Sharers- oh not to need them

[McFluff]

My horse costs me more than £15 per ride!!!
That’s the reality of the cost of our hobby. Yes you can make it cheaper if you are on DIY, although if you factored the cost of your time even then £15 a ride is cheap...
the going rate round here for a hack on a nice horse is £35 per hour.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

‘Oh that’s a shame, thank you for letting me know, I completely agree it’s best to stop now if your child isn’t 100% committed.’

Queen of passive aggressive 🙈

Beautiful!

£15 a day is pretty standard, I’d say.

 

[JFTDWS]

My horse costs me more than £15 per ride!!!
That’s the reality of the cost of our hobby. Yes you can make it cheaper if you are on DIY, although if you factored the cost of your time even then £15 a ride is cheap...
the going rate round here for a hack on a nice horse is £35 per hour.

I reckon mine cost me around a fiver a ride, a bit more if I don't ride every day.

eta - I don't think £15 is unreasonable though.

 

[Goldenstar]

I have it ! ride more it makes them cheaper if only I had worked that out years ago .

 

[McFluff]

To be fair, mine is on part livery as I work long hours and have two hours commuting a day. i ride him 5-6 times a week, and it’s still more than £15 a time (especially if I include ALL the costs - even the ones I don’t think about).

It’s all a matter of perspective. I know people who pay a lot less than me, but they ‘work’ harder in the yard to care for the horse (and if it’s their own yard, to care for the facilities). If you added the minimum wage for each hour of poo picking, field maintenance, yard upkeep etc, that is needed to keep a horse well, then the true ‘cost’ is higher.

Just to be clear, for me, it is worth every single penny. A lot cheaper than therapy (and more enjoyable).

 

[JFTDWS]

Half an hour of work split 3 ways isn't going to make a huge amount of difference to mine But I do cheat by having them out 24/7 all year round, and having 3 in the same system makes it more efficient. Like bulk buying. Plus I ride all of them virtually every day. Basically, I'm the costco of horse ownership

 

[McFluff]

‘Nowt wrong with being ‘costco’ - although I suspect that your experience and choice of horse(s) and set up helps you be very efficient. I’m a natural procrastinator - I can take two hours each night at the yard, and technically I’m just grooming and riding. Shudder to think how long I’d take on DIY!

I just see too many people with rather unrealistic ideas of the true cost of keeping a horse.

 

[JFTDWS]

I just see too many people with rather unrealistic ideas of the true cost of keeping a horse.

Oh yes, my forage bills are slight compared to some. But the "true" cost of keeping a horse is - well - how long is a piece of string? People can, and do, keep horses on a budget - some well, some less well. People can, and do, spend a fortune on their horses - some to the horse's compliment, some to their detriment (the most expensive livery I've ever been on was the worst for the horses - too little time out, too little forage because they refused to feed more, lower quality stuff).

 

[Tonto_]

Oh yes, my forage bills are slight compared to some. But the "true" cost of keeping a horse is - well - how long is a piece of string? People can, and do, keep horses on a budget - some well, some less well. People can, and do, spend a fortune on their horses - some to the horse's compliment, some to their detriment (the most expensive livery I've ever been on was the worst for the horses - too little time out, too little forage because they refused to feed more, lower quality stuff).

Strangely had this conversation with a non horsey friend! He couldn't get why the cheaper option (more time out, small yard, part livery) was better than the more expensive one which had facilities I wouldn't use like a horse walker!

 

[Gamebird]

It's a slightly grey area with sharing, but I'd say 'pay £x per ride' (as opposed to 'pay £y per month and share in the jobs/ownership/ management of the horse') would technically mean that you should legally have a riding school licence. People have fallen foul of this arrangement in the past before to their cost. I work in this area so have a fair bit of experience.

 

[hihosilver]

Yes that's the rate round are area £15 a ride. I think cheap compared to RS, plus he is a well schooled pony that is totally bombproof. The sharers my friend has are very happy to pay that as they know at the end of the day they both come back with a big smile and you cant put a price of safety!

 

[ester]

‘Nowt wrong with being ‘costco’ - although I suspect that your experience and choice of horse(s) and set up helps you be very efficient. I’m a natural procrastinator - I can take two hours each night at the yard, and technically I’m just grooming and riding. Shudder to think how long I’d take on DIY!

I just see too many people with rather unrealistic ideas of the true cost of keeping a horse.

I think you always fill the time you have, I don't think I've ever saved any by having them on the doorstep I just pop backwards and forwards more often

 

[LaurenBay]

I pay £100 for 3 days. I do a 4th day here and there also at no extra cost.

 

[ycbm]

I pay £100 for 3 days. I do a 4th day here and there also at no extra cost.

£100 a week for 3 days a week? 😲

 

[indie1282]

Half an hour of work split 3 ways isn't going to make a huge amount of difference to mine But I do cheat by having them out 24/7 all year round, and having 3 in the same system makes it more efficient. Like bulk buying. Plus I ride all of them virtually every day. Basically, I'm the costco of horse ownership

I have 2 horses that live out virtually all year on good grazing ( no poo picking either) I only feed a token feed for supplements so they are cheap to keep and 2 is not really much more work than 1!

The riding I find takes up the most time - fair play to you riding 3 every day!! How do you find the time?? 😁

 

[maya2008]

I think the reason for the person sharing, and the owner for sharing, will dictate cost requested. I've had a rider share one of mine who was more experienced than I. My horse and I benefitted greatly from her expertise, and she paid nothing (and kindly taught me every now and then when we were preparing for a show). When I was pregnant though, I had child sharers for my ponies. They got to ride twice a week, on a well behaved pony, with an adult around to make sure nothing drastic went wrong, for £100 a month. It suited them, and me at the time. If the arrangement suits everyone, no problem there.

 

[LaurenBay]

£100 a week for 3 days a week? 😲

Ahh sorry, £100 a month for 3 days a week. sometimes a 4th but that is if the owner is away with work and it saves her putting him on livery for the day.

 

[scats]

When we were kids, sharing was called a part loan. Some of my friends, whose parents wouldn’t buy them a horse, had part loans. It usually consisted of 3-4 set days a week and a weekly payment of £10-£15.
The term ‘Part loan’ seems to have become ‘sharer’, but I assume it’s the same sort of thing.

 

[HEM]

When I was younger I used to share a friends horse. My parents could afford to by me my own but didn't want to not being horsey themselves for a vast amount of reasons, including but not restricted to:

If I decided I didn't like horses
So they didn't have to drive me to the yard all the time
So I didn't have to go through that heart ache of heaven for bid loosing the animal to accidental death
Our lack of knowledge, I was young and they weren't experienced
My sister wasn't allowed a pet so why would I

There are so many reasons as to why they might not want to buy a pony. Much the same as there are many reasons as to why they don't want to paid the increased price even if they seem to be able to afford it.

...but I would think the main reason being you are providing a 'service' and you have just upped that price for a less desirable 'service'.