Would you do this?

[SixPackWellies]

... take a part loan of a 17 year old Welsh C 13,.hh mare who occasionally bucks, is a sweet but not novice ride, for £25 pounds per week plus share of livery?

If you have not ridden for about 15 years (but was fairly good in your day and hunted and all that).

I could give only about 5-6 hours a week to her, along with her regular owner.

I think I am being insane, but I covet.....

[Backinthebox]

If you like the look of her, and are prepared to be bucked off, think you will get back into the swing of things and will get used to sitting the bucks, why not?

5-6 hours a week is plenty if her owner is giving a similar amount of time. You could ride for 3-4 hours and still have a couple of hours left for stable duties like grooming, feeding, mucking out, holding for the farrier/vet, poo-picking, etc.

£25 per week plus livery share is within a reasonable amount to ask, if this is a part loan and you have responsibility for and free access (with cooperation with the owner, of course) to the pony. It is at the higher end of reasonable though (I did a cost analysis for keeping a 13.2hh pony recently, and we estimated that excluding livery it would cost between £82 and £130 per month, depending on the month, the amount of feed it is getting and the amount of bedding being used, which is in turn dependent on the amount of turnout it gets,) so maybe ask the owner what this includes? I would expect it to include shoeing, worming, feed, hay, bedding and routine vets costs. Check whether it includes emergency vet costs too, or an appropriate insurance policy. As an owner I would expect you to sort out your own public liability insurance though. The other big question is how much is the livery? If it's cheap, it's probably a reasonable deal. But if she wants to you pay a share of a couple of hundred quid a month livery, it's starting to look like an expensive share. Lots of things to ask.

[mrslaughan]

Have you seen her buck? I just ask because my share bucks - but it's like a half buck - normally when I do something wrong, ie asking her to go forward, but have got right in my elbows.
If you have ridden one of her bucks and your comfortable with it, it wouldn't be a problem - but if you haven't , and you have never seen it, or ridden it I would tread carefully.
I only say this as there was a horse on our yard - who didn't buck every time she was ridden, bug when she did it was to get you off, and she Didn't stop until she got her rider off - that I would not be happy with.

[mrslaughan]

Tight in my elbows, not right - sorry.

[CMOTDibbler]

Sounds like an expensive share tbh. And if you've been told she bucks, then it may be that she has other naughty habits.

Go get some lessons and hacks out to build up your muscles and experience again, then think about shares

[snowpo]

Wow, thats lots of money. £25pw for a 13hh is just about ok but more than that is silly. Especially if not a kids ride, not like there'll be lots of takers.

[Littlebigbum]

My sports horse was a proper bronco but my Dale pony did this sort of kick out buck looked dramatic but the rider couldn't feel it.

I say give it a go I know you want to! And you can afford £25... and 6hrs. Sure the riding side will all come back

[SixPackWellies]

Thanks so much for everyone's ideas. I thought about it overnight and talked with DH and I think CMOT's idea of getting back in with lessons and hacks is the right one. I just resent paying so much for a one hour lesson when I could get several rides in - plus the joys of grooming, cuddling, feeding, doing all of that too! But that is a practical idea, especially as 13.hh is possibly a little small for me and I would find it so hard to move on to another horse once I have fallen in love!

The issues around emergency vet and public liability insurance are ones I have never even considered, backinthebox so thankyou for that. The thoughts on it being the higher end in terms of cost is a real eye opener too.

Hmmm...... right. Clearly I need to consider more! I am VERY grateful for all your thoughts..... I can be impulsive, and you have given me pause for thought!

Right... off to book lessons......

[CMOTDibbler]

I think once you are back in the saddle, theres lots of shares come up for competent riders. I certainly see a good number of 'not a novice ride' ads on Preloved locally where the owner wants no money, just their horse exercised or schooled.

If you were local to me, I'd offer you free grooming and cuddling of dpony!

[SixPackWellies]

Thank you! I miss the cuddles. :)

[SixPackWellies]

Hmmm..... there is another advert for someone asking for a part loan, you get to ride twice a week, but must be prepared to feed twice a day every day and muck out once a day every day and the cost is £50.00 plus equal share of all vet/food and livery bills.

That might just be taking the piss.

(I cannot help but look.... but have first lesson booked in for Tuesday!!!)

[SixPackWellies]

Oh- that was £50 per week.

[Pixel]

£50 plus a share of the bills? . Blimey, and you have to muck out, feed and only ride twice, they will be lucky to get anyone to do that. How is that better than a couple of hacks at a riding school (£25 round here) which involves no extra bills and no work? They are bonkers.

[SixPackWellies]

That is exactly what I thought!!

[Backinthebox]

That one sounds to me like you are paying them through the nose for the privilege of doing all their leg work! If I were you, I would be getting some lessons, getting back into the swing of things, be looking like mad on sites like New Rider to see what is out there, and once you have a better idea of what you are looking for you can maybe answer some adverts, maybe make an advert yourself.

To give you a few ideas, I got my first shares by answering adverts, then put an ad out myself for the 3rd share I had:
No. 1 was a nutty TB mare her owner was scared to ride. I paid £75 a month for riding any weekday I liked. (I work shifts so could ride during the week before kids.)
No 2. was a very boring placid easy gelding on full livery. I could ride 3 times a week, including weekends, and paid £150 a month. I had all of Windsor Great Park to ride in. (I work at Heathrow, so this was pricey but handy.)
No. 3 was a gelding in response to an ad I put up in the local tack shop. He had major clingyness issues, would only hack in company. I paid £20 per week and ended up inadvertently with him on full loan for that when his owner moved abroad. He was on DIY livery and I was going up twice a day, but he was only 5 minutes down the road.

I was getting a lot of people telling me during this time (once they realised I could ride mid-week) that I could ride their horses for free, and I took various horses out to shows and hunting.

At this point I realised I could do better by buying a horse myself rather than fitting in around other people's foibles. I bought a horse and had him on livery for years, then brought him home to live in the field and stables behind our house and got a horse for my mum too. I realised with a job that takes me abroad and a child I needed a sharer. My advert asked for a competent, confident rider for 2 very large horses (mine was 17.3hh and my mum's was a substantial HW show cob.) I had a string of riders who thought they were competent, who would ride the big horse for a few months with no bother and then one day get him on one of his off days, and I'd never see them again, in spite of having described his off days to them at the start and how to deal with him!

Eventually it was a bit hard and I sold him, and my mum's horse went back to his owner. I bought a 15hh easy but young gelding, and a pony for my kids. I'd had the new horse about 6 months when an advert was sent round the riding clubs and hunts that was looking for a horse that sounded just like mine. I now have 2 adult sharers and a child who help me with my horse and pony. They pay me half the cost of shoes, nothing more, and are expected to have a lesson a month to keep their skills brushed up and my horses learning. I would have the horses anyway, and this way I can keep my horses at home and don't have to pay for help when I am away with work, and my horses are kept fit through the winter months for hunting. We all hunt, each of my sharers have been to at least one show and 2 hunt meets this year.

All of my sharers have been with me for 2 years now, and are showing no signs of going anywhere. In fact they have just clubbed together and bought themselves a project pony to keep at mine, bring on and have fun with, so now 2 adults can ride together too (and I have a pony I can borrow if I want to hack out with a family member.) So you see, you can get cheap shares, and often there is no catch. Someone who wants £200 per month PLUS bills is taking the mickey if you ask me! As I said, the project pony on our yard costs his owners about £80 per month in summer, £130 in winter. I don't charge them livery as they look after mine for me. So each half-owner shells out between £40 and £65 per month, plus their BHS/PC membership to cover them for public liability, plus a contingency amount to cover unexpected vets fees. And that is the price they pay to OWN the pony and turn up whenever they want and do whatever they want with it. I would expect a pony with bells on and golden shoes for £200 a month plus bills - my old 17.3hh highly schooled county standard show hunter didn't cost that much to keep! And he ate and crapped a lot!