Those of you with sharers...

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Loulabelle007

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How flexible are you? Do you expect set payment each week regardless of if they have ridden / turned up? Do you expect set days to be laid out and adhered to?

Or do you let them choose their days on an ad hoc basis, and 'pay as they ride' if you see what I mean?

Only when I was a sharer, I paid regardless of if I was on holiday, or couldn't make it for whatever reason, because I understood that the bills still need to be paid by the owner regardless of whether I was there or not. But seems to be different these days?

Any thoughts?
 
My sharer pays a set amount per week.

But I am very flexible on days, luckily so is she. Usually one of us will do all morning mon-fri while the other does PMs and then we deiced who is doing what at the weekend based on if either of us have plans or work. That's probably not how most people arrange it but it works for us :p
 
I don't have one nor am I one but I would expect to do set days and stick to them or be told not to come back and pay a set fee regardless of whether I turned up/could ride or not... it's only fair really isn't it? :)
 
My sharers have always paid a month in advance (up to them if they don't choose to come in bad weather I still have to feed the boys!)

I have been flexible on days as I've had sharers who'd been on shift work, but the days were agreed on a Sunday for the following week and stuck to.

I've never asked sharers to do any chores so the constantly changing days didn't make any difference to me.
 
When I was a sharer I set up a direct debit into the owners account for once a month. I did 3 days a week which were always the same, however both the owner and I were very flexible if days needed to be changed or if either of us went on holiday the other would do full time.
 
I'm a sharer and I pay regardless I have my usual days but can change depending on what days the owner wants its give and take :)
 
Thanks for the responses! Sounds like you are all good sharers - looks like I will need to be a bit firmer as to my expectations.

Don't mind being flexible with days, but not enjoying not knowing whether I am coming or going half the time, particularly as the deal includes mucking out. Already had to cut short a birthday meal this week to whizz back and bring in horses and muck out after being let down at extremely short notice (I had some sympathy with the reason, and as a one-off, fine). And I am ££'s down over the last week or so due to no-shows :(
 
When i shared i paid half of the stable bill and half for shoes.
However i didn't get much choice in days, wasn't offered weekend days for the near 3 years i shared the horse, only when the owner was working or away :(
I gave her up end of last year due to change in job making getting down at a decent time in the week impossible.

I think having set days would have made life a lot easier and the experience a lot more pleasant .. theres only so much riding you can do when its pitch black by 5pm in winter during the week!

I always paid regardless of how much i'd ridden, if the horse was lame/injured etc :)
I paid by bank transfer made things a lot easier x
 
OP get a direct debit set up with your sharers then you don't need to be out of pocket or chase for the cash.

TBH - I have found, if they pay (even a little - £20 a week for three days riding) they do seem to turn up more often.

I had sharers for exercise not cash, but found that if I didn't ask for any cash up front they didn't turn up - even with no chores. A small £'s made all the difference.
 
As I suspected - had a text last night saying that she was no longer able to share my horse. No notice at all. :mad:

So back to square one! But I will have to be a bit less flexible next time I think, in the nicest possible way!
 
Generally with sharers on our yard it depends on where the benefit lies and the flexibility/availability of the owner.

If what you are wanting is reliability and some financial contribution regularly then be firm but fair and expect payment no matter if they make it up or not (you don't hire a car and pay for it only when you drive it).

If you are doing it becuase it is help exercising the horse and the other stuff doean't matter then the payment can be more token and adhoc.

It sounds like you are the former so I would suggest a sit down and lay out the way you want things (liek it or lump it in politer terms! :) )
 
Our sharer is wonderful teenaged lad, 18 years old.
Totally reliable and if he has to let us down, always advises. Generally have 2 set days and then further 1/2 ad hoc, so sometimes he rides just 2 days, and sometimes its 6 depending on both of our commitments.
However, he does not pay, does chores instead and I think this maybe partly how It works well, as no money is involved.
 
Set amount and set days to be paid regardless of holidays/sickness/weather/inability to turn up so we both know where we are (she has 2 week days and 1 weekend day). My horse is on full livery so if she doesn't turn up on one of her days it doesn't matter. I am willing to change days sometimes if I have advance notice. And if I am on holiday then my sharer can go up and ride every day if she wishes. My sharer has been with me for 5 years now so it obviously works for both of us. I have always been totally honest about working out the cost of how much I charge which is based on the full livery cost divided by how many days a week she has so when the livery charge went up she was happy to also pay a higher amount. We did also at one time have the opportunity to go DIY but when we discussed it she decided she would rather keep the full livery and pay the extra.

Before I got my own horse I used to share and also paid a set amount for set days a week. The horses were always on DIY so I had to look after the horses fully on my days so wouldn't have dreamt of just not turning up. And I still paid even if the horses were unable to be ridden due to illness/lameness or when I was on holiday.
 
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