Part loan riding school horse

[LJAshman]

Hi!
I’ve recently started riding again and have just found out that the school I have been going to part loan horses. The deal is £260 per month- you can go up, groom and ride as much as you want (as long as the horse isn’t needed for other lessons). No yard work needed, although I wouldn’t actually mind getting my hands dirty. It’s a really nice yard with really good facilities and on the edge of a stunning Forrest you can ride around. This set up would suit me as I have 2 young children so do t have tonnes of spare time but does this seem like quite a lot of money? I have no concept of what to expect.
Many thanks!!!

We have the same set up with DD. In theory no yard work needed, but horses don’t generally get mucked out if DD doesn’t do it—unless we’ve told the owner we’re away and won’t be down. We pay £55 per week—I consider that to be quite expensive.

What are you allowed to do with the horse? DD can’t hack out or jump. They have good facilities, but it is still quite limiting in what she can do. But it’s about much more than the riding for her. It’s transformed her from a shy and quite anxious kid into a much more confident, sociable, happy child with lots of friends.

Just to add that DD still has lessons—we get them for half price as part of the loan arrangement (so £10). Would you keep having lessons? I should add that we’re in Scotland so cheaper than some other parts of the country.

Sorry! One last thought. Check out how often the horse will be used in lessons and when. The pony DD has is quite popular and there are some days where she’s in multiple lessons so she can’t ride. This can be a particular problem at weekends . The owner is quite good at giving her an alternative, but not always.

I can’t believe the comments re this being too much money.

You’ve save £thousand in the first place with not having to buy a horse, presumably have no insurance to pay (£30-£70 per month), what do you have to pay in terms of shoeing and routine vets such as dentals, sheath cleans, vaccines etc?

And £10 for a lesson??? That’s peanuts.

That is outrageous for a part loan! Whereabouts in the country are you? I have a riding school horse on full loan and assisted livery (pay extra for the jobs you want doing) and reckon I pay about 220 - 240 per month which includes livery fee and then separately hay, feed, bedding, average of farrier, worming, vaccinations and morning turnouts 5 days a week.

I always think these schemes are very expensive and heavily loaded in the riding school’s favour. You could loan someone else’s horse for much less. It depends how much experience you have. If you’ve not much experience perhaps do this for a few months then look to loan a horse elsewhere.

I think £260 sounds reasonable for this actually, but it depends how often you would be able to ride in reality- "so long as he is not being used in lessons" is really vague, because it could end up that you often can't ride.

I'd probably want it confirmed that you can ride at least 4 days a week, including one weekend day.

Having no yard chores is a real bonus, which will increase the cost of the share. You will also have the riding school staff available as back up if there is a problem. The facilities sound really good too.

@historyrocks people mean it’s expensive compared to sharing a privately owned horse or pony.

I don't think it's outrageous for no chores + staff available with what sounds like a fair amount of riding available.

For shares with no chores people do charge around £50 a week and that is usually 3-4 days, rather than whenever you want.

I think the downside is if it turns out the OP often can't ride because the horse is unavailable.

Riding school shares do tend to cost more than private shares because a) The riding school is looking to make money! And b) often staff do end up doing a lot of supervision/teaching of the sharer, at least in the beginning.

Yes, OP could get a private share elsewhere, but that does very much depend on her experience!

One riding school near us charges £500 per month for 3 days a week (including either Saturday or Sunday). Discounted lessons which are ‘strongly recommended’ are £25 (so another £100 each month), and if you want to compete or box out to hack (there’s no hacking nearby) then you have to hire the riding school’s lorry and pay for an instructor as well. Loaners can’t jump unless they’re in a jumping lesson and the yard is only open between 8:30 and 6 and is closed on Mondays. I think it’s ridiculously expensive for what it is but they have people queuing up .

As I said, we’re in a cheap part of the country. £20 per lesson is more expensive than other stables around here.

£55 is all in and we have no commitment, which is good and suits us for now. But it’s nothing like having your own. She can’t always ride when she wants, she can’t jump unless in lessons, she can’t compete. It’s a good deal for the stables as most of their ponies are cared for by the loaners so don’t need so many members of staff.

Private shares around here are usually £20-£30 per week and you can generally do a lot more with them. We’re looking for a private share but not found anything that suits so far.

@Pleasedontdothat. That’s extortionate! Makes ours look great!

Most shares around here would be around £20pw for two days riding, perhaps £30 without jobs. I shared my horse for free, one of my liveries charges £20 no jobs. Most riding schools would fit you in after their lessons, so often the horse will be booked. They’d help a bit, but not to the extent that you’ve got staff on tap, they’ve enough to do. If you wanted a lesson on the loan horse you’d pay extra. I’ve never seen a riding school do a loan:share or working livery that I thought was fair (I’m an instructor and have worked on a few places that did). But as I said, it might be a start for a few months for someone without much experience.

My loan horse is £10 a day but I do have yard duties to do the three days a week I have him. He’s basically my responsibility those days to put out, muck out and feed.

£500 a month
My full livery bill is only a bit more than that!

@HappyGirlNow

I can’t believe the comments re this being too much money.

You’ve save £thousand in the first place with not having to buy a horse, presumably have no insurance to pay (£30-£70 per month), what do you have to pay in terms of shoeing and routine vets such as dentals, sheath cleans, vaccines etc?

And £10 for a lesson??? That’s peanuts.

I forgot to add the fact you’ve also not had to buy tack (£1000 plus) and other things they may need such as boots, rugs etc or only partially having to fund this things depending on the arrangement.

Seriously think some people have no concept of the true costs of horse ownership.

Thankyou for your input!
The price is all in so no extra costs for vets, shoes, insurance etc. Would be able to hack the horse out round local forests and use one of the 2 arenas. Not sure about jumping but not too fussed about that. I think if I was going to go for it I'd definitely want to clarify how available the horse would be. I definitely wouldn't want to feel like the horse was getting worked into the ground! Weekends aren't to much of an issue as when I go back from Maternity leave I'll only be working 2 shifts a week, so week days work well for me.
I'm currently paying £35 for a forest hack so on one hand I feel like I would need to ride at 7-8 times per month to break even as it were. However, it's not just about the riding, but just being around horses again, and a bit of time away from hectic mum life!
In an ideal world a private loan 2 days per week where I do some of the heavy lifting would probably work well but that might work better once my eldest is at school and youngest is a preschool!

@LJAshman

Thankyou for your input! The price is all in so no extra costs for vets, shoes, insurance etc. Would be able to hack the horse out round local forests and use one of the 2 arenas. Not sure about jumping but not too fussed about that. I think if I was going to go for it I'd definitely want to clarify how available the horse would be. I definitely wouldn't want to feel like the horse was getting worked into the ground! Weekends aren't to much of an issue as when I go back from Maternity leave I'll only be working 2 shifts a week, so week days work well for me. I'm currently paying £35 for a forest hack so on one hand I feel like I would need to ride at 7-8 times per month to break even as it were. However, it's not just about the riding, but just being around horses again, and a bit of time away from hectic mum life! In an ideal world a private loan 2 days per week where I do some of the heavy lifting would probably work well but that might work better once my eldest is at school and youngest is a preschool!

I think it all deprndd on availability of the horse, if you could ride 2 - 3 days a week for this I’d consider that very good value..

@Polkadotties

£500 a month My full livery bill is only a bit more than that!

Thing is though the loan fee is all in whereas on top of your full livery bill you have to buy the horse, tack, equipment, and pay vet bills, farrier, worming, etc etc etc. Also even though you have full use of the horse how many leisure riders do actually ride more than three times every week.

@HappyGirlNow Yes I think so. My mum has always had horses so I know how expensive it all is! Such a shame that the only one she has now is a 13hh new forest pony! Could save myself a lot of money

I agree with the others saying it depends on what restrictions there are on your use of the pony- but if you can have it the same say two or three days a week that suit you then it could be well worth it. The school should be able to predict as they know who likes which ponies (and who will be moving on/off that particular 'style' of pony imminently) and what days they tend to book lessons so should be easy enough to establish.

I'm in Kent so not the cheapest part of the country!

I don't know why I referred to ponies there 🤣 applies equally to horses!

I don't think £260 p/month for unlimited riding (if it really is unlimited as others have said) is extortionate for the SE/home counties. I'm in that part of the country (not Kent but I imagine it's similar) and people typically charge £150-£250 p/month for no chores, 2-4 days riding p/week for a share, and full livery is anywhere between £500-£850 p/month depending on the fanciness of the yard, how many 'extras' are included etc.

As others have said these riding school 'loans' come with their problems, mainly around how much use of the horse you actually get, but they are a really nice way to ease yourself into the world of sharing, if nothing else you get more into the routine of riding without someone supervising and telling you what to do the whole time which takes some getting used to. Even if you end up doing this for a few months and then going for a 'proper' share it would still be valuable experience so I'd go for it!

You definitely need to check how many hours riding they would allow you to have during week and weekends and also what happens if horse is lame/ ill otherwise out if action. Otherwise that's a reasonable price to pay. Can you get the occasional lesson too ?