Sharers/loaners - Worst share/loan you've had?

[chessy]

Inspired by the "Worst people you've had turn up for a loan/share..." thread.

Was interesting to read about the nutty sharers people have come across, so I thought I'd start this thread for sharers to talk about similarly nutty owners or horses! Just for fun (For the record, I have been both an owner and a sharer, and am sharing currently).

I once shared a 16.2hh ISH gelding, advertised as a perfect gentleman and bombproof ride. He was lovely to handle, but despite sharing for 3 months I only got to ride him twice. The owner only wanted me to ride when she was present, and she hardly ever was. On the two occasions I rode him, he reared - a lot. The owner insisted it was out of character for him, so I (stupidly) persevered. I discovered that the horse was rearing out of pain due to navicular - the owner had known this for some time. She must have seen me coming! Last I heard, she dosed him up with bute and sold him to an unsuspecting lady looking for a happy hacker.
I resent paying that woman £150 a month to basically just muck her horse out, but I learned an important lesson!

Another horse I shared was a 15.2hh section D gelding, advertised as bombproof and easy to handle. To be fair, he was nice to ride on hacks, however, he had major separation anxiety when taken out of the field which he shared with two mares. He just called for them the whole time. I could deal with that, but he was dangerous from the ground, would not keep still, frequently bit, and "boxed" with his front legs. Unfortunately I became afraid to tack him up, and decided to end the share. To be honest though, the owner was understanding.

Then there's the horses I never got to see, as the owners agreed to meet and then seemed to vanish, never heard from them again....

I'm now sharing a lovely little cob, and the owner is lovely

Anyone else got any stories?

 

[Pippity]

I arranged to meet a woman at her cob's field. I showed up on the dot, and got a call ten minutes later saying she'd be late but to keep waiting.

Fifteen minutes after that, a woman showed up, and I did my best beaming smile and, "Hi, are you Owner?"

Turned out, no, she wasn't the owner. She was the girl who currently had the cob on loan and had no idea the owner was trying to loan him out from under her.

When the owner showed up five minutes later, there were tears and recriminations and abuse - aimed at me, from both parties! I made my excuses and legged it.

 

[Honey08]

I arranged to meet a woman at her cob's field. I showed up on the dot, and got a call ten minutes later saying she'd be late but to keep waiting.

Fifteen minutes after that, a woman showed up, and I did my best beaming smile and, "Hi, are you Owner?"

Turned out, no, she wasn't the owner. She was the girl who currently had the cob on loan and had no idea the owner was trying to loan him out from under her.

When the owner showed up five minutes later, there were tears and recriminations and abuse - aimed at me, from both parties! I made my excuses and legged it.

Ouch, how rude of them!

Reminded me of a groom's job I applied for, when I went for the interview, the current groom was there, and didn't know she was going. Even worse, she rented a stable on their other yard, right next door, so I had to see her all the time. Luckily I went to see her, had a chat, cleared the air, and we became friends.

 

[travelmad]

2 woeful owners I tried shares with...

First ... Previous sharer had moved away...apparently.... Was promised horse could compete. Etc... Turns out owner was terrified of the horse, had a million, rugs, spent thousands on tack, never rode, horse was a nut and had serious rearing issues - she wouldn't believe me that the horse kept rearing so one day stayed while I rode and when horse went up she grabbed the reins and chucked the horse - came very close to going over on me. She only ever rode if I had alreAdy ridden the horse before hand, only rode twice in the few months I was there, told me the rearing was because the mare was hormonal every jan and feb and would be ok later in the year, charged £150 for the privilege, and when I got a bad fall from the rearing and decided I could not safely ride e crazy horse any more would not refund any of the prepaid money. Horse was so dangerous, and I was stupid to keep trying


Then went to ride out for a guy who had 'no time to ride'. Turns out he wanted to be the guy who owns a horse to impress his many girlfriends, took zero care of this lovely horse, had not a clue at all, also never rode. I ended up doing all the riding, schooling, grooming including things like sorting the mane (which he hadn't done in the several years he owned horse), it was nice as it felt like I nearly had a free horse to love but then he would rock up with a new girl on Sunday's to show them his horse and tell me to brush it better, stuff like that so he could make himself look that 'the man' who had a groom to boss around!

Then I decided to stick it and buy my own... Tried a sharer to help with fitness, I found someone with equine degree, knew her neighbours, lovely rider...no charging for riding, no choruses, basically gave her exactly what I would have loved... She turned up once, never contacted me again!

 

[vieshot]

I went to see a pony that was advertised as needing a rider. Got there to find a fat as butter little naglett turned out in what can only be described as a laminitics nightmare-tonnes of grass and field must have been about six acres between two ponies.

So she catches up this pony, badly. Then leads it out holding the very end of the lead rope while it pulls her all about the place. She manages to get it to a tie up ring where she ties it up really long. She then attempts to put its bridle on, failing miserably somehow managing to get it backwards? Attempt two she manages. Next she pulls out this god knows how old saddle, plonks it on, not convinced this saddle should be used for anything more than firewood.

So I have a sit on him. Don't ask to much of him. Very quiet pony, no doubt partly due to being so fat. Woman insists I have a canter. Straight away he goes disunited to which the owner then tells me 'he always does that, we call it his tanter. It's normal for him' needless to say I jumped straight off and said I had seen enough. As I was leaving I see her and her husband feeding the pony armfuls of carrots.....

I obviously didn't take the ride on and sent her a polite email suggesting maybe his back/tack needed looking at.

 

[CLM]

Oh good to see a sharer thread from the sharers point of view, there are so many that make us all out to be awful, useless and dishonest.
The first share I had I had to stop when the horse frightened me badly. I had had a few bucking and bad spooking episodes that I had ridden through, but the last time I was hacking alone and horse went totally loopy. Bucking, rearing and spinning and totally refused to walk forwards. Eventually I got off before I fell off, and walked home. Have never had to dismount due to behaviour before or since. I knew when I got off, I would never ride this horse again.
The only thing I would say to people wanting to share their horses is please ensure that the equipment and consumables needed to ride, groom, muck out, feed, and otherwise care for the horse is available, owned by you, and preferably in the same place as it usually is. That would be really good.

 

[mandwhy]

It's funny being a sharer isn't it. If you own a horse and have a nutty sharer, you get rid. If you share a horse that has a nutty owner, you tend to feel sorry for the horse and persevere at your own risk/expense.

I shared a horse from a rather obnoxious teenage girl who was very rough with the poor thing, as a sharer it is hard to speak up sometimes if you want to keep seeing the horse (I was only an older teen myself). Horse was very scared to go out of the gate on the roads and generally very nappy, knowing what I know now I would have persevered quietly and encouraged it with food and praise as it was obviously terrified. I foolishly mentioned this napping to the girl and got the classic 'hand her to me I'll sort her out', you should have seen the girl lashing the poor horse with a short crop, she whipped the horse across the chest about 5 times for not goinf forward... I could see whelts on the horse who obviously only moved backwards as a result :-( she also insisted I ride in a Pelham and I didn't know how to use double reins, she said fine you can try a snaffle and see what happens, horse was obviously fine and everyone on the yard said thank god someone was treating the horse more kindly as it had once been a nice dressage horse (not that I have a problem with pelhams it just wasn't necessary). Everyone on the yard hated this girl which I did my best to stay out of however tempting! I would also often find the father of this girl come up to do the stable and feed her on my days and they'd say 'oh we weren't sure if you were coming today' erm, you mean you thought I would just leave the horse out on its own and not feed it? I remember this being a bit awkward and being like 'oh.. its ok I'm not riding today anyway' (as horse had just been fed and I didn't want the guy to feel bad for doing it). They also didn't seem to understand that on days I was working I couldn't be there til about 4, hardly the middle of the night and I did tell them this, but then the assumption I wasn't coming seemed to become even more frequent.

I am happy to report that a girl I knew from that yard told me she had been sold back to her old owner in the end, so glad about that!

The others were pretty much nice and normal though!

 

[Jo_x]

One horse whose owners changed their tune about every aspect of the agreement within a couple of weeks and then thought we were unreasonable. Weren't happy with me walking home from the yard alone (25min walk through a safe town) and thought my (completely non horsey) parents should watch every lesson I had.

One whose owner just started blanking my calls and texts one day... think she was a dealer on the sly and the horse had been sold - ironic thing is if she had told me she was a dealer I'd have happily ridden anything for her (she was pregnant).

One horse I turned up to try who was dog lame and she wouldnt accept it...

The others I've shared were all great though!

 

[mandwhy]

Oh I've had the sudden cut off too! I went on holiday for a week and when I wanted to resume she cut all contact, AND the worst thing was I had just given her an exercise sheet, still a bit bitter about that!

 

[lpeacock]

I considered sharing a horse once, went up to see him and try him out. She was very fussy and pampered this horse but didn't ride it. The horse stood there eating its hay, did not even interact when I stroked it/ said hello, and them when I took away the hay to out the bridle on as it would not stop eating (was very fat) it tried to bite and kick me very violently. I respectfully declined and said I was not experienced enough. I think the horse was very used to having its own way.

 

[Captain Bridget]

One time I went to see a horse, told she wasn't a novice ride but didn't do anything silly. She lacked muscle, but she'd been out of work due to owners work. Owner got on and walked and trotted her round the field, she looked lazy and owner didn't push her. I got on and she was so lazy, having to really kick to get her going, owner said not to use a whip. Walked and trotted round fine and then said, can I have a canter? Owner said yes fine, there's me thinking she'll be lazy. Nope, she proceeds to bronc across the school. Try again, same thing happened, nearly had me off. For some reason I decided to continue with her although she couldn't be hacked out unless with another horse or she'd go mad. She was actually coming along but I didn't ask for canter as figured she wasn't strong enough for it yet. Final straw came when I rode one day, my OH was watching, asked her to trot and she flung all four feet off the ground and bronced again. I left soon after. Saw an share ad for her not long after saying never bucked or did anything silly... Yeah right.

Another one was a cob mare who would attempt to bite you as you groomed and tacked up, tried to kick if you attempted to pick up her feet. Wouldn't stand still to be mounted and as soon as you got on tried to disappear into the distance. Once you got her going though she was fine! But owner suddenly stopped contacting me and I've since heard the horse has been sold.

Thankfully now I have a great share and although he's not perfect, he suits me really well.

 

[Caramac71]

We were looking for a loan for our teenage daughter. Contacted and viewed anything within about a 30 mile radius that sounded like it could be suitable, and encountered more than our fair share of strange owners (and naughty ponies!).

Went to see a beautiful NF who's owner had been very honest and said he had a tendency to throw in the odd naughty buck. They'd had him from a 3 year old, never been properly schooled from the sounds of things, and her kids had grown up learning to just ignore him and get on with it! The youngest had very much grown out of him, they adored him and didn't really want to let him go but felt he should go out on loan as he was far too young to be doing nothing, not to mention the expense/time.

So the girl gets on and rides, pony did indeed throw a few little bucks but she was expecting them and all was fine. Nothing worse than my daughter hadn't encountered before and she was happy to get on. Pony also tries a few small bucks with my daughter before doing an almighty buck and drop the shoulder, which manages to get her off. She was fine, jumps up, but pony ******s off. We then discovered pony's party trick is to NOT be caught! So owner and her daughter spend a good 20 mins trying to catch him (he was wise to all tactics, wouldn't come for food). I had thought it was a bit strange that the kids never hacked him out, and hadn't really done any local shows or anything on him, I guess that was the reason why!

Strangest owner we encountered I should have walked away when I read the ad! There was nothing on the ad that even mentioned her "beautiful little girl" was a pony, other than the fact it was listed in a horse/pony section online. To say the lady was controlling was an understatement and she really didnt want to let the pony go, but was in a situation of her current yard asking her to leave (as pony was jumping her field), and no other yards in the area could/would take her. She relied on her instructor to school the pony and ride her, she preferred to do non ridden Parelli stuff. She had a child who shared but was only allowed down when the owner was there. My daughter rode under the watchful eye of the instructor, having questions fired at her and the owner constantly muttering about my daughter appalling "riding-school style" under her breath. The whole thing was extremely uncomfortable. We should have left in the first 5 minutes - nothing wrong with the pony at all but everything else was clearly insane! - but I am far too polite for my own good and we tolerated it for longer so as not to seem rude. After having criticised my daughter and made her feel uncomfortable for the duration, when it was obvious to all parties that it wasn't going to be right, the owner then got tearful and said she didn't know what to do, people were coming to see the pony and saying how lovely she was but no one wanted her. (This was after her having told me if we took the pony she would be down all the time to visit her). When I suggested to the owner that she might be happier to find a regular sharer and a new yard rather than put the pony out on loan (as she was clearly far too attached to be able to do this) the instructor very firmly said that would not work and the owner needed to let go! Once I'd got over my anger at my daughter being so rudely criticised by the owner who was by her own admission a very inexperienced rider (although my daughters apparently terrible riding skills didnt actually seem to put the lady off us taking the pony on loan!), I actually felt really sad for both the pony and the owner as I'm not sure whether there would ever have been a satisfactory outcome.