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

Another thing to consider OP, your DD has only been riding in the nice bit of the year when it's warm, long evenings and dry.
She may not feel quite the same covered in mud, in the rain, in the dark abd getting home at 7pm after she's been bucked off into soaking sand by a maliciously naughty pony that doesn't like the winter.
If she makes it through the rainy January evening soakings then just get used to shelling out all your cash...

@DaphneDeloresMoorhead

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.

We pay £55 per week. DD gets to ride 6 days a week and she does all of the care. The only rules are that she cannot jump outside of lessons (which are reduced to £10 for a group lesson) and she can’t go hacking. But the school has two indoor and two outdoor schools so it works out OK.

She’s learnt loads doing this and she’s now being asked by other people to help out with their horses. DD was a shy and quite anxious child before the started riding. She’s now a really happy, relaxed teenager who understands the value of hard work . She’s a real grafter and is not remotely put off by the cold/dark/rain. Ideally, she would have her own horse, but we can’t stretch to that financially. The arrangement we have with the riding school is pretty close to having her own in terms of being responsible for the care and health of her horse.