Sharers

Fiona_C

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I've taken the hard decision to put my horse up for part share, have had a call tonight and someone enquiring about him etc.

Now need advice on how much I should be charging per week, what do I do about insurance etc?

If someone wouldn't mind taking the time to give me some pointers, I'd be grateful.

Thanx
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I think no more than £10 per day is reasonable with say a wheelbarrow of poo picking a week or perhaps mucking out on share days. As for insurance I'd insist they have their own rider insurance but I believe you can add them to your existing policy.
 
I'm going through exactly the same thing, I really dont want to do it but financially needs must
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I did a post about it a couple of weeks ago if you can be bothered to trawl back? People were very helpful - the main things they said which I hadnt thought of were (a) to stipulate that ONLY the sharer should ride your horse, not all their friends and relatives and (b) that they should have their own insurance (I've had this, it is only £8 per month)

I am asking for £10 per day from any prospective sharer - the one I spoke to tonight was OK with that, not sure whether she will just come up and ride or will muck out/feed etc as well, I am not really bothered either way personally as I am used to doing him 7 days a week
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Hi Splotchy, yes I'll go find the post, thank you
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They asked me tonight how much costs would be, I said that tbh I hadn't really put any costs into any semblance of thought (as was hoping against all odds I wouldn't get any replies to his ad). Was thinking £25 per week, but may well go down the £10 per day route instead.

I'll be doing the mucking out when he is in anyway, so that should just leave them to bring him in, ride if they want, and sort him out for the night. Poo picking obviously would be advantageous
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Insurance, I haven't actually got him insured as up until now there was never any need really, but will now review that.

thank you
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my sharer pays £80 every 5 weeks (his shoes!) and she basically has her own horse for this as i don't often ride him (i have another horse). we share jobs for the two horses between us so i'll do most mornings but she'll do both horses some evenings if i'm not there....
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I think the fairest way to work out how much to charge is work out how much your horse costs per day to keep. Work out all regular monthly bills- shoes, feed, livery. Divide monthly costs by 4 to give weekly cost, divide by 7 to give daily cost, then multiply by however many days the sharer will have the horse for. I used to share a horse for 4 days per week and paid just over £25/wk.

I have rider insurance with Petplan, it's a good policy with lots of extras on top of 3rd party liability.

Communication is key between sharer and owner, I am forever texting/emailing the owners of the horses I help with now!

Make a contract up (use the bhs loan agreement and modify it) with the following things covered:
Where the horse is kept, basic identification of horse- age, colour, name, height, any markings.
What the sharer is to do on their days- muck out, bring in, feed, poo pick or just ride?
State the days the sharer will have the horse.
What the owner is expected to do- make sure horse has tack to be ridden in, shoes on- if there's anything that stops the horse from being ridden due to the owner not doing it i.e. getting farrier in time, the sharer can ask for money off as the horse isn't fit to ride.
State what tack the horse is ridden in, and the brand/type of tack used.
State all rugs that belong to the horse (this is important in case the sharer runs off with one, or buys a new one out of their pocket- the owner is not entitled to keep it when the share ends, only the rugs on the list).
What activities can the horse do? What activities does the rider need permission to do?
Contact numbers
Who is liable if the horse is injured/ill on the sharer's days? I.e. if the sharer came up and horse had colic, who is liable? We did it so that if it was anything the sharer had done that caused it i.e. fed unsoaked sugarbeet, not tied horse up and it ran onto road, they are liable. If the sharer has done all things right but an accident happens, e.g. horse is tied up but breaks free onto road, the sharer is not liable.
How much the sharer is paying- is it per calendar month or every 4 weeks? When is payment due?

Those points are what comes to mind first.. I'll keep thinking if there's any more that pop up in my head I'll let you know
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I've been sharing for two years now and i agree with all of the above suggestions (although I have to admit we've not actually done all of them...!). The only thing I would add is just to make sure that your sharer gets introduced to other ppl on the yard just as a backup if anything does go wrong and he/she can't get hold of you. - make sure they have the number of your most knowledgeable horsey friend!
We've never really had any problems, the owner is very relaxed about what we do on 'our' own days. Just spend time getting to know your sharers ability and then you'll know how many 'rules' you actually need...!
FYI, i pay £70 a month for 1-2 days a week, with little top ups for shoes/medication occassionally if the horsey joint account funds are running low!
 
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