Those of you with sharers, cash or chores or both?

Cinnamontoast

Cinnamontoast

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Someone admired my horse a while ago but said she couldn't afford to pay for a share (retired). She has since taken on a part time job and having heard that I'm out of action, has again enquired about sharing.

She keeps mentioning that money is an issue but that she can maybe afford to pay for once a week but has implied she'd rather do chores. I've made it clear that a friend is exercising him so any input from her, whilst a bonus, is not essential.

I, like everyone else with horses, pay a fair whack to ensure he is well looked after. It's an expensive pet to have! Am I wrong to put my foot down and insist on cash? And call me crazy, but when I shared, I did chores on my day as standard, not as a favour to the DIY owner. I wasn't going to leave the horse in a dirty stable with no water/hay!
 
Chores and cash tbh. Sharing a horse means just that sharing responsibility and to a degree ownership (ie husbandry).

How about if her money is tight suggest she pays shoes/ trim/ feed/ wording it that she is literally paying to him so to speak might work her round and sound more reasonable. My first loan pony I just paid shoes I think.

Only time I considered some one sharing Toffee without paying is I didn't ever have to poo pick ;)
 
Ours does both chores and pays, but she only comes up once a day so we take care of him at whichever end of the day she doesn't do, it works for us
 
Both. But if she's a nice lady and the horse doesn't NEED excersize as your friend is doing it. She'll (I presume) not ride often and her days at the yard will be majority chores and pottering. In this situation I think I'd be happy with chores.
 
He's barefoot so the farrier costs would be the same as her paying once weekly, pretty much. I just can't understand someone who appears madly keen not being willing to pay what's a really small amount to share. If she wanted a lesson at my yard, she'd be paying nearly five times as much weekly. :confused:
 
Our sharer does chores and cash. She shares 3 days a week, two weekdays and Saturdays. To be honest we were happy to let her share for 'free' just chores because all she initially wanted to do was be involved with horses again, but we have settled on a small amount to keep it fair. Also the days during the week our sharer wants to do actually happen to be the days when my daughter is at uni. So far it works out really well, our sharer and horse get on very well, she spends a lot of quality time with the horse rather than just ride, ride, ride.

I think it really depends on what you want, someone to spend quality time with your horse, someone to exercise the horse, someone to do the chores, someone to help you pay. My daughter felt guilty that university was taking time away from the horse and that she was not spending the quality time that she felt the horse deserves, so for us it is the perfect solution.
 
I always had both - although admitedly for 8 months of the year when they are out 24/7 not that many chores to do! I think sharers get an amazing deal, the £20 for 3 rides a week comes absolutely nowhere near 2/7th of the cost of owning (even for me and I keep mine at home!) and like you say three lessons/ hacks a week would cost £££'s

How about suggesting she gets another part time job (if she has loads of spare time to do chores) so she can pay her way? Or are there other non horsey chores you'd pay for (house cleaning, ironing, gardening etc.) that she could do in return?
 
Polos Mum said:
I always had both - although admitedly for 8 months of the year when they are out 24/7 not that many chores to do! I think sharers get an amazing deal, the £20 for 3 rides a week comes absolutely nowhere near 2/7th of the cost of owning (even for me and I keep mine at home!) and like you say three lessons/ hacks a week would cost £££'s

How about suggesting she gets another part time job (if she has loads of spare time to do chores) so she can pay her way? Or are there other non horsey chores you'd pay for (house cleaning, ironing, gardening etc.) that she could do in return?
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Ooh I so wish I had a sharer who would do the housework and ironing in exchange for sharing the horse - absolute heaven..... Damn I should have thought about that when advertising for a sharer :-D
 
Not unreasonably to insist on cash - everyone has different reasons for wanting a sharer and it sounds like you need the money more than the help!

ETA:
I have done all combinations! Paid and done chores (this is normal to me!), paid and not done chores (horse on part livery, price reflected this), not paid and not done chores (owner pregnant and only wanted someone to ride), paid a token amount and done chores (owner lacked time). Its just what works for each individual set of circumstances!
 
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I think it depends on the livery situation. When I was a sharer I paid £20 a week for use of the horse weekdays as my own, I did chores too but it was at a super yard with competitions on-site etc.
With my own horse, at one competition yard I had a sharer who rode twice a week and did chores on her days for no money. My horse was quite difficult at the time so she was helping me out really.
When I was pregnant the first time I had a girl loan him, she basically had him as her own and only gave me £10 a week but it was a total DIY yard with no facilities.
I am pregnant again and I have a teenage girl loaning him now, she pays £20 a week and has him as her own, I do stables 2 days a week to keep an eye on him. He's on assisted DIY. When I added up the cost of my horse £20 a week is about half his costs so I think it's a good deal really. Plus she has me to give her jumping lessons and advice etc as it's her first horse. She had been paying £18 for an hours lesson at a RS.
But I reckon a small contribution even if it's just £5 a week is perfectly fair - they are very expensive!
 
I started out paying £30 per week for 2 days no chores as horse on full livery (at immaculate and quite pricey yard). This worked for me as yard was quite far away so would have been too much to go down twice a day. Owner needed her on full livery as has long cummutes and a hectic schedule. She's now on a yard closer to her owner and I pay £20 per week as its cheaper for her and she wanted to keep me as the sharer, but yard is even further away now (50 miles and an hour drive each way) so there would be no way I could do chores as well. If she was closer I would be happy to do chores on my days :)
 
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