Why is it so hard to find reliable sharers?

[pennyturner]

As my own children grow, I'm looking for a couple more local families to share the ponies. Not looking to make money, but to weed out complete time-wasters I do ask for a very small contribution to costs, and stipulate a regular SO, so that they are making a commitment. The deal is 'go out on your own or with us on hacks at the weekends/hols, as much as you like' No set days. Mum can ride too (if she's light) or a friend, sibling etc. The more, the merrier, for a monthly cost of less than one riding school lesson. No chores, and if you know nothing, we'll put in the time to help you learn how to put a head collar on, hold the reins etc. etc. Luckily the ponies are experienced enough to be able to put up with little novices until they get the hang of it!

This seems to me to be a ridiculously good opportunity. We have had some great sharers over the years, who are almost part of the family, but the world seems full of people who get in touch then back out, or take up a whole day with an under-confident child who clearly isn't interested, then you never hear from them again. Where are all the pony-mad kids, or pony-mad mums who fancy an excuse to get back into it?

How can I reach out to the 'right' people?

 

[DirectorFury]

If you find the answer please let me know!

I'm offered unlimited riding in an area with amazing off road hacking, horse is on full livery so no jobs to do, and I don't want a monthly contribution. Horse is a sane type who can have her moments but is never dangerous. Has competed up to 90cm and jumped 1.10 in lessons (with scope for more), competed up to Prelim and schooling Elementary (I've lost interest in competing). Bombproof to hack alone in all situations, can get strong in company but, again, nothing dangerous. Does get a bit overexcited hunting though. I've even offered to take prospective sharer and horse to lessons/competitions for free, and pay for half the lesson and competition cost! I'm literally offering a free horse for people to do stuff with but no one seems to be interested; and those that are interested are straight out of riding schools with awful seats and I don't have the time to devote to handholding and teaching (and, quite frankly, why the hell should I?).

I'm on the verge of selling up completely if I can't find someone to ride the horse soon - I'm actually having to pay a pro £15/ph to hack her out at the moment and it's costing me a fortune for something I'm getting no enjoyment out of.

 

[PaddyMonty]

I'm on the verge of selling up completely if I can't find someone to ride the horse soon - I'm actually having to pay a pro £15/ph to hack her out at the moment and it's costing me a fortune for something I'm getting no enjoyment out of.

It seems that the ideal sharer and the matching owner are often not in the same county

 

[shadeofshyness]

It seems that the ideal sharer and the matching owner are often not in the same county

Exactly this. It took me YEARS to find a share agreement I'm 100% happy with. There were so many fantastic ones out there but always over an hour away.

Anything local was almost guaranteed to be awful - my advert used to say something like 'experienced 30something rider available, happy to do jobs and contribute but floodlit school a must for riding after work in winter, looking within half hour radius of x town'.

One woman asked me to come and try her horse because she'd just had a baby and needed help - all sounded good. But then when I turned up, I found she wanted her just broken in horse schooled in a mud pit with no lights, doing all jobs including bringing in her friend's 4 horses, for £45 a week - oh and no weekends because that's the only time she could get there. So um, absolutely nothing compatible with my ad!

And that's just one of the better examples

 

[Wimbles]

I have one wonderful sharer that actually took on one of the horses we ended up with full time but it turns out that I was extremely lucky to find her.

Having not being able to ride for 7 months I have searched high and low for anyone who would like to come up and ride any of my five horses, free of charge, with the offer of me taking them to whatever type of event they might want to attend but apart from my horseball team mates coming along every now and then, I just have had no luck in finding anyone.

We literally have a horse for every type of rider bar a complete beginner but no-one is interested. Like the poster above, I have ended up paying someone to do a bit of schooling and stuff on some of them and the others have just been trolling round the field.

We were only talking yesterday of all those hours we spent standing at gates as children trying to talk someone into just letting us brush their horses!

 

[PaddyMonty]

OP - In my area there does seem to be a lot more of the smaller types available to share than there used to be. Currently there are 8 all less than 14.2 and only one above 16hh. The one above 16hh would be perfect for me except that owner is pregnant, horse is 17.2, 5yo, green, spooky and kept at yard with a bit of dirt for a school. Oh and the owner wants £90pcm contribution.
So I can pay lots of money, do all the jobs, spend hours sorting horse out and hand it back in 12 months time. No chance. FOC I would take it on.

Wimbles - move to Northampton pretty please.

 

[Durhamchance]

I've had a look just out of interest as I'm not in a position to share at the moment and here there is a distinct lack of horses. There are at least three adult lady riders offering their services with a financial contribution towards costs in my area and perhaps one ad for a horse that's young/green and only 14hh

 

[Shay]

With Children's ponies I've found the Pony Club an invaluable network. I have a perfect PC Pony (my daughter's first) who has sharers. We usually have a waiting list. Mostly they are folks wanting a first experience of owning coming through from local PC Centers or established PC folk who need a confidence giver for a while or have a specific goal they want to achieve which they can't do with their own. There are always younger sibs, school friends etc who want to gain experience, kids whose own ponies are out of action for a while or kids who have stepped up a bit too far too fast and need a boost. I charge a realistic amount for what he costs to keep and I do have some fairly tight rules about experienced adults, not leaving kids unsupervised etc. But we will help get them out to shows, get to PC Champs or whatever their particular goal is - as long as it isn't mounted games as Ned hates them!

If you can get your ponies out to the local PC branch, get them on the PC teams, get the local instructors familiar with them then you have a good pool to drawn on when you have a vacancy.

 

[pennyturner]

Good suggestion re pony club Shay. Problem is that mine are out 24/7 (hence the low costs, which I can pass on to the sharers) there's no school, and our local PC branch is miles away. I know that I struggled pulling muddy monsters out of a field and getting them presentable for rallies when we used to do it.

 

[Equi]

My last sharer was reliable in that she always came when she said and did him, but rarely rode. Latest one came a few times, never rode, then stopped coming. So i have given up for now. Ill maybe try again next winter, but i don't see much point in summer when hes out 24/7 and i can have more time to ride anyway cause no chores.

 

[GirlFriday]

Good suggestion re pony club Shay. Problem is that mine are out 24/7 (hence the low costs, which I can pass on to the sharers) there's no school, and our local PC branch is miles away. I know that I struggled pulling muddy monsters out of a field and getting them presentable for rallies when we used to do it.

I think this may be the problem. Many more experienced families might be looking for something more competition/lesson-friendly and many of the more novicey ones might be looking for more formal (RS-like)/lesson-friendly set-up. Id imagine there will be people just looking to hack but not heaps of families TBH.

 

[wingedhorse]

I've got great sharers but they are all over 40!

 

[pennyturner]

I think this may be the problem. Many more experienced families might be looking for something more competition/lesson-friendly and many of the more novicey ones might be looking for more formal (RS-like)/lesson-friendly set-up. Id imagine there will be people just looking to hack but not heaps of families TBH.

I think you're right. It's a shame. In our experience, children learn more in a couple of fun hacks in open countryside (having first caught and tacked up their own steed) than they do in a year at a riding school.

 

[Olderrider73]

If you find the answer please let me know!

I'm offered unlimited riding in an area with amazing off road hacking, horse is on full livery so no jobs to do, and I don't want a monthly contribution. Horse is a sane type who can have her moments but is never dangerous. Has competed up to 90cm and jumped 1.10 in lessons (with scope for more), competed up to Prelim and schooling Elementary (I've lost interest in competing). Bombproof to hack alone in all situations, can get strong in company but, again, nothing dangerous. Does get a bit overexcited hunting though. I've even offered to take prospective sharer and horse to lessons/competitions for free, and pay for half the lesson and competition cost! I'm literally offering a free horse for people to do stuff with but no one seems to be interested; and those that are interested are straight out of riding schools with awful seats and I don't have the time to devote to handholding and teaching (and, quite frankly, why the hell should I?).

I'm on the verge of selling up completely if I can't find someone to ride the horse soon - I'm actually having to pay a pro £15/ph to hack her out at the moment and it's costing me a fortune for something I'm getting no enjoyment out of.

Where are you based? Looking for a horse to call my own is like online dating! Nightmare lol

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Where are you based? Looking for a horse to call my own is like online dating! Nightmare lol

You have bounced yet another old thread, this one is 3 years old!

 

[Chianti]

I started sharing my first horse one day a week and eventually I took her on full loan. I've shared others over the years and have been happy to pay and to do things the way the owner wanted them done, even if it wasn't the way I would choose to do them. When I came to need a sharer with present pony I was quite naïve as I thought my sharers would do as I used to. He tends to get children sharing him and they only ride him for about a year before they outgrow him so I've had a few now. Some have been lovely and we've remained friends - some have been pains in the a***. One was so unreliable that it was more of a surprise if I didn't get a text to cancel their riding than if I did- child on a regular basis had something else to do, was tired because she'd done something else, was ill or parents were ill. Sharers don't have to do much - I just ask them to wash the bit and brush the numnah. One parent found this too demanding and never did it. I'd send a polite text reminding them or asking not to leave things lying around in the stable. After several of these I got a reply asking me not to text as it was spoiling their enjoyment of riding. Parent had a horse and a sharer and she added that you couldn't expect sharers to do as asked as her's didn't! Current child sharing and parent are lovely and I dread her getting too big for him.