Horse Share Etiquette

[RaspberryBeret1999]

My daughter shares a horse on a full livery yard, two set days a week, financial contribution only.

A couple of times we’ve turned up and the horse is out being ridden by someone else, and we have had to wait until they return. Is this normal? My understanding of a share was that you could ride on your set day, whatever time you like, although on the whole, we do try to stick to a set time.

The yard owner is very nice and has been very helpful, I don’t want to make any unnecessary fuss, if I’ve misunderstood how a share works.

I’ve never had a sharer but I agree with you those 2 days are yours and nobody else should be riding the horse . Is it the owner riding it ? The only other thing is if the horse is on full livery that includes exercise the staff may be riding it but then you need to tell the yard manager that you don’t need it ridden on your days .

No that is not how it works. My horse is on full livery and if I was to share him I wouldn’t go and see him on those days.
Do you have a contract?

Thanks for the replies.

No, no contract, just a verbal agreement.

It’s quite a busy yard, a mix of owners, sharers, and the horse we share belongs to the owner of the yard. It’s not the owner who is riding, or another sharer, it’s someone who wants a random lesson, so I think they use our share as he’s considered a safe horse. Also, these instances have occurred when the owner is not there, and the staff are in charge.

As I say, the owner is very approachable, so I’ll have a chat so we know what we’re both expecting.

It sounds like what you have there is not really a true 'share' but a (paid for) loan of a riding school horse. At my yard some of the RS horses are "part-loaned" (for a fairly extortionate fee!) to clients but they are pretty limited in how/when they can ride as lessons always come first and they have to stick to their allotted riding times - the horses on the loan scheme don't seem to do noticeably fewer hours in the school than the others, and I have witnessed a horse finishing a lesson and being handed straight over to it's 'loaner', so it's definitely not like a 'proper' loan/share where on your days you turn up whenever and ride pretty much as much as you like as the poor horses would be exhausted!

All this is fine if it's known to you upfront of course but if you were told your DD would have effectively free rein and not told the horse would be used in lessons, that's not good. Also does the owner not know her horse is being used for lessons - that's the sort of thing you'd think an owner should definitely agree to her staff doing!? Overall doesn't sound great at all so if you can't get it sorted I'd look for another share...

It sounds like it’s a horse on working livery at a riding school rather than a share?
I’d have a chat to the owner about the arrangement.

There are all sorts of sharing arrangements, but the owner should be upfront and clear on what they are offering and expecting. It sounds like there might have been a miscommunication between owner and yard staff, which is excusable in my opinion so long as it gets sorted.

I’ve only shared privately owned horses, and generally on “my” days the horse wasn’t ridden by the owner. As others have already said, riding school shares are a bit different as the horse still does lessons, but I’d expect that to be clear - and you should be able to arrange a time when he/she will be available for your daughter to ride. And a good riding school will limit how much work the horse does each day, and give them appropriate breaks.

As an aside from your sharing situation - unless they are a licensed riding school, the yard shouldn’t be providing horses for lessons. Just something to be aware of.