What's the point of sharing?

I have sharer for my lad.
She is lovely. Pays 50% of his costs but in return can ride him pretty much whenever she likes providing she let's me know outside of 'her' days.
She is relatively novice but feels as though he is her horse and loves him to bits. Infact we refer to him as ours!

I have also spent alot of time teaching her to groom/muck out/care for a horse etc which she wouldn't have learnt in a riding school. I get a few days off and the money really does help at the moment!
So it does benefit both of us I think!
 
We have a load of sharers on our yard and I resent that the implications are that people are lazy/poor/ignorant!

One owner is middle aged and runs her own business. She cannot be down the yard every day. She shares her pony with two children (and their siblings respectively) who cannot afford their own pony!

This way three families can benefit from one pony!

One sharer is now sharing another horse, current owner is a teen who is getting bored of horses.

I was looking for a sharer to share costs. I wanted someone to ride and nothing else, as I love my yard chores!
 
... as a child I too hugely benefited from "free" riding - in return for my happy long days at the yard doing any duty required - as long as it involved the horses I was happy.

However, I since have grown up and have been a sharer and then had sharers for my own horse. Getting it all for no money may be lucky, but from my experience as a horse owner, unfortunately it seems that commitment comes with paying. And also: Why is it that people what to ride horses for free? They need feeding, shoeing, vets, tack, rugs... the list goes on. No-one asks to "share" a tennis court for free for using a broom in it once in a while but would be willing to pay for the privilege or am I wrong?

I think it is fair to ask a share of the cost personally.
 
I've had a sharer for my mare but she has recently bought her own horse - she was knowledgeable and also a very nice person! She was sharing because she couldn't afford her own horse and didn't have the time but missed riding, so it was obviously a plus for her to be able to ride, and her days fitted in with my work times so it was good for me too. I would normally ask for £20p/w but she paid £15p/w... she couldn't afford £20 but she was trust-worthy and 5* which was most important. I think this is fair... she did whatever she liked with my mare on 'her days' (within reason!) and yes she did poo-pick or whatever but she didn't mind doing the jobs. If I had a massive vets bill to pay off or anything like that I wouldn't be asking for money from her towards it so I think asking for some financial contribution is ok. She had a horse previously in her life so knew what came with it.... and unfortunately that includes costs!
 
I have shared a few horses before i got mine. a couple of them i didnt contribute financially towards as their owners saw it was a win win situation. They didnt have the time at that moment to exercise them and i was looking for a horse to ride as i wasnt progressing anymore at RS and riding once a week just want enough. I ALWAYS helped out with poo picking, mucking out etc even though it wasnt expected from me. Another one i shared i paid £10 per week for 4 days riding. The owner wanted him kept in work (she didnt have the time to ride as it was through winter and when she finished work it was dark) so if i wasnt riding him, she wouldnt have had him shod so i was basically paying just over half towards shoes which i thought was fair enough! I learnt SO much from sharing and would never have coped with my own if i hadnt shared first. I probably wouldnt have had a clue as at RS they didnt teach anything about looking after a horse!
 
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