Newbie loaning a horse - tips & advice wanted!

[crazypiglady]

My lovely DD (14) has been riding since she was 9 & finally a suitable pony at her yard has come up for part loan. I am not horsey at all so have taken advice on whether this is the right pony for her etc. I feel confident in the pony itself but I’m very aware that I don’t know the horse world at all. She has done pony club & volunteers at the yard on a Saturday so she mucks out, tacks up, gets them out of the fields and leads lessons. The rules of the yard are that she can’t be left without me & we can take the pony out on a hack, but I don’t want to do anything wrong.

Are there any good websites, books or clubs I could join to boost my knowledge & get me more confident around horses, so that I can support her?

Is she doing her Pony Club tests? They will give her a good understanding of pony care especially C test upwards.
Get the BHS Stage 1 + 2 care books or Pony Club manual. Get stable management lessons at a BHS approved yard.

The essentials are:

• First aid including recognising + treating minor wounds, laminitis, colic etc and when to call the vet
• Feeding. Basic nutrition and how feed can influence behaviour
• 5 Freedoms for horses, Herd behaviour and learning theory
• Basic tack fitting eg bridle, saddle, rugs + bandages
• Safe road riding including hi viz etc
• Routine healthcare: farrier, dentist, vaccinations, saddle fitter, physio
• Travelling + loading if you are going to travel the Pony
• Importance of mucking out, cleaning feeding + drinking bowls etc
• paddock maintenance: worms + worming, poisonous plants, poo picking etc
• how to stay safe around horses including leading/tacking up/turning out etc

There are many, many more things to learn but the above is a good basic checklist. In addition your daughter needs 3rd party + personal insurance and to keep on having lessons on the pony with a qualified and insured instructor

Good suggestions above, the BHS stages and/or Pony Club tests are the standard really, you don't have to take the exams but if you get the course material and/or join a course for the Care elements you'll get the knowledge. Or does your DD's stables offer stable management lessons? Even if they don't normally they probably will do on a private basis if you ask?

To be honest as sharers the number 1 quality I'd want, above even knowledge or formal qualifications, is an acknowledgement that you're novices and a willingness to ask for help. E.g. knowing the signs/symptoms of lameness or common illnesses and their treatments is great but I'm almost rather than guessing a diagnosis you just went to ask the owner or yard staff any time anything doesn't feel or look quite right, even if you feel silly and it turns out to be nothing. The most dangerous people are the ones that think they know it all or know better than the owner and start ignoring instructions or tampering with existing arrangements/routines. As an owner I'd 100% more want a sharer like you who is keen to learn than someone who claims to be the next horse whisperer!

Fantastic, thank you, that’s just the kind of info I need. No she’s not been offered any tests, I didn’t know you could do them. Can adults do them? I might put myself through it so I know a bit more around the yard.

What does she need insurance for? I’ve read about insurance for adults in case they get injured and have to stop working, but never children needing insurance?

Oh I am 100% happy with admitting I know nothing & I need to learn it all! I have 3 friends who have been badly injured by horses, & my daughter is well aware of the dangers that can arise because of this, & I think Pony Club taught her a lot about how to be safe in the stable with the horse etc.

We won’t be travelling anywhere with it, we are planning on 1 lesson a week as we do now, going after school twice a week to mu out & care, a trot around the arena or potter down the lane once I get my confidence up to escort her. I don’t want her to canter or jump with me just there forbecause I don’t know enough about technique to know if what she’s attempting is safe or correct technique, I only want her to do that own her instructor in her lessons.

Haha so on reflection probably a very boring loan for her but I’d rather be safe & cautious!

She needs personal accident + third party liability insurance. Harry Hall do a good policy for this
Make sure she is never left unaccompanied as she is under 16 and therefore would not be covered by the yards insurance.
You would both benefit from formal training. Any BHS approved yard would be able to provide this at a cost.
As far as tests go she can do pony Club ones if it a PC approved centre and you can do BHS ones

Good shout on the insurance - third party liability is a must if you're taking the pony off the premises (in case she accidentally damages someone's car or property or hurts a person, you could be held liable) and personal injury cover is advisable for all riders, adults or children particularly if you're going to ride privately/ outside lessons at a school.

Not to scare you and obviously serious accidents are very very rare but if she was to have a bad fall and became permanently disabled you would need/want financial support for ongoing care and medical/therapy costs. People don't always realize that while the NHS obviously provides immediate medical care there's an awful lot that isn't covered at all such as provision of wheelchairs or other mobility aids - in car accidents the injured party should be able to claim compensation from insurance, or even in a riding accident if it arose from their negligence during a lesson you could claim on the schools insurance but just riding your own or someone else's horse down the road, you're on your own effectively. Insurance is relatively inexpensive so really worth it...

Are there other loaners her age at the yard. The reason I ask is that would be the easier and most fun way for her to ride. They could hack out together, school together, maybe do fun things like bending races.
I wouldn’t be too prescriptive about whether she can jump/canter. If she is 14 and volunteers at the yard she likely knows quite a lot already.
Be led by the yard and what other loaners are doing.
The pony club handbook or BHS stage exam books would be the best starting point.
The main qualities needed in loaners are to be reliable, turn up on time and follow the rules the owner sets out. Also as pp says to speak up if you see any cuts, lameness etc and ask anything you are unsure about.

Is it a part loan at the yard she currently has lessons? If so I’d imagine there will be a good degree of supervision.
but yes definitely third party liability insurance

Thank you so much this is really helpful. I understand now about the insurance, that’s fair I’ll get that sorted. I must admit, accidents do really scare me, as I say I’ve had some friends have bad falls & 2 of her horsey friends have had unlucky falls & broken their collarbones 😔

Yes lots of loaners at the yard seem to be of a similar age, quite a few are even younger but with experienced horsey moms. It’s a part loan only, and yes I’d never leave her - that’s why it feels like a big commitment because I’m committing my time as well as hers!

Do we need any special gear? She loves to window shop for the ponies! A high vis if we go out in the lanes.

Waterproofs and good wellies for the mud! Thermal baselayers for winter.
Never let her wear trainers or worse crocs/flip flops to the yard as that's the easiest way to lose a toe! She should wear a hat when handling the pony until she has got used to it, even bringing in/turning out. I still make my 13 Yr old DD who is very experienced do this.

The BHS used to offer Horse Owner Certificates 1-4, which were theory-based courses that sound like just the thing for you, but I gather they were discontinued and rolled more formally into parts of the Stages exams...does anyone know what's happened there?

The Horse and Hound Online forum is also still going fairly strong, and it might be worth joining, for a bigger chat forum than here.

The BHS simplified their qualifications and exams structure a few years ago to focus more on professional qualifications. So they removed things that were more focused on leisure / recreational riders as formally assessed certifications because obviously in practical terms no yard or seller asks to see your horse owner's certification before allowing you to buy/own a horse so was there really a need to have it as a qualification with all the cost and bureaucracy that entails . You can still study the contents/curriculum of those tests with or without an instructor as Challenge Awards (or the Progressive Riding Tests) but they're not formally certified by the society any more. https://www.bhs.org.uk/go-riding-and-learn/recreational-awards/

Or if for some reason you do need or want a formal qualification the Stages 1 - 4 are more modular now (they always were to some extent) so you can take stage 1 or 2 care exams which has very similar content without the riding element but that would be more suitable for someone wanting to work as a groom IMO.

Thanks for the clarification! I no longer live in the UK, so have lost track a bit. It's a shame they got rid of them, because regardless of yard owners wanting to see them or not, it gave a nice set of courses for new horse owners, I thought. The Stages care element I found very oddly structured, when I encountered them as an adult moving to the UK: I found it weird that details of e.g. tail bandaging were taught before management things that I thought were probably more important for the wellbeing of the horse...but as you say, the lower levels aimed at a professional qualification for grooms, and I suppose as a groom, it's more important to know how to, well, groom, since presumably, someone higher up is making the important management decisions!