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Need Opinions in my Lease Horse Please

41 replies

Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 22:38

Hi All

I'd appreciate some opinions on this please.

I'm currently leasing a horse. I've had her for about three months now. I've been riding since I was five years old, at a riding school and I've always wanted a horse so this is the first time I'm actually leasing one.

Long story short, does this seem strange:

The owner of the horse does not have a saddle as it broke before I started the lease and she hasn't bought one since, this means I can only ride bare back.

The horse is very temperamental, they are training her, so lots of lunging and training her to follow voice commands, mostly all my leasing is based on me lunging her and training her. I've no experience with this so I'm doing what the owner tells me to do.

I can see her as often as I like which is great, however, I can only ride her for as long as my nerves can handle. She bolts, bucks and loves jumping so she will sporadically jump, even if there's nothing there. That's all well and good but having to ride her bareback and not knowing what may happen next is unnerving, I've already fallen once as she did a mad gallop and a buck!!

I feel like I'm paying and not getting much benefit at all. I like the owner very much and I love the horse so don't want to leave her but does this seem wierd? As a "Leasee" I would have thought getting a saddle etc was part of the lease fee.

I also feel like sometimes I get somewhere with the training and feel great and the next week she plays up again and it's back to square one.

I tried taking her on an outride as we have a beautiful beach to ride on but that was a disaster! She misbehaved the whole way. I was constantly struggling to get her to behave. On the way back I was leading her and she bolted home breaking the rains out of my hand!! I had this image of being able to go on outrides etc and jump in the arena but so far I can't really do any of that. If I had a saddle then at least I'd feel more in control and more confident.

Just to mention, the owner of the horse trains her everyday and she is used as a lead horse for disabled children.

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kitkat6 · 24/09/2016 22:41

If she is used for disabled children surely she uses a saddle then?

That aside you are paying to have a horse which you cannot just get on and ride you are training it for the owner and being used as a crash test dummy in the process. The owner is taking the piss!

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 22:43

I do not want to sound rude but you sound like a novice rider and this horse is totally unsuitable for you.
Certainly you cannot be expected to ride bareback. It is not good for the horses spine anyway to have a novice rider bouncing up and down on their spine.
Why were you leading her home? Were you not holding the reins properly when she 'bolted'?
If she is normally used as a lead horse for RDA, then her behaviour will be reflecting something that you are doing.
This owner in fact has a bloody cheek not providing a saddle. It is standard.
She doesnt sound like the horse for you. Maybe something a bit more staid and reliable? With a saddle.

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ItsJustPaint · 24/09/2016 22:50

Oh I would hand in your notice op there are lots of lovely horses out there for you to get attached too.

There is absolutely no way, no way at all that a horse as lovely as you describe would ever be used at the Rda sessions I attend.

The children I look after are so precious to me I could never sit them on a horse as you describe.

I think you are being led a merry dance.

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madgingermunchkin · 24/09/2016 22:54

It's the wrong horse for you.

Not only that, but you're supposed to be enjoying yourself and I get the impression you're just not.

You might like the horse, but you're not getting what you want out of this, so why keep paying?

And finally, it sounds like the owners taking the piss a bit. I'd walk away if I was you.

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 22:56

it does sound like a major pisstake, as does the whole 'lease' thing.
I am sure you could find a lovely share or other arrangement. In the meantime, keep going for lessons.

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Ylvamoon · 24/09/2016 22:56

AdaLovelacesCat is right, walk away! Sounds like you 2 are not getting on.

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 22:57

Thanks for your replies. Sorry if I was unclear in my post, I'm not a novice at all as I said I've been riding since I was 5 and have actually been in many show jumping competitions and have wine awards. The issue I have with the training is that it's a very specialized training, there are many rules that you need to follow, too many and too complicated to go through on this post. I don't have experience of this specific training.

Secondly, even the most advanced rider will struggle to ride a bucking bolting horse. She needs to be ridden in a very specific way- no bridle, only a bitless harness is allowed. You cannot grip onto her with your legs as she doesn't like it and us also having physio so I think it irritates her if you do causing her to buck and rear! So literally barely any grip at all and the reins have to be very loose too. She can't cope with rein pressure.

The children don't use a saddle. She puts them on for 15 minutes bareback and leads them so it's very controlled.

I lead her home as she bolted into a pole and literally crushed my leg and she kept trying to bolt. So I jumped off her to lead her quietly home. I was holding her reins over her head and she jumped over a small puddle of water, reared and head butted me in the process and bolted off and the reins snapped!! That's another thing, all the reins are either very brittle or broken and often I have to join to together to create one!

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 22:58

Won*.

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 23:01

well you sound like a novice if you believe all that guff about riding without a saddle and 'specialised training', and you cannot lead a horse without it 'headbutting'you
The horse sounds pretty much useless and the owner is using you to pay the bills.

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WhisperingLoudly · 24/09/2016 23:05

You don't sound like a novice at all - I'm not sure why others are suggesting it. However the horse sounds nuts and it's clearly no joy to ride. Cut your losses and find something you san enjoy

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 23:07

yes I agree - get a horse that you can enjoy.

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 23:07

The training is specialized and in fact actual training. There are numerous YouTube videos regarding this training. She sends them to me so I can watch them and learn. It's the training where you and the horse are one and the horse listens to your commands. She can do this now.

Regarding the saddle, the saddle did break but I think the issue is that she can't afford a new one which is why she's stalling. I'm happy to help with buying one and I've told her that already. She's had saddle fitters come but there's always some excuse about why the saddle isn't suitable. The horse head butted my as I was too close to her and she rested and we connected heads. She's a small horse / pony only 14.5 hands so her head is lower than mine.

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 23:09

oh you mean that horse whispering stuff or Parelli? OK.
Honestly skiver, find a different horse. You need a saddle and a horse that you can enjoy.

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 23:12

Sorry about typos I'm tired. I meant to say that the horse reared not rested*

I'd feel bad in a way though giving up on her, the few times she's behaved it was amazing. We jumped and it was great. But it's always short lived and inconsistent. One week she's fine, the next a nightmare.

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 23:15

Yes that's sounds like it - Parelli. I've never been involved with training as I've always ridden school horses and my friends horse whom I used to do shows with. So training wise, yes I'm a novice but riding wise, no I'm definitely not.

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Skiver123 · 24/09/2016 23:18

Thanks for your feedback though as I realize that it's not acceptable to have no saddle and I will speak to the owner and say to her that if we don't get a saddle soon I'm going to give notice. Also we need proper reins not brittle or make shift reins that break or come apart. I will discuss this with her tomorrow.

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madgingermunchkin · 24/09/2016 23:18

Erm.... There's on such thing as 14.5hh.

Also, anyone can say they've won a lot of showjumping awards.
For all we know it was the 80cm lead rein classes.

The truth is, the horse is dangerous and clearly has issues. Sounds like back problems to me.

You're being taken for a mug and my advice is to run now before you get seriously hurt, or involved in anastomoses accident where the dubious owner tries to pin it on you.

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madgingermunchkin · 24/09/2016 23:20

*no such thing.

*involved in a nasty accident.

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Mrsglitterfairy · 24/09/2016 23:20

To put it bluntly OP, sounds like the owner is taking the piss out of you. To me it seems like she wants someone to not only train her unruly horse but to pay for the pleasure.. If you have a contract, give notice. If you don't, I would just say you can't do if anymore.

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AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 23:22

" So training wise, yes I'm a novice but riding wise, no I'm definitely not."

well yes you are - that is why you were leading her home. Also only a novice rider would even consider getting on a horse like that with no saddle and broken reins.
Honestly you can spend years on riding school horses, and it's all good fun, but you will never really move on.

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ItsJustPaint · 24/09/2016 23:24

Wine awards Grin sounds like you will need them !

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Floralnomad · 24/09/2016 23:33

Sorry OP but you may not be a novice in years of riding but you certainly sound like a novice in actual experience , it's totally different riding riding school horses than having full responsibility for the whole animal . Total madness to take a horse with these issues ,and unsuitable tack out of the yard and even more ridiculous to think that you'd have more control from the ground . Cut your losses and look for a proper share arrangement ,with a sensible owner and a sensible horse suited to your ability .

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lastqueenofscotland · 24/09/2016 23:59

I agree you sound novicey...

horse sounds like it's probably in a fucktonne of pain too.

Walk away.

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ProseccoBitch · 25/09/2016 13:33

This all sounds utterly bizarre. I'm sorry but from the way you've written this you sound like a complete novice and this sounds like nonsense.

Are you in the UK? It's usually called loaning here rather than leasing. The only type of horses that tend to be leased here are serious show/competition horses and stallions. Lease implies that you are paying a good annual sum for the benefit of having this horse, rather than just contributing to costs.

You say you are training the horse but "I've no experience with this so I'm doing what the owner tells me to do". How you can train a horse in an area you have no experience of? That would be like me trying to teach you to speak Italian when I can't speak Italian!

What do you mean the saddle broke? The only way a saddle can really break is if the tree is broken, it seems an odd way to describe a saddle problem.

She sounds like she is in pain to me rather than just naughty. Have you had her back and teeth checked?

You say how badly behaved she is but the owner lets disabled children ride her bareback?! I hope she has some serious insurance!

You're not allowed to ride her in a bit? What on earth is a 'bitless harness'? Do you mean a bitless bridle, like a hackamore?

There is no such thing as '14.5 hands'. There are 4 inchs to a hand so you can have 14 hands, 14.1, 14.2 or 14.3. Not 14.5.

Her head is lower than yours? How tall are you?? 7ft?!

Very odd.

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Gabilan · 25/09/2016 14:39

I've never been involved with training as I've always ridden school horses and my friends horse whom I used to do shows with. So training wise, yes I'm a novice but riding wise, no I'm definitely not

OP, I think the problem here is that learning to ride is such an involved process with so many different levels that one person's novice is another person's superstar because they can canter a horse in a 20m circle. Also I think you're probably suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect - you don't actually know enough to be able to assess your own ability. You have no idea how many people turn up at riding schools and assure you that they're experienced when actually they can ride a bit but they aren't experienced by my definition.

When I recently started lessons with a new trainer I told him that I was competing at Prelim level and then left him to watch and assess what I was capable of. We were about 5 mins into the lesson (I'd warmed my horse up beforehand) when he said "change the rein, rev him up to medium". There's actually a lot involved in that statement in terms of knowing what a medium pace is and knowing where to change the rein so you give the horse the best chance of performing it but the trainer had sussed that I'd know what I was doing. I didn't tell him I was experienced or novice or whatever. He competes internationally so I don't think he'd consider me experienced, more sort of "not bad for an amateur".

I agree with PP. Sadly I don't think you're as experienced as you think. You're not getting what you want from this. I think the horse is in pain. Oh and taking a horse you don't really know, onto a beach, with no saddle and without reliable company? Asking for trouble. For both your sakes I think you need to walk away. And training a horse is part of being an experienced rider - even hacking out I'm asking my horse to work through his back. Not what you wanted to hear, I know. Find a nice horse, with a saddle, and an owner who isn't playing you. And get back to enjoying it - riding can be amazing, but it can be blinking dangerous.

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