Loan Advice/Experience

[Daisy829]

Hi all, I’m after some advice plse. My nearly 11 yo has been horse riding since May so not that long. She absolutely loves it and loves caring for the horses. She’s done the helpers course at the stables she rides at and goes down on Sunday’s to help. They are now offering horse loans which she is desperate to do but I’m nervous! It’s 2 days a week & the stables is 20 mins away (presuming no traffic). Ideally morning and evening but you can pay for someone to cover the morning which we would have to do.
I know she would love it but I think I’m concerned that I don’t know enough to be able to help her if there are any problems & whilst she’s great & enthusiastic, it’s a lot of responsibility.
I really want to support her hobby as she gets so much out of it but I don’t want her to run before she can walk. Anybody got any advice on loans or if there is a sort of i between happy medium we might be able to work with for now
Hubby & I both work until 5.30 each night so I’m also concerned if the knock on effect of that as we obviously have to take her & help her. We also have a dog to walk & younger child to consider! I’m possibly over thinking it but don’t want to make a mess of this. Thank you x

I wouldn't do it until she can get to the stables by herself, it's going to be a right ball ache otherwise.

Yeah this is putting me off to be honest!

Can your daughter not do Pony Club instead? What is she expected to do during those 2 days? Exercise the pony? I would be concerned if she's very new to horse riding unless there are lots of experienced members of staff in hand to help.

My daughter has been riding for years and we did a loan over lockdown, but it's at a very big riding school where (if my daughter couldn't come) the staff would take care of the pony completely

I absolutely wouldn't take on a loan for a 11 year old that's only been riding for 6 months unless you are very keen too. Especially this time of year. Winter can be fairly joyless with horses - be prepared to muck out, change water, feed etc in the freezing cold and dark. Everything is muddy all the time. It's often too cold or wet to ride. Wait until she's in senior school and has at least a year's experience. I don't think a relative beginner should be left to ride on their own either - it's not fair on the pony. Spend the time and money on more lessons and perhaps a riding holiday/pony club etc.

You say ‘they are now offering horse loans.’ Do you mean the riding school? DD has what her riding school calls a part livery. We pay £ each week and she has one of the school’s horses to care for and ride when he’s not in lessons. Is it that kind of arrangement?

Realistically at 10 you’d be doing all the grunt work.
I think if she’d be exercising unsupervised by an instructor having been riding for such a short period of time and you not having much knowledge is a recepie for disaster.
How about looking into something like a holiday at Wellington or similar for her?

Unless you are really experienced yourself then it’s an absolute no . I’d actually go as far as to say the riding school would be irresponsible loaning to someone with such limited experience .

It’d be a no from me too .. your dd isn’t anything like experienced enough to be able to get much out of the arrangement and if you’re not horsey either you’re not going to be able to help her enough. What she needs at the moment is lessons. There are lots of ways you can help get and encourage her with her hobby that will actually be of more benefit in the long term and would have less of an impact on the rest of your family.

My pony-mad dd was desperate to have her own at your dd’s age but it was impossible logistically so we had to find other ways of getting her horsey fix. She had two lessons a week, went on junior riding holidays at Wellington Riding every year from the age of 10-15. She joined the Pony Club centre at her riding school and did stable management sessions. When she was old enough she volunteered every Saturday and during school holidays. She moved to a bigger riding school with a wider range of horses and after a few months started to get paid for working and also got asked to help exercise the ponies. Eventually when she was 15 she started a share at a private livery, which then quickly became a full loan and then we bought him. But by that stage she was extremely competent, she could get to and from the yard under her own steam and she was old enough to be there unsupervised.

Waiting did her no harm at all - she had to learn that it’s not always possible to get what you want and during that time she got experience on lots of different horses which helped improve her riding no end.

Yeah like others have said, you have to be careful with these riding school 'loans', they can be a great way for horsey DC with non horsey parents to have a bit of a flavour of owning their own pony without the commitment, but they do often seem to come with a hefty price tag for what you actually get - particularly as in this instance if you would be committing to caring for the pony/doing yard jobs twice a day (in winter as well, when this is much tougher/more of a commitment!) as well as paying to ride (with part-loans/shares of privately owned ponies it's usually one or the other, not both). It's usually set up very much for the convenience of the school in that the loan riders can only ride the pony when not in lessons (so not at peak times) and also the riders are usually pretty tightly controlled in what they are allowed to do e.g. at my school they are not allowed to jump, ride in the fields or hack out on their loan ponies, it's schooling in the arena only (for good reason, some of these kids are pretty novice so if they were allowed to hare off alone goodness knows what would happen!). They should be actively supervised by a member of staff at all times though - IMO absolutely essential until they are sensible/experienced enough to ride alone unless there's a horsey parent around so I guess that's what are you are paying the riding school £££ for, but all the same I'm not sure it ends up being worth it long term.

Basically I think like others have said, I think you'll have to say no to this until she's at least old enough to cycle/bus/scooter to the yard independently, a 40 minute round trip plus potentially having to help her with all the jobs and waiting while she rides sounds a lot for a mid week commitment. I think the happy medium you ask about is to put the money you would be spending on the loan towards extra lessons, pony club, holiday courses or pony days, riding holidays etc. If she gets at least a weekly lesson and to help out at the stables as well, that's all a lot of young horse-mad kids get (and I'm not suggesting you should go all 'there are starving kids in Africa' on her if she complains, but it's a lot more than many kids get) - its all good motivation for her to stick with it and eventually earn her own money so she can have a horse of her own one day - when she's a bit older and if she sticks with it, maybe when she's a bit older she may be able to find a 'proper' part-loan of a privately owned horse, esp if your yard does livery as well as a riding school, lots of people do appreciate a financial or practical contribution and are happy for a competent sensible teenager to ride their horse (I in fact have this arrangement for one of my horses myself - a friend's 16 year old rides my mare a few times a week, I wouldn't have done this for an unsupervised novice-ish 11 year old though).

Don't feel guilty about not facilitating this right now, sadly horses are a very expensive and time consuming hobby and it wouldn't be fair or proportionate to support her at the expense of the rest of the family...

@historyrocks yes it’s exactly that

Thanks everyone for your advice it’s really helpful. I’ll look at the pony club options that looks good. Like I say, I do want to support her as she loves it so much but in my head I know she’s still so young. I think she’s trying to run before she can walk. I’ve said to her she can do hacks and more activities in the hols so I think I’ve placated her for now.
The riding school are also doing parent stable management courses so I’ve signed up to do that so I can get some more knowledge.
Her sister also rides but she is only 7 so I suggested it might be good to wait until she can get involved when she’s 10 so we will be better equipped & she won’t feel left out

Thanks for the tips.

@Floralnomad yes I would agree actually, they did seem quite relaxed about it and then I wondered if I was overthinking it! It feels like a big responsibility

[quote Daisy829]@historyrocks yes it’s exactly that

Thanks everyone for your advice it’s really helpful. I’ll look at the pony club options that looks good. Like I say, I do want to support her as she loves it so much but in my head I know she’s still so young. I think she’s trying to run before she can walk. I’ve said to her she can do hacks and more activities in the hols so I think I’ve placated her for now.
The riding school are also doing parent stable management courses so I’ve signed up to do that so I can get some more knowledge.
Her sister also rides but she is only 7 so I suggested it might be good to wait until she can get involved when she’s 10 so we will be better equipped & she won’t feel left out

Thanks for the tips.[/quote]
Yes, my riding school specifies children have to be 12 to take on this kind of responsibility. They have to be able to handle and ride a horse independently. But there are plenty of people around for help. I think it’s one of the best ways to ease into having responsibility for a horse. But certainly my school would not consider your DD to be suitable for it yet.

I think there is a heavy reliance on the parents to help & take on most of the responsibility to be honest.
I’ve had a look and there’s a pony club about 2 miles from us so I’ll give them a call & see what they can offer too. Thank you everyone x

Just an FYI with pony club you need a pony club centre and not a branch. For a branch she would need her own pony.

@Daisy829 Pony Club is brilliant for horse-mad girls. It really teaches them to ride and care for horses properly to the point where many Pony Club girls eventually transition into paid part-time work. It had many levels and your daughter will become obsessed with gaining all the badges

has*

I’ve had a look and it says it’s a pony club centre so I’ll call them to find out more.
Yes she would love the badges. She helps at her current stables every weekend but there’s no payment/incentives. I’m not sure. There’s something about the current place that I’m not 100% keen on but I can’t put my finger on it. However she’s made friends there so she will want to keep going but having another option would be good especially if it’s recognised as she’s said she wants to work with horses but we will see I guess.

At my daughter's riding school the volunteers get a free riding lesson for every full day of volunteering, so that's a great incentive.

Yeah that’s a really good incentive. I’d never have to pay for her! She’s there every Sunday

Thank you ladies for being so lovely. It all feels a bit daunting as a newbie x

@Daisy829 it is really daunting at first as it seems like a closed world in which everyone else knows exactly what they’re doing but a lot of us on here have been exactly where you are now - a non-horsey parent with a horse-mad child thinking ‘now what?’

Despite the expense and worry however, it’s been a fantastic experience for us - the yard was my daughter’s happy place all through school, I’ve made some great friends with the other mums from pony club, dd was able to earn money doing what she loved, I’ve learned how to reverse a trailer and I’ve started riding again after a gap of 40+ years!

Ask as many questions as you need! And the pony club centre sounds perfect

Ah thank you @Pleasedontdothat I am toying with having some lessons actually. Small steps I think for now!

Completely agree with @Pleasedontdothat about it being a very positive experience (despite the huge expense!). My daughter has a large circle of outside-school friends from her yard who all socialise together at the yard every day after school as well as on weekends. Childcare sorted And she's in the fresh air doing a sport she loves

What does the loan involve ? Dd 11 does a loan at our riding school as do most of the older, more experienced girls. We pay £38 a week, she gets 3 riding sessions per week for that, either a 45 minute group lesson when there is space or she can do as she pleases either hacking, schooling or XC. She rides at 6 after school on Monday and Friday then spends most of the day up the yard on Saturdays with the other girls in the livery/loaner "gang".
However the ponies are cared for by the grooms. Dd doesn't muck out, sort feed or do anything like that. She often will because she likes doing it but it's a "loan lite" if you like. Plus if Luna is sick she rides another one of the school ponies. The girls progress to more challenging and bigger horses as they improve - DD has just changed ponies.

@historyrocks as you say - DD is very sensible abd had been riding 4 years before the yard let her loan. They have a massive waiting list which doesn't work chronologically rather than by common sense and riding ability