Would you let anyone ride your horse when you are not there?

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Obilicious

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I was thinking about people riding other peoples horses when they are not there and to be honest the thought of someone riding my horse while im not there to see what they are doing makes me feel very unconfortable as you have no idea what they could be doing. I know people who loan and share their horses do.


Would you let someone ride your horse when you arnt there? and if you dont mind why is that??


:oI've been thinking about this all day... :D
 
Yes I would - best friend, YO, cousin - I know how they ride, and know they would never do anything to upset any horse I owned. Two of the three are better riders than me, and I grew up with my cousin and best friend - we ride in a similar way, and we used to swap horses all the time for a giggle! Other folks - no. I wouldn't let them drive my car, so I wouldn't let them ride my horse!
 
Depends on the situation. My YO schools my horse once or twice a week for me so obviously in that situation, of course I am happy for her to ride when I'm not there (that's the point of it). I had a sharer for a while, again I was quite happy for her to ride when I wasn't around. She took him off to fun rides and DR, all sorts of things, without me.

I would only allow someone I trust to ride my horse, whether I am there or not. I would be fuming if people rode my horse without my permission but that's a different situation to someone *with* your permission riding them. I wouldn't give my permission to someone I didn't trust, so I wouldn't be worrying about the stuff you're worrying about.
 
Yes but only the freelance groom I use. She is a million times a better rider than I am and has worked wonders with him. She is allowed to do whatever she likes but anybody else not a chance. I don't even like other people looking after him let alone riding!!
 
Yes I do let other people ride mine. But only people I've seen ride and know they can handle the situation as my traddie boy is a temperamental little git sometimes and the only people I trust to ride him are (1) yard sharer (2) friend who loves him to bits but won't let him get away with anything, i.e. zero tolerance (3) my trainer and (3) another friend who's ridden professionally in the past and somehow gets him going in a fantastic outline to die for: but then she's such a fantastic rider that she'd get a donkey round Badminton........
 
My yard owner rides him when I am away. Does me a real favour as she is hugely experienced and achieves a lovely outline.Far better than me as I am just a "happy hacker"
 
Yup my two grooms ,one friend who helps getting the inexperianced ones hunting and another friend who is horseless ATM and has been riding the cob.
I used to be much more precious about it however I don't let any one "train " the horses unless I am there.
 
Yes. The only people who would ride my horse would be those I trusted, so would have no problem.

A horse of mine was often hunted by a friend.
 
Yes if I trusted them, I often do let trusted people take my mare out, particularly for riding virgins, as she is very good with those sorts and I know she won't be ranted.

I did once get pressured into allowing someone at the yard I didn't know too well take her to a fun ride, which I wasn't happy about, but my mare obliged me by losing a shoe and couldn't go, that was a shame!
 
Yes and no. I do loan one of mine and I'm quite protective of her because she's been a project and because she isn't actually mine. That said, her owner is more relaxed and has okayed it if I do want to let others ride her, so there are a few who I would allow solo: my ex-OH and Orange's breeder I'd let hack her (her breeder wouldn't want to do anything else - she sold her for being much much too big!) and a couple of particular friends, who are trained by my trainer, who could hack or school her. The flatwork has been a long haul work in progress, so I'm much pickier there as she can get herself in a right state. Obviously, her owner can come and do whatever she likes!

Life Partner Mare (when she was still sound) was a much more straightforward ride, so my ex-OH and the same two friends, with a free rein to hack or school. She's not as sensitive or reactive and tends to just ignore it if someone does something different. She's a bit broken now, though, so if she ever came back into work, then probably only the two particular friends, as they've both been through complex injuries with horses and recognise the difference between 'nope, don't want to' and 'no, can't.'

Baby Mare, oh heck no! She's only just started under saddle and does some stunning acrobatics if you press the wrong buttons, so no one but me and my trainer get to play with her under saddle OR on the ground. (I like my friends and I trust them; I want them to stay alive!).

Blondie, in his day, went out on loan a few times. It wasn't always a success, but he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself (and did the one time he needed to!) and I vetted the people who had him first, checked on him regularly, and never had any real cause to worry about him.

To be honest, the people I'd be fine with riding mine are people I completely trust to either do as I would with my horse or do better, so I don't have any reason to be anxious about them. I also trust the horses to be able to cope with slight variations in riding styles and abilities without having a meltdown. The only one I've got a flat no-no on is the youngster and it's *her* I'm not so sure of, not them!

ETA: I haven't included trainers in this, as I wouldn't want to be trained by someone I wouldn't also trust to get on my horse unsupervised!
 
Funnily enough, today, I have ridden my YO's pride and joy, for the first time ever, out on a solo hack.
I offered to ride him as she is on hols this week, and we are a bit behind with fittening for the Newmarket ride. I wouldn't normally.
I am secretly pretty chuffed that she accepted my offer. He means the world to her, and I am delighted that she thinks I am trustworthy enough to ride him. We hack out together all the time, so she knows what I will and won't do/ put up with, so I'd like to think that he's at least as safe with me as he is with her. The only gamble was that she had only tried to hack him out once alone when she first got him and he tried it on a bit, so he's never done it since.
I was hoping for a hacking buddy this morning, just while I got used to him, but she blew me out :(

Would I do the same with my own horse? Depending on the individual, yes.
I would have to know that they wouldn't lose their rag with him (any more than I do), as he's a bit quirky, and that they were competent enough to sit one of his many idiotic spooks, but other than that, I have no problem with it. I'd prefer to see them ride him first though. I definitely wouldn't plonk someone I hardly knew on him.

It's academic anyway. He's a cob...I can't give him away :(
 
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Yes if I knew their standard of riding. We have someone come in and school two of the horses every week, have family member who like to ride occasionally and one horse is a general use one so that my partner can some times have company when out hunting. If you do let other people ride you should check your insurance cover. We have BHS Gold membership which gives us public liability cover on any horse we ride and covers anyone who we allow to ride any of our horses.
 
When he was younger, I would let friends ride my boy Now that he is 23 and has a few issues, only me, my best friend and maybe my sister. I say maybe for my sister as he does take advantage of her and thinks its fun to spin and tank off!!
 
A girl at my yard rode my horse twice while I wasn't there (to my knowledge)... she NEVER had permission, I was never asked and the second time wasn't told since I made such a fuss the first time.
She hammered him around the school asking him to jump 1m. I arrived at the yard in the afternoon to find a very tired horse :( He hadn't jumped in at least 5 years and had only been sound a week since an abscess. I was furious and asked for it never to happen again.
2 weeks later I find photos on facebook of everyone at the yard out on a hack (I was away that weekend which she knew!) and said girl on my precious horse. No idea how fast they went or how far, it makes my blood boil now just thinking about it!

In answer to the question - no I wouldn't let anyone ride my horse if I wasn't there. He's far too precious, I know his limits which other people do not :(
 
To be honest, with Pip, no, because he isn't straight-forward and is very easy to get into arguments with. Out on a hack he's fine, just wouldn't want anyone to school him as such :)
 
Yes there are people I'd let ride my horse alone. Most are on here.
That said, they are* great riders and my horse is straightforward. The answer night be different if I had a difficult horse or less accomplished friends...
 
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No - one of mine is unpredictable so wouldn't want to be responsible if he caused an accident!

The other is a youngster I am bringing on and again would feel uncomfortable with somone else riding him atm, but once he is more established, would trust him with somone else.

Probably too precious about them both though!!!
 
I would only allow someone highly experienced to ride my horse whilst I'm not there, and I must have known them for many years and their riding style too.
 
Yes so long as it was someone i trusted for example my YO who often helps with schooling mostly whilst i watch but would trust her 100% whether i was there or not
 
Yes, as long as horse and rider are matched. Riders leave an imprint behind, so I can often get an idea of how the horse has been ridden.
 
I had to work first day of a competition. Mum took my pony and didn't tell me til after that she let someone ride him that day. Next thing I knew they wanted to buy him! Turned down a very substantial offer, she's not been allowed to take him anywhere since 😉
 
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