Pony loan for 3 months

[MrPickles73]

Our 2 children (9 and 10) have taken up pony riding and during the summer holidays going for 3 days a week to help out etc. They love it. The stables close for Jan-March and if you can provide a good home will 'lend' you a pony and you are responsible for all costs (insurance, food etc) and for accommodating it. I haven't ridden for 20 years so have some knowledge of horses but pretty rusty. We do have a small field and the ponies live out all year round.
Last year a friend 'loaned' one and kept it had her own yard where she pays someone to look after all her horses. I have asked her if we could pay her to keep it there but initially she is reluctant in case the pony brings some infection/disease with it. So I am thinking what other options there are.. we are very rural so no livery yards on our doorstep. There is someone just up the road from us with a horse, field and stable - is it mental of me to ask him if he would help / guide us with looking after a pony for 3 months? Is this just a bad idea and too much responsibility or am I over thinking this?

I would not do this

cheesecrackerz can you elaborate on why? Is it too much hassle? Too much to go wrong?

You have your own field? Is there a water supply and power? Can you sort a type of shelter/stable? You need all of those really. I do not see the harm in asking that guy if you can stable a pony with him and he can give you a hand. You're not a novice you have knowledge! The riding school will not let just anyone take a pony I'm assuming.

Sorry I got distracted and posted too soon

It's a lot of hassle especially if you don't alreadt have somewhere to keep the pony, and I feel a lot could go wrong. Especially if you haven't owned a horse (neither have I and haven't ridden in about 10 years, so that's not a snooty judgement!) But it's a huge responsibility and you need a lot of horse care knowledge.

If you are paying for insurance, would you also be paying for vet bills if something went wrong?

Are there any other stables the children could go to while that stables is closed?

Bargepole. That's pretty much the worst time of year to be a horse owner - no wonder they close and try to shift the responsibility!

It's winter - dark from 4pm, mud up to your knees, and pissing rain mahlf the time. The children will get very little pleasure from it.

It's an expensive time of year too - access to hay, hard feed, what happens when they rip their runs etc, or get an abscess from standing in the mud? What happens if they get injured on "your watch" and can't go back to the riding school? Or the school closes and you're landed with them full time?

As for asking a local horse owner for help - I certainly wouldn't if I was approached. Not only is it a drain on time looking after my own, you've also got things like insurance implications.

TheVolturi we have a field, water and the field is 100m from our house so we can provide intermittent power. We don't have a stable but there is a high hedge and they currently live out all year round (I believe they have rugs in the winter). They are native breeds e.g. shetland x welsh mountain. But the guy up the road (100m) has a stable and a 'yard'. The horse riding stables would only let us have it if they thought we knew what we were doing.
There is also a lady 500m up the road who has stables and a menage so I could ask her too. I'm just wondering whether people are flattered to be asked or whether its a pain in the backside for them?

*rugs not runs! There's a lot of typos - sorry!

cheesecrackerz yes we'd be responsible for all bills. And you're right its the horse health knowledge (or lack of ) that concerns me as I haven't owned a horse before hence I need a second pair of eyes.

Touloser you're quite right the children would only be able to ride at weekends due to the short days in the winter. We'd be responsible for insurance (so pay any incremental insurance). I don't think the cost of the food would be that great - apparently they have a scoop of hard food a day and hay (which is £3 a small bale here).

But maybe I should look for an alternative stables for the winter? Just seemed like a nice opportunity?

Touloser I thought run was a fancy term for grass / field!

I think I would visit these places nearby that you have in mind, and put it to them. They may be glad of a little extra income and company, plus doing two is never much different then doing one ime. I last had 3 of my own and there were another three on the same yard. They were all old retired horses and their owners visited rarely. In the winter I used to just see to them at the same time as doing my own, it didn't take much longer to muck another few out and prepare feeds and bring them in. And the yard owner (farmer) gave me much reduced rate for doing so.

I guess yes ask the nearby places you mention whether they would consider having the ponies as 'guests' and what they would charge (I very much doubt they'll let you for free or just the cost of the hay), so long as you are polite the worst that can happen is that they say no. Although do bear in mind a lot of people stable their horses/ponies overnight over this exact period of time, not because they need to live indoors but to preserve the grazing - so you may well be looking at daily mucking out and twice daily visits to top up water and hay, change rugs etc which is quite a commitment in terrible weather just to ride at the weekends. Also the ponies may not be quite so quiet and well behaved as the children are used to if they aren't being ridden very often so I think you would need to be cautious and perhaps take a step back of what they are used to doing, e.g. put them back on the lead rein at least at first...

But once you have the full facts/options you can stack this up against your other choices e.g. could you take them to a further away riding school every other week over winter, most don't close down entirely over winter so far as I know? Even with extra driving time this would probably be less time overall than caring for 2 ponies over winter?

Maybe I'll see what my chum says - yes / no. If she says yes, great. If she says no, I'll look into a riding school a bit further away for the winter. And then hopefully we can improve our 'skills' and rethink it for next winter.
Thanks for your thoughts everyone - very helpful!

If you have a small field why not see if one of the neighbours wants to graze their ponies in your field in exchange for the riding school pony staying on their yard. Or the riding school pony stays in your field along with one of theirs in exchange for twice daily checks and support? Lots of people struggle with winter grazing as it trashes summer fields but you won't need yours come spring anyway so it can recover.

Horse ownership in winter is grim unless you have a real passion for it.

Going to the field twice a day in the mud, dark and pissing down rain will get very boring, very fast. Your kids will go a handful of times then not bother and you'll be stuck doing all the work. Unless you love it yourself, you'll soon become resentful.

Our local riding school shuts over winter too as they don't have an indoor arena and the yard and outdoor area just turn to mud. Don't inflict that upon yourself

We keep our horses at home and while I wouldn’t be offended to be asked I absolutely wouldn’t agree to having someone else’s horse over winter, especially one where it sounds like there’d be a lot of handholding to be done. My yard is my sanctuary and after a lifetime of livery yards it’s so nice to just be able to do my own thing without having to worry what others are up to or finding my belongings have suddenly vanished without a trace.

On the plus side, those 3 dark, cold, wet months will probably put them off horse ownership.

I wouldn't either, I have two horses and the only thing that gets me through december-march is the the thought of summer returning eventually. There is not much fun in horse ownership in those months unless you have good facilities like an indoor school.

I started riding at 18 and became a horse owner at 27. It was a HUGE learning curve and I felt a bit overwhelmed. That was on full livery at a fantastic yard with an owner who was happy to sort of mentor me as I got to grips with everything. I wouldn't have tried to go it alone with my first horse and those are the grimmest, most awful months of the year to have a horse. Your kids will probably only ride it a handful of times. I agree with PP, it would put them off horse ownership for life so it might be worth the gamble!

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this.

An update: tried local livery yard and they are full and bring all horses in over the winter to prevent churning up the ground. Lady in our village gave a very polite no. But.. good news.. a chum of mine with her own yard and menage has said yes. Hurrah. She has someone 7 days a week to look after her horses so there will be someone there everyday and the pony won't be lonely . So all fingers and crossed it could be a happy ending? I will need to come to an arrangement with her re payment, insurance, vets bills etc.

That's good news OP.
My only advice would be to find out exactly how much exercise the pony is used to. Riding school ponies can do a lot and suddenly going from a full days work to an hour twice a week for example can mean they have a huge amount of excess energy and go from docile plods who just want to stand in the poo corner to little tb race horses... If you know how much they're used to you can head the change off at the pass and keep the little angel that you know and love