.
 
There is no way you will get yourself a decent rider to share at £200 a month. If you do well done, but my suggestion is this is the reason you have no interest.
 
I agree £200 is way too much. My sharer pays me £60 a month for 3 days. That's for DIY and she also does jobs but I don't think you could ask over three times that even with no jobs. Surely getting some help with riding is what you want most, so I'd reduce the amount you're after to make it more likely you'll get someone. I'm not sure I'd mention the professional event yard either -even though I'm a perfectly competent rider I'd think twice about replying as I'd be embarrassed to ride in front of professional eventers!
 
Interesting views.

Time is important yes I will perhaps remove price from my add so not to put people off and see how they ride then discuss costs ect.

Thank you
 
Mine is more of a part loan than a share I guess, but I have sole use of lou, only have to muck out at weekends, I can ride everyday or no days it's up to me, the owner even takes me to competitions and I pay £100per month plus his trim at £20 - so I don't really think £200 is realistic...I don't know I would even stretch to 150pm for set days to be honest...depends how much you want someone to help out really, but I think you will have to compromise on how much you ask- sounds a great opportunity when you find the right person.
 
stacey_lou said:
Thank you, I dont want anyone to compete not unless they want to go local small events. If it was a case of needing someone to compete her id up my livery to £160 a week and have my yard owner ride her but I simply want someone to help with time and financially although I can afford this myself would be nice to to limit myself to just one competition a month during the season.

Ive owned horses for the last 13 years I guess but never really shared only for a short time up till i bought the horse I was sharing and back then for DIY on a 3-4 day a week I was paying £70 a month for some ****** DIY yard and that was at the age of 13.

I guess I will see what happens but cant take £15 a week which is being offered I pay more than that a day on livery lol
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I'm not sure but I think your ad should say trial not trail and £60 pm is more than you're getting at the moment.
At one point I thought it would be good to have a sharer for my arab, my OH rode him but not often so I was looking for someone who could take him out and give him some fun not someone to subsidise him.
I think you need to decide why you want a sharer, for the good of your horse or the good of your pocket?
 
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