Sharing.

[DragonSlayer]

Can you tell me what I should be thinking about?

Things like - how much?
Legal implications?

etc etc etc...

Had a couple of enquiries about my horse, and I haven't a clue how much to suggest to them, as never done it before.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PaddyMonty]

The how much depends on why you are sharing your horse.
If its that you need the extra cash then £10 per day seems to be the norm.
On the other hand if you are more interested in getting horse worked, help with stable duties etc then significantly less or nothing.
Also depends on the calibre of rider you want. Someone who is going to improve your horse through riding them may well not be interested in paying compared to someone looking to gain experience.

 

[Shay]

Something like £10 - £15 per day DIY is about normal - depending on caliber of pony, services offered etc. We charge £15 per day for our pony on a DIY basis and had people falling over themselves to share him. (Mind you he is a stunning child's pony!)

It does depend on why you need to share your lad. But watch out for people who only want to share weekends. If you let saturday and sunday go you'll never sell the weekdays - we made it a condition that for every week end day at least 2 weekdays must also be paid for - even if they were not used. We also bill in whole months one month in advance. It makes it a lot easier to chase bills etc if payment is up front and in advance.

You do need a contract - for your protection and thiers. There is a good sample one on the BHS website - or I can ping you a copy of mine if you PM me.

Think about what you are going to do about the one off type costs - vets fees, saddler, vaccinations etc. Are you going to build all that into the price (we did) or are you going to ask for a contribution at the time. Which ever it is you need to make it clear.

Are you going to allow your sharer to compete your lad? Can you offer assistance with transport? (We allow - and encourage! - competition and will transport ourselves if we have one of the others going in the same direction.) Whichever it is you need to say.

It might not be an issue for you but we were also very careful to specify who could ride. We didn't want the class from school coming around one afternoon for pony rides on the new toy!

Feel free to PM me if it would help.

 

[Mlini]

I have a sharer. She pays the livery (£35/wk), I pay everything else (feed/farrier/extra expenses) - she approached me with this offer. We don't have a strict rountine as to who does what days etc. She rides when she wants to & I ride when I want to. She lives on the yard so is around all the time and I knew her before she became my sharer.

If I was sharing with someone that I didn't know, I would assign them specific days and make it clear how things should be done, what needs to be done/things they shouldn't do. I would look at the prices of other share horses in your area and go from that.

 

[DifficultMare]

When I shared - many years ago now, I paid half the livery and half the shoeing costs, his owner paid for feed (minimal being a fat cob!) and vet costs. The owner rode and saw to the horse in the morning I did the evenings and weekends - she basically said he was mine to do what I liked with. I was also able to take him to whatever shows I wanted (to do always asked her first though) and if she could, his owner would come and support us. For us it worked very well and we're still very good friends 17 years on. We were also both there for his final moments which was desperately sad but very comforting too.