Why do people think they shouldn't have to pay to share?

CinnamonChristmasCookie

CinnamonChristmasCookie

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I'm a bit taken aback that anyone could say they'll exercise a horse or school it if the owner wants and make out they're doing a huge favour so shouldn't pay. When I was looking, many years ago, it was £10 a day and count yourself damned lucky that someone was willing to let you take out their pride and joy without being monitored. Mine's up for share purely because the job is becoming crazy busy and I'd like someone to keep him ticking over once I'm back at work. Therefore I should pay cos they're doing me a favour? I know lots of you will say yes! Mine is very well schooled, forward, ultra safe but not boring. I just don't get it!

Oh well, he and I are going to have fun over the summer with no sharer wanting weekends only or claiming to be competent but actually they're not able to tack up or trot without falling off! Ooh, I'm bitter! Had my time wasted recently. :(
 
well VERY many years ago if an owner wanted their horse exercised they didn't expect any money..just wanted horse groomed properly and make sure its fed and watered and bed was clean......as I am an oldie I remember those times and find it difficult to get my head round owners wanting horse ridden plus mucking out, tack cleaned and pay for the priviledge. I completely understand paying to ride a well schooled good quality horse who is on full livery as obviously I would be benefitting but lots of loan horses do not fall into that category. a couple of years ago my horse couldn't be ridden so I shared a horse for a while and paid a weekly amount. the horse was not well schooled, I found out later that the owner was scared to do more than trot and was expecting me to sort out horse for her. I did pay and also did the necessary jobs on the days I rode and gave the owner help on the days I didn't ride...so I feel that I gave more than I received....surely the arrangements are of benefit to both parties so I still feel that if a sharer is doing all of the jobs then a small donation towards costs should be enough...
 
cinnamontoast said:
I'm a bit taken aback that anyone could say they'll exercise a horse or school it if the owner wants and make out they're doing a huge favour so shouldn't pay. When I was looking, many years ago, it was £10 a day and count yourself damned lucky that someone was willing to let you take out their pride and joy without being monitored. Mine's up for share purely because the job is becoming crazy busy and I'd like someone to keep him ticking over once I'm back at work. Therefore I should pay cos they're doing me a favour? I know lots of you will say yes! Mine is very well schooled, forward, ultra safe but not boring. I just don't get it!

Oh well, he and I are going to have fun over the summer with no sharer wanting weekends only or claiming to be competent but actually they're not able to tack up or trot without falling off! Ooh, I'm bitter! Had my time wasted recently. :(
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Depends what you are offering and what the sharer is offering.
Some owners are looking for free schooling and some one to pay for the privilege. Others want things done a specific days so they don't pay livery charges. So sharer is doing them a favour. Fair enough if it reasonabley nice but lots of people have rose tinted glasses and forget there darlings quirks.
 
splashgirl45 said:
I remember those times and find it difficult to get my head round owners wanting horse ridden plus mucking out, tack cleaned and pay for the priviledge.
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This.

If the horse is on full livery and there's nothing to do, fair enough contributing to costs.

If the horse is on DIY and the sharer is genuinely helping you out by keeping the horse fit, then IMO they shouldn't be paying for it. Without them you'd no doubt be struggling for time and (in extreme cases) may need to sell up. They're essentially keeping the horse in good shape and making your life easier.

It also irks me how some sharers are essentially paying to bring on or break in someone else's horse (personal experience on that one).
 
If I needed a sharer I wouldn't expect them to pay. They'd be doing me a favour if I didn't have time to ride my horses.

Guess it depends on the reason you want a sharer, lack of time or help with costs.
 
I keep seeing adverts where people are asking for sharers to pay to come and groom & handletheir yearlings and two year olds. Seems a bit odd to me.
 
If I need professional help with my horse then I pay a professional to do the job.

If somebody is wanting a horse to ride and I'm up for sharing mine then they pay their share of the horses running costs & do their share of the jobs or they can go to a riding school or buy their own. There is no way you'd find me paying 90% of the bill for 50% of the fun.
 
I've shared both kind of arrangements.

One horse on full livery. Owner did not ride him. I rode as often as I liked - schooling and hacking. Owner was please horse was being excercised. I offered to pay but offer was declined.

Most other shares I paid a set monthly fee - some involved jobs too, others just rode the horse.
 
My sharer is an absolute Superstar. I am so lucky to have her and will be gutted should she give us up. she pays me £24 a week and is forever buying trip and cc things. She met baby Barnacle today and wants to share him too when he's older :D :D :D
 
Shooting Star said:
If I need professional help with my horse then I pay a professional to do the job.

If somebody is wanting a horse to ride and I'm up for sharing mine then they pay their share of the horses running costs & do their share of the jobs or they can go to a riding school or buy their own. There is no way you'd find me paying 90% of the bill for 50% of the fun.
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Yes, I agree with this.
 
I have had pay sharers in the past, I usually have sharers to help with financial burden of the day to day running of a horse not because of time. However every horse I have had a sharer for is a well mannered horse who 'could' be ridden and handled by novices. They would pay to go to a riding school and horses aren't free to keep so why should they get to ride my pride and joy for free. Mine are on DIY and if I ask them to do any chores its the very basic i.e mucking out or poo pick for that day all feeds and haynets would be made up in advance it would be very rare for me not to do the horse myself and usually the sharer would only do one end of the day if that.
 
Shooting Star said:
If I need professional help with my horse then I pay a professional to do the job.

If somebody is wanting a horse to ride and I'm up for sharing mine then they pay their share of the horses running costs & do their share of the jobs or they can go to a riding school or buy their own. There is no way you'd find me paying 90% of the bill for 50% of the fun.
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Same, no way do I want some unproven rider telling me they can improve my horse! Mine's on DIY, but pretty much lives out in the summer and in winter, I do afternoons, a mate does mornings, so no chores required anyway. If I want him to have a feed, I'd make it and leave it ready along with haynets.

Lessons round here are about £40 an hour.

When I shared, I loved doing everything required for the horse.
 
Once had a woman come to see about a share. She drove a lamorghini and then said she couldn't afford to pay £20 p/w to ride my well schooled WB. I politely declined but she said she wasn't used to paying for her shares and reluctantly offered £10.

I didn't laugh until after she'd gone.
 
I don't have a sharer because Spike needs to be ridden. He's 20, and was retired until last year. As it happens, he was delighted about coming back into work, and is very happy to have a job now, but his sharer has him because she wants a nice horse to ride, not because I need him worked. She and I split his running costs, although I pay his insurance on top, and everyone is happy. I don't ride him, and really, I don't need him for the job I bought him for (companion), so having someone to help with costs and chores makes it less annoying to have a spare! He's not going anywhere now - he's older, and he's a bit of a fruit loop - luckily I don't begrudge him a home for life!
 
I had shares before and would pay up to say 20 a week max for a nice safe horse for hacking and fun, and didn't mind doing chores. With some of them the horses were less than fun but I did it all anyway.

Nowadays I have my own and she can be a pain. Really I would like another horse but I don't want to sell her so I am considering a sharer. Honestly I think I will feel bad asking for money but it will be cheap enough and this will pretty much justify her staying while I have another horse, and then I will know if I can deal with potentially having someone full loan her. It will be hard for me so I wouldn't let someone do it for free unless they were a particularly good rider that could improve her for me.

I know that some shares can be 100 quid plus per month and I used to think that was ridiculous when I spend less than that on my own, but actually I can see that having facilities and access to comps etc would be nice!
 
The owner takes all the risk - pays the lump sum for the horse, pays for tack, the vast majority of the bills and then trusts someone not to break the horse or ruin the tack. And people want this to be handed to them for free?

In my view, if you want a horse that you can class as your own on your days then you pay - and that includes all parts of ownership including clearing up poo. If you don't want to pay then you work for rides. If neither option is suitable get your own horse or pay for lessons at arising school.

The worst I have had is a girl (who lasted 2 weeks) who didn't even do the bare minimum - she didn't even brush the sweat marks off the horse or rinse the bit... She was supposed to be working in exchange for rides (mine are out 24/7 so it was limited work anyway) but never had time to do the jobs, only ride. When it is your own horse you do the jobs first and only when the horses needs are sorted do you ride...

Then there was the girl who paid £25 a week for exclusivity. She didn't want me supervising her and she was competant so I left her to it. She struggled to catch my mare so insisted I leave her in - then she would send me a text at 11 or later saying she couldn't make it that day when often I was already at work. The number of times I had to sort the horses out in my lunch break. On her days she was supposed to do morning checks and feed and she was supposed to be there for 8am - she would just not bother turning up so my poor horses would be stood from the night before without any hay as I wouldn't go as it was 'her day'. It was neglectful :( and then I would have to then muck pout after work when the horse should have been in the field not in a stable. It's annoying having to pay for bedding and hay needlessly too. After a few episodes of this I refused to leave the horse in and eventually gave her notice.

Eta - the other thing is that usually (though not always) the sharer is somewhat novicey and doesn't actually offer that much in the terms of improving the horse.
 
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I get some shoe many from a friend, welcome to ride Freddie or Daisy whenever she wants. I have her two non reddens on livery and it works well.
 
splashgirl45 said:
well VERY many years ago if an owner wanted their horse exercised they didn't expect any money..just wanted horse groomed properly and make sure its fed and watered and bed was clean......as I am an oldie I remember those times and find it difficult to get my head round owners wanting horse ridden plus mucking out, tack cleaned and pay for the priviledge. I completely understand paying to ride a well schooled good quality horse who is on full livery as obviously I would be benefitting but lots of loan horses do not fall into that category. a couple of years ago my horse couldn't be ridden so I shared a horse for a while and paid a weekly amount. the horse was not well schooled, I found out later that the owner was scared to do more than trot and was expecting me to sort out horse for her. I did pay and also did the necessary jobs on the days I rode and gave the owner help on the days I didn't ride...so I feel that I gave more than I received....surely the arrangements are of benefit to both parties so I still feel that if a sharer is doing all of the jobs then a small donation towards costs should be enough...
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My daughter shared five different horses over the years, caring for each as if it were her own and riding whenever she liked. She never paid a penny until she finally shared a horse that she literally only had to take out, tack up and ride, this was four days a week and only £20.

If we had a sharer I think I would feel beholden to them if I took a contribution; as if my horse was no longer truly mine. Might make no sense but that's my personal feelings.
 
I can see why people would want a contribution to costs but I must admit I was seriously miffed when prospective riders wanted paying for their time. I have two lovely girls that ride my ponies I don't expect them to pay and they mostly do just ride but that is because I like looking after the ponies They do take care of them if for any reason I cannot but that is very rare
 
You also have to be careful, I understand, if you take money as it can be classed as "running a business" for tax and insurance purposes, or if you are on certain benefits or tax credits. I know someone who got a sharer for her horse as she couldn't ride any more and couldn't face selling him (he was in his late teens and she had had him since a foal) and asked for £10 for each day the sharer rode, she got into awful trouble for it.
 
LessThanPerfect said:
You also have to be careful, I understand, if you take money as it can be classed as "running a business" for tax and insurance purposes, or if you are on certain benefits or tax credits. I know someone who got a sharer for her horse as she couldn't ride any more and couldn't face selling him (he was in his late teens and she had had him since a foal) and asked for £10 for each day the sharer rode, she got into awful trouble for it.
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Indeed. It gets you into 'hire and reward' territory too. You can probably get away with it if you're charging for 'stuff' as it comes up (eg splitting farrier/feed bills) rather than a flat rate.
 
My friend has a companion horse that is effectively a three-way share. She does all the field maintenance, feeding etc and I and the other lady just groom and ride! She never asked for money from me, but I buy bits of tack / rugs etc when needed, chip in for vets bills and give £50 per month off my own back. Im super spoilt because she even gives me a lift (about 2 miles) to the horses when we go! So I call it "petrol and carrots money" and always give as cash. I'm not sure what the other lady offers but she buys carrots and hay and gets the odd bit of tack too. Hopefully in this case, the fact that no money was asked for and I give it as a gift, means none will get into any trouble with tax or insurance. I couldn't justify getting the enjoyment of riding every week and not giving anything back for that. On the other hand, I used to ride a pony that genuinely needed exercise and I was doing it for a favour. Money offers were rejected so I painted the owner a watercolour of the pony instead.
 
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Depends what the owner wants.
I've shared 5 or 6 horses now. Not paid a penny for any of them. However, in every case I ended up teaching owner so saving them cost of lessons. Horses also schooled to a reasonable standard and looked after horses when owner on holiday etc.
If owner needs sharer for financial reasons then sharer needs to pay. If they need help with yard duties or schooling horse etc then they shouldn't pay. Knowledge/riding ability also a big part of the equation. Not all of us sharers are straight out of a riding school and bring things other than money to the party.
 
LessThanPerfect said:
You also have to be careful, I understand, if you take money as it can be classed as "running a business" for tax and insurance purposes, or if you are on certain benefits or tax credits. I know someone who got a sharer for her horse as she couldn't ride any more and couldn't face selling him (he was in his late teens and she had had him since a foal) and asked for £10 for each day the sharer rode, she got into awful trouble for it.
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It's because she was charging 10 pounds per ride. If she was charging eg 30 pounds per week towards horses upkeep, which had to be paid regardless of whether sharer rode or even attended (holidays/rider illness/short term horse lameness) I think it would have come across better.

OP it amazes me as well. I dont think sharers should pay if they eg want a hacking horse and the horse naps etc so essentially needs schooling and improving. But where the horse has the basics there (3 paces plus small jump, in arena and hacking) then why should they not pay? It's also true that the majority of sharers need a degree of supervision, if not because of their riding and handling ability then due to a lack of understanding of such things as the importance of warming up and cooling the horse off or being able to tell when a horse is lame. There's also the question of what the owner gives up in terms of the relationship with the horse. I've seen horses who prefer the sharer to the owner! I've seen sharers who ride well enough but differently to the way the owner rides, so they find their horse being retrained to somebody else's ways. The big expenses fall to the owner too (as they should) eg box rest after colic surgery or a new saddle - where is the sharer then? Sharers aren't providing a service to the decent owner, as they often like to think, and therefore I do think sharers should pay.

On the other hand I think sharers can become jaded by the not so decent owners. In the past I've seen share horses who were barely broken, those with no manners on the ground or with ridden behavioural issues, those returning to work after injury or illness and needing a long rehab, those who were limited in what they could do due to old age etc. By far the worse though is the owners who don't feed the horse enough or have the farrier until after the shoes have dropped off, life becomes very expensive for the sharer then. Whilst I dont mind providing tack and rugs (mine to keep), I wouldn't expect to pay for a share horse unless the basic schooling was there and the horse was treated adequately by the owner.
 
I'm looking for someone to help out myself, to no avail. Round here they don't even seem to want to ride for free! lol

Like someone else said, I don't need the money. It'd be very nice to see my horse get fit and learn a little through another person, whilst giving that person the opportunity to ride for free (which you don't even get on your OWN horse!) in return for horse looking well and being looked after!
 
PaddyMonty said:
Depends what the owner wants.
I've shared 5 or 6 horses now. Not paid a penny for any of them. However, in every case I ended up teaching owner so saving them cost of lessons. Horses also schooled to a reasonable standard and looked after horses when owner on holiday etc.
If owner needs sharer for financial reasons then sharer needs to pay. If they need help with yard duties or schooling horse etc then they shouldn't pay. Knowledge/riding ability also a big part of the equation. Not all of us sharers are straight out of a riding school and bring things other than money to the party.
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I think your situation is not so common amongst sharers. I imagine you have a queue of people wanting you to share their horse! :)
 
I found my sharer for while I was pregnant/on maternity leave. My reasons were both for exercise (although I still rode I did stop jumping and I wanted her to keep ticking over ideally as it had not long 'clicked' with her) and also financial as I was aware of impending maternity pay. During this time there have been a couple of occassions where sharer forgot to show up to turn her out, we've since moved yards and my compromise was to put her on full livery so I wasn't worried about her being put out at the right time etc. Subsequently they have paid a little more but I see it as for their convenience as much as mine. Have to say they are brilliant though and as much as I hated asking for money, we had the conversation and decided for the time being to split 50/50. I'm back at work soon so will drop her part down. As far as I'm concerned they are there to enjoy riding my mare - if they want to school fine but I don't expect it - I did have to reiterate that recently as they were a little unsure now I am riding along side them again.
 
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