Horse loan- please help!

[Loanhorse]

Hi. Deliberately posting on AIBU not tack room as some ex horsey people may also be able to help but may not check the tack room. After posting here before and receiving some brilliant advice we have decided to loan out my daughters horse on a part loan basis. We just cannot decide on a fair price to do so.

the horse in question is great. Safe and bombproof. Doesn’t ride in an outline and doesn’t school fancily but will do whatever you ask of him schooling wise. Happy to pop a jump, loves cross country. Hacks alone and in company. Loves a gallop in the fields and will keep his rider safe. He’s a saint of a horse who has given my daughter huge amounts of confidence but can step up a gear for a confident rider too. He is on full livery so the loaner will not need to do any yard chores.

yard facilities are fantastic and include an outdoor school, a grass dressage arena, a grass showjumping field, and a full cross country course (liveries can use this anytime they want as long as it’s not being hired out, it’s free 70% of the time) on road hacking which leads to country woodland trails, off road field hacking for either casual hacking or there are tracks in the field set up as gallops.

these facilities are available to use until October time. After this there is only the flood lit outdoor arena with some jumps to set up in it and the hacking in the fields although they can’t be used as gallops in winter. And the on road hacking. Then it all reopens again in the spring.

What would be a fair price to ask for per day, or for 2 days for this? We don’t want to take the piss but also don’t know the going price or what would be fair or realistic. The loaner will not need to contribute to food, shoeing, vets bills etc but will need to have their own insurance for public liability. They will be able to use our tack and can do anything they want riding wise during their days. We are not in a particularly expensive area eg southwest, very much somewhere in the middle

any help for a fair price for this would be greatly appreciated!

£10 a day is pretty typical round here for a sharer. You might be able to charge more given that the horse is on full livery with good facilities.

I wouldn't use cost as a starting point though, think about why you want a sharer and what sort of sharer you want. What is your priority?

Many of the best sharers won't be in a position to pay much. Often the ones who are prepared to pay more are the ones straight out of a riding school. Are you happy to have a novice or would you sacrifice some of the money for an experienced rider?

Just as an example I know a sharer who is a qualified instructor who has competed at a decent level. I think it would be worth compromising on financial contribution for someone like that.

Some of the most successful shares I know of haven't involved money, they have been about mutual benefit.

Definitely mutual benefit is a huge thing

I got to ride a more experienced horse than I could afford, but I also had time and a love of hacking so horse got to do lots of what she loved
I miss her like crazy

I am close to London and £25 a day is what people at my yard charge their sharers ..

I charge £300 per month for my horse my sharer has him 2 days he is on full livery - I came to the amount by asking an instructor what the going rate for a lesson was £55 per half hr asp that was my starting point

I’ve found that whether you offer your horse for free or charge money, however much or little that may be, has very little correlation with the experience level or flakiness of the sharer. I have helpers. I don’t call them sharers, as I offer free riding in exchange for help keeping the horses fit. My horses are well schooled, nice natured, high performance animals who are currently competing at the highest levels of their sport. I currently have helpers I could not manage without. They are fabulous. Nothing is too much trouble, we work well together, and the relationship is a very successful one. I’ve had other helpers come and go who have also been fab, who have had to leave because they moved away (uni, job change, bought their own horse,) and I’ve been really sorry to see them go and generally we’ve kept in touch. I’ve also had complete and utter liabilities. There are people out there who are far more convinced of their own abilities than they have any right to. Warning bells for me start to ring when they start telling you the things that are wrong with your horse when I know there is nothing wrong with them.

Over the years I have had inexperienced and overconfident helpers’ actions result in me having to called out the vet more than once, permanent scarring to one horse, a significant period of reschooling to remedy development of bad habits in another and more. I’ve had one helper take a horse hunting when I explicitly told her she could not do this, and then badmouthed me on social media. I have had 2 teenager’s mothers tell me their brilliant child is a better rider than me and I should be grateful for them training my horse for me. I’ve discovered that one horse was lost loose in the countryside by Facebook of all things - at work and my phone started going mad with ‘have you seen this, has he been found’ messages from friends.

Despite all of this, sharing my horses and yard has found me some really good friends, and help that I need. In terms of money, there is no ‘usual amount’ just what you think is an appropriate amount to charge. The flakey riders could not pay me enough, and the brilliant ones are free to ride for nothing whenever they want.

I'm a horse owner and agree £20/25 per day depending on area. I would charge £10 per day at ours (grass kept and diy) so a sharer would do the jobs on their day(s) too.

Dd has loaned ponies since she was 9, riding school ponies initially then a private loan. Cost here is £30-50 for 3 days (one of those weekend day) full livery.

An hour hack round here is £50 so to have a nice safe horse I could ride out, cuddle and groom and love without having to do the yard chores (I’m not as comfortable with stable management to take on DIY with someone else’s horse as I’ve never owned one). I think £15-20 a day would be reasonable but I’d consider paying more depending how much I liked the horse/owners and what opportunities were on offer to take the horse out and about. Also whether one of that days was a weekend day.

It was £25 per week for 3 days (including a weekend day) 8 years ago for a DIY loan. I'd say £30 for 2 days full livery is good. Will it be week days or weekends? Weekends are more of a premium here, but I guess depends on the age of the child?

In my (very long) experience, an honest, reliable loaner/sharer are worth their weight in gold and are far more valuable than any monetary contribution.

I’d say £15 per day