Why don't potential sharers read ads?

abbijay

abbijay

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I've had various sharers over the years which have been hugely successful but my latest one has just bought a new horse (after getting her confidence back on mine) and so the hunt starts again...
I put my advert up yesterday with all the usual stuff about him being great but responsive, a super hack and competent at schooling. I then included the following caveat; "Over 18s only with previous experience of unsupervised horse care and riding and must be confident to handle horse without supervision although he is a real gentleman. Would suit someone who has had horses before but can't currently commit to one of their own."
So within 2 hours I get a few text and agree to have a chat in the evening. She sounded lovely but has only ever ridden and helped in riding schools. He's on a big yard but I need someone who after meeting me and BP not more than 3 times is competent to start going down on their own. I'm always at the end of the phone and happy to meet them if an issue arises but can't be babysitting someone as they transition from RS.
Am I not being clear enough in the advert?
 
Hmmm I think you're being pretty clear. Maybe she considered her help in the riding school to be unsupervised? If she was working on her own... Or perhaps she just liked the sound of the horse and thought she'd give it a go.

Maybe make it clear that when you say unsupervised care and riding you mean previously owned/loaned/shared a horse ? I know you've said 'would suit' but people might take that as a 'doesn't have to have owned'.

If I read your advert I think I would know that you want someone who hasn't just come out of a RS but others might not. Or maybe they just thought they'd have a cheeky ask and see if you would be lenient!
 
Problem is the more novice riders do not know just how novice they are.
Owner of my current horse advertised for a rider to bring horse on to compete affiliated BE / BS. No charge involved.
Apart from me she got a lot of replies from teenagers with less than 5 years riding experience. They just dont know how little of horses they have experienced.
 
I didn't want to specify "must have owned/loaned before" because I know a rare handful of people who have worked in the industry but never actually owned their own and didn't want to exclude them! But I take your point about she just thought he was wonderful and fancied a go anyway... ;-)
 
Depends how long she's been helping and what things she's been doing. When I helped in an RS I was tacking up for lessons, turning out, bringing in, chucking feeds over the doors, haying, watering etc - essentially ii was an unpaid groom. After 4 years of this I did feel pretty competent and would also have replied to your advert. I say don't write her off just yet if you initially thought she sounded good.

Eta: I was also having private lessons so used to riding on my own as opposed to being in a group.
 
It's the same as trying to loan. What part of - pony has been ridden in walk and trot half a dozen times by an adult - translates into - this pony is ideal for your child coming off the lead rein to do first ridden classes and the odd bit of jumping...

I have given up!
 
For my first horse share (years ago now), it was my first experience outside of a riding school environment and after a very long break too. I was completely honest about my ability and she watched me tack up and ride (very rustily!) and I agreed to have regular lessons at the yard and hacked out with people until I was confident to school and hack on my own.
If someone has horse sense and is sensible it might be worth a shot! I understand you can't supervise them but is there someone at the yard happy to help out if needed and just keep an eye on them until they are confident and you're happy? I am forever grateful to the owner for giving me the chance to share her horse.
Depends on what you're happy with at the end of the day and it's not been long so you may get some more suitable responses. Good luck with the search!
 
Mince Pie said:
Depends how long she's been helping and what things she's been doing. When I helped in an RS I was tacking up for lessons, turning out, bringing in, chucking feeds over the doors, haying, watering etc - essentially ii was an unpaid groom. After 4 years of this I did feel pretty competent and would also have replied to your advert. I say don't write her off just yet if you initially thought she sounded good.

Eta: I was also having private lessons so used to riding on my own as opposed to being in a group.
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It's actually the riding more than the horse care that bothers me. If you've only ridden under an instructors supervision it is very different to going out hacking and schooling on your own as there's no one to tell you how to react to a situation as it arises.
 
jemstar said:
For my first horse share (years ago now), it was my first experience outside of a riding school environment and after a very long break too. I was completely honest about my ability and she watched me tack up and ride (very rustily!) and I agreed to have regular lessons at the yard and hacked out with people until I was confident to school and hack on my own.
If someone has horse sense and is sensible it might be worth a shot! I understand you can't supervise them but is there someone at the yard happy to help out if needed and just keep an eye on them until they are confident and you're happy? I am forever grateful to the owner for giving me the chance to share her horse.
Depends on what you're happy with at the end of the day and it's not been long so you may get some more suitable responses. Good luck with the search!
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My first successful share (yes, that's where I started out too so I do get both sides of it) was where the owner would initially ride out with me.
I'm on a fairly busy yard but in a separate barn and keep myself to myself so although there are people I chat to there isn't anyone who I feel comfortable to ask to keep an eye on them when I'm not there - plus too many of them are too good at offering opinions too frequently anyway!
 
abbijay said:
My first successful share (yes, that's where I started out too so I do get both sides of it) was where the owner would initially ride out with me.
I'm on a fairly busy yard but in a separate barn and keep myself to myself so although there are people I chat to there isn't anyone who I feel comfortable to ask to keep an eye on them when I'm not there - plus too many of them are too good at offering opinions too frequently anyway!
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Ah I see. Then it does sound like you need someone with a bit more experience. I think some people feel confident from the riding school environment but don't realise how big a step up sharing and owning is.
 
I spent my formitive years helping and riding in a riding school before going and riding other peoples. I was perfectly capable to have sole charge at that point, had ridden alone/hacked alone plenty etc if that is your worry? I think you are maybe judging a bit quick.
 
PaddyMonty said:
Problem is the more novice riders do not know just how novice they are.
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I think this is the big problem.

You come out of a riding school feeling like because you can tack up, canter round a school and jump 2 or 3 fences in a school that you can ride and no what you're doing. When actually, that is the tiniest tip of the iceberg
 
It's a nightmare. I put a horse out on loan a few years ago and I stated I wanted an experienced rider as horse could be a bit tricky (had a big buck in him, which he still does occasionally with the people who loaned then bought him off me!). I lost count of the amount of emails I had saying "I have had 5 lessons and I can walk and trot and canter and gallop please can I have your horse". No, basically, you can't.
 
When I got my first horse it was as an adult straight out of a riding school because I hadn't been able to afford one before then and the only way to get my horsey fix was to take lessons. Of course, as someone coming out of a riding school, I was completely hopeless along the lines that LouisCat identifies. The 15 years of weekly lessons meant I could only ride a course of decent-sized fences, gallop around a 3' cross country course, ride lateral movements, school a green horse, hack out (ok I hadn't hacked out alone, but it wasn't exactly hard when I did), race up stubble fields, ride and jump bareback and undertake all basic aspects of horse care and first aid. It was different having my own, of course it was, but the learning curve wasn't as steep as I'd expected because I had lots of well-supervised experience to draw on.

It isn't all plodding around in circles if you have been to decent stables with decent horses and decent instructors. And no, my first horse wasn't a half-dead plod either. Give them a chance, some of those coming out of riding schools will be more competent and willing to learn that those who have had horses all their lives and are for some reason inordinately proud of never having had a single lesson.
 
I think good sharers are hard to come by, and TBH if this lady sounds good then I would at least meet and see where she is at.

I had a sharer who had never ridden out at all, never ridden unsupervised and had only ever ridden in an arena. She had never tacked up, turned out or any of those things. Within 3 visits she was very competent to do routine things, and know when to ask for help.

I did have the odd phone call to clarify things, but the person was top quality, she could make decisions, remember stuff, had energy and enthusiasm, and paid for lessons from a trainer. Most of all I trusted her to be truthful, and to make sensible decisions.

If I had missed out because she had not got much experience, that would have been my loss!
 
I am absolutely losing my mind with people contacting me wanting to move my horse to their yard. It says in the advert "to stay at curren yard". I even changed it into capitals. I've had genuinely about 20 people contact me who sound good who then say "oh I've just read he can't move, never mind", or who I have to tell. Why would you respond to an ad before reading it??
Also it says "suitable for lightweight adult or mature teenager, no children please" and also "not novice ride". And then I get messages from people asking for their 6yo who has had lessons at the riding school and loves horses and has their own grooming kit and wants a pony.
I'm starting to get really irritated with it all tbh :p
 
abbijay said:
It's actually the riding more than the horse care that bothers me. If you've only ridden under an instructors supervision it is very different to going out hacking and schooling on your own as there's no one to tell you how to react to a situation as it arises.
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When I helped at a riding school as a teenager I quite often rode out alone (to exercise livery clients horses, to deal with an issue with a particular horse, to check a route etc). I also escorted more experienced hacks regularly, so with a group but in front and in charge of choosing the route, resolving issues etc. Not sure this is allowed anymore, but I wouldn't assume she's only ridden under an instructors supervision (apologies if you asked and that is all she's done).
 
Mince Pie said:
Depends how long she's been helping and what things she's been doing. When I helped in an RS I was tacking up for lessons, turning out, bringing in, chucking feeds over the doors, haying, watering etc - essentially ii was an unpaid groom. After 4 years of this I did feel pretty competent and would also have replied to your advert. I say don't write her off just yet if you initially thought she sounded good.

Eta: I was also having private lessons so used to riding on my own as opposed to being in a group.
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This is what I was thinking!
I know at our local RS there are a few long time helpers who I'd trust to do my horses alone. Maybe ask for a reference from the riding school owner?
 
I wouldn't necessarily think that an experienced riding school rider hadn't read the advert. Probably thinks she has read it and ticks your boxes. I know plenty of very competent riding school riders and plenty of people who own their own who I wouldn't let anywhere near mine. Fine if it's not what you want, but I don't think that's her fault.
FWIW I got my first horse I backed to live at home (so no support) after 20 years of nothing but riding schools and and we are doing fine. Horse care isn't the great mystery that we like to make it out to be as long as people are willing to think, admit what they don't know and learn.
 
Ridden and helped in riding schools was probably me in my early 20s when I took on my first loan horse - mainly because there was nowhere near enough money when I was growing up to buy me a pony. BUT I had ridden all sorts, helped at a variety of different yards so had cracking stable management experience, taken rides out as a guide etc etc.

My first loan horse was after a friend at the same livery yard recommended me to his owner. I turned up in the evening to meet her and ride the horse and thought 'flippin heck [well, something like that!] this horse is a nutter' as we trotted round sideways with his head in the air. The owner said she'd never seen him go so quietly because usually he did laps of the school at the canter.

I loaned him for 3 years until the arthritis from his old show jumping days caught up with him. He's 27 now and takes kids on lead rein rides which is something I couldn't have imagined all those years ago.

There were a few things that caught me by surprise in those 3 years - massive allergic reaction to fly bites, losing his footing on tarmac and falling over with lots of blood, not being able to open a field gate because it was frozen solid (with a very cross, cold, hungry warmblood on the wrong side of it), but generally I managed pretty well and in some cases better than the more established horse owners on the yard. My horse was well cared for, I was a good horsey person on the yard (tidy and helpful) plus with 20 years of riding 'anything' under my belt I did a lot of schooling of various livery horses that were perhaps a teeny bit too much for their owners!!

So don't write off all riding school peeps - some of them have had harder horsey training than those people who have owned just one or two horses all their lives :-)
 
Mince Pie said:
Depends how long she's been helping and what things she's been doing. When I helped in an RS I was tacking up for lessons, turning out, bringing in, chucking feeds over the doors, haying, watering etc - essentially ii was an unpaid groom. After 4 years of this I did feel pretty competent and would also have replied to your advert. I say don't write her off just yet if you initially thought she sounded good.

Eta: I was also having private lessons so used to riding on my own as opposed to being in a group.
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I agree with this. My parents could never afford a horse for me growing up, but I did all of the above and more helping at the local stables and was more than capable of caring for a horse on my own.

ETA - We also frequently hacked the horses on our own in groups and individually, so you should probably ask if she has done this as many will have done.
 
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Another who agrees novice people don't realise just how novice they are, especially I'm guessing if they are more experience in the riding school than others.
My husband knows nothing about horses, tho he thinks they're lovely. Remember once getting horse in and two decided to have scrap; rearing, biting. He stood right next to this and remarked upon it but didn't move. Had to explain it wasn't a cowboy film, he had a good chance of getting hurt and needed to move PDQ!
 
I think for me personally, what would worry me most about someone with only riding school experience would be the things you pick up by owning re: illness, soreness. You don't necessarily have to be vigilant or know about the signs of colic, lameness, lami etc as the YO and Instructors will have that part covered. You are not in charge of their management necessarily so wouldn't have had to make the decisions of what to feed the horse, what shoes they need, when is best to turn them out for weight management, what rugs they need on (and the signs of whether a rug doesn't fit or does fit), or whether tendon boots fit or dont, or what boots to wear. I would say that these are things you are told respectively for each pony, and that the way it is, you put the stuff on and manage them as told.

I know this isn't the case for all riding schools at all, but it's what I would be thinking. Although I wouldn't write off a riding schooler, I would weigh up the individual
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
I think for me personally, what would worry me most about someone with only riding school experience would be the things you pick up by owning re: illness, soreness. You don't necessarily have to be vigilant or know about the signs of colic, lameness, lami etc as the YO and Instructors will have that part covered. You are not in charge of their management necessarily so wouldn't have had to make the decisions of what to feed the horse, what shoes they need, when is best to turn them out for weight management, what rugs they need on (and the signs of whether a rug doesn't fit or does fit), or whether tendon boots fit or dont, or what boots to wear. I would say that these are things you are told respectively for each pony, and that the way it is, you put the stuff on and manage them as told.

I know this isn't the case for all riding schools at all, but it's what I would be thinking. Although I wouldn't write off a riding schooler, I would weigh up the individual
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That could be any horse owner in my experience.
Owning a horse is the easy bit,becoming competent and knowing when to get help from someone who actually knows what they are talking about is the hard part.
I think someone who will listen to you is the main thing, and has a brain that they use, the fact they had only ridden in a riding school shouldn't be a problem. The worst person is someone who knows better than you and does not follow your instructions, because they know better.
 
I saw more about the signs of lameness, soreness, lami, colic, breathing difficulties etc etc from my time at the RS than I ever have in my years of horse ownership and on a small DIY yard. When you are on a yard with 50 horse/ponies of a variety of types ages and with various chronic issues you tend to see stuff a lot more, and it was our job to spot when things were off.
As a sharer I wouldn't expect to be in charge of what to feed the horse, that is the owners decision as are all the other management decisions you mention- shoes, when to turn out. What rugs to put on isn't rocket science or I used to just ask as frankly everyone is different on that, I also used to do the same for washing off and tell them to tell me if they wanted anything doing differently.
In fact I wonder how many owners decide what shoes their horse wears!?
I have a sharer now, she is an older lady but isn't that experienced but I trust her enough to take sole charge. I just txt her to say what rug to put on if she is turning out or putting to bed depending on time of year and she'd ask if stuck.
 
ester said:
I have a sharer now, she is an older lady but isn't that experienced but I trust her enough to take sole charge. I just txt her to say what rug to put on if she is turning out or putting to bed depending on time of year and she'd ask if stuck.
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Same here. Bit novicey but I've spent a bit of time showing her how I want to do things and she always checks with me if she is unsure. I cant imagine anyone else on the yard being involved with what shes doing in fact I think I would be a bit cross if they were! What she lacks in horse owning experience she more than makes up for in reliability and the fact she adores my horse.

Decent sharers are hard to find, you are looking for something very specific and you might never find it.
 
I'm another that came up the old fashioned way of helping at riding schools/ livery yards in order to get rides as family was non horsey and not a lot of free cash. I learnt an awful lot along the way (although this was 30 odd yrs ago) . I know things have changed and people aren't allowed the opportunities we were. I learnt to ride anything, cope with all sorts of bad tempered horses the helpers always had to deal with new horses and the ones with quirks.
I've shared loaned, owned over the years. But those days helping people out taught me so many coping skills. So please do give riding school helpers the chance to share. They may just know more than you think they do.
If fact as I have no horse at mo I've just gone back to helping at a riding school to get my horsey fix
 
I just wanted to add that only considering people who have previously owned/loaned a horse does not necessarily mean that a prospective sharer is competent. We had a girl on a previous yard who owned a beautiful horse but kept it on full livery. She never tacked up the horse or cared for it in any way, just turned up, rode, then handed it back to the staff. Watching her ride was 'interesting' to say the least.

Good luck with your search for a good sharer, they are sometimes hard to find.
 
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