pony share - how to

[TinaTheMouse]

We might be in a position to enter a pony share at the yard where my daughter has been taking lessons for a couple of years. I'm not a horsey mum so have little to no experience but would like to support my pony obsessed dd (13). She is doing pony club and is reasonably experienced in stable management and always keen to learn more.

I'm would love to hear from those who have done this or are sharing a pony now. Is your dc happy with the arrangement? Is there anything we should watch out for or be extra mindful of? Do most people go to the yard before and after school on their allocated days? Just any tips or thoughts would be hugely appreciated.

My DD started pony sharing at 13 after a few years of riding lessons - like you I was also a non horsey mum so it was a whole new world for me to navigate and we had lots to learn!

We loaned a well known ex riding school pony who luckily belonged to a girl in DD’s school so we knew that everything was going to be legitimate and safe. It was all done very professionally and contracts were signed, BHS insurance checked etc. We had him for 2 days per week (£10/day) and were responsible for mucking out, grooming, making feeds and filling hay nets alongside riding. We only went to the stables after school as the yard owner gave all of the horses their morning feeds/nets.

Unless you have the means to transport the pony elsewhere then I would only loan at a social yard with lots of activities on offer. DD’s share was at a brilliant yard with weekly private + group lessons available as well as regular competitions, this was great in terms of developing her confidence + riding. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be somewhere quiet - it was always handy to have other experienced liveries on site for any newbie questions etc!

Be warned OP.. DD loved sharing so much that after 9 months we bought our own pony… 🙈 The rest is history!

Is it loaning a riding school pony that you are looking at or a share arrangement ie a couple of set days . Obviously when she needs to go etc will depend on the individual arrangement . If you give a little more information about what you are looking at then we can advise better on what to look out for as if you are sharing / loaning a riding school pony it’s very different to sharing with an individual

It's a riding school pony share (not a loan), 1 to 2 days per week at the yard where she takes lessons. Responsibilities include, feeding, grooming and riding. A pony she loves to ride has come up for a share. Wondering how a typical share day might look for a young teen.

As it’s a riding school pony they will likely supervise a bit so it’s less onerous for yourself . Questions to ask are what is she allowed to do with the pony ie hack / jump etc and what happens if the pony is lame do you still pay / she gets to ride an alternative pony . Also how much notice for stopping the arrangement . It is down to the individual stables whether they would expect you to go before school for feeding / turning out etc but with most riding school loans they would not expect that so it would be a once a day commitment.

Those are good questions to ask @tinyspiny.

I'm kind of getting excited about it for her but need to make sure we can/she actually commit to the share.

How is it different though to having your usual riding lessons and helping out at the yard? She is riding many different ponies during lessons at the moment to give her experience. It must feel a little strange if the pony is co-shared by others during the rest of the week. I presume thats' how it works?

The difference will be if they allow her to ride alone , even in the school . It is very different actually having to decide when to trot , when to canter etc . Whether she is allowed to just tack up and ride is the main question or are they expecting one of the share days to include the day she usually has a lesson and then what happens on the other day . Also how often is the pony being used in the riding school on your share days and will you have access to ride .

As others have said a riding school share/loan (terminology tends to be used interchangeably at riding schools anyway) is an excellent way to start off as there's usually a lot of support and supervision (much more than a share of a privately owned pony on a livery yard) and lots going on. A typical day - get to yard, parent usually has to hang around to supervise although some yards allow them to be unsupervised from 13/14. Fetch pony from field if necessary. Gather grooming kit, flick a brush over, pick out feet. This only takes me 10 mins but takes the young girls on our yard about 3 times as long as they faff around, get distracted, apply unnecessary glitter etc. tack up, ride for maybe 45 mins ish although a lot of this is again taken up with chatting and asking their mum for drinks and so on. Come back in, untack, wash pony off if hot. Rug up in winter. Go and fill haynets, mix a feed if needed (or get mum to do this while they ride) - feed pony. Most annoying is if they need to wait while the pony eats to turn back out again as this is dead time. But if they don't, whole thing maybe takes a couple of hours (I can be in and out in about an hour including a half hour ride but too much to expect this level of efficiency from a teen!).

How does it differ from just taking lessons, like a PP said it's not having someone there telling them what to do is the adjustment, plus riding around others who are also doing their own thing and learning to watch out and not crash. Independent riding is a skill to be learnt, otherwise they can get a bit lost and end up either cantering round and round the edge and knackering themselves and pony, or just meandering around aimlessly. Are her lessons atm group or private? Do they ever ride in 'open order' if a group i.e. all riding independently not following the leader? If not can you/she ask the instructor to practice? The whole thing from leading pony in and doing stirrups and girth alone warming up, doing some school exercises, cooling down, without having to be told? She'll get there though, good luck!

One of the riding schools dd was at started a share scheme while we were there. It was hideously expensive and very restrictive ie no hacking, no jumping without an instructor, only allowed off site with an instructor, the yard was only open until 6pm and closed on Monday and Thursday. The main reason I looked into it was that they had been taking the ‘advanced’ riders to competitions, XC schooling etc but when the share scheme started up those opportunities were only offered to sharers. We couldn’t make the times work as it wasn’t accessible by public transport and I was working so couldn’t sort out drop offs etc so that combined with the hideous expense (think high-end full livery cost) meant we ended up leaving and getting a private share (which turned into a full loan, then we bought him and he’s still with us now!). However there were plenty of families there for whom the cost was equivalent to pennies so the scheme was very successful. A lot of the original sharers bought their own ponies after a few months so it is a bit of a gateway drug 🤨

Thank you for sharing your experience @Pleasedontdothat. Amazing you ended up buying your own horse, especially after sharing and loaning so your knew the course very well.. I'll have to find out what's allowed or not .

Out of interest, how much did the expensive scheme cost and what does high-end full livery cost com to approximately?

Bearing in mind this was seven years ago, so pre-Covid/COL crisis… the share including the compulsory extras was £750 per month for 2 sometimes 3 days a week. The assisted DIY livery we were on was £220 a month and the full livery yard we moved dd’s mare onto was £730 a month including one lesson a week - the yard had fabulous facilities (indoor and outdoor arenas, amazing hacking and really good all-year turnout). I suspect it’s quite a bit more now especially as it’s in Surrey.

BTW the first horse somehow turned into six 🫣

@Pleasedontdothat I was about to pop on to say that for genuine top end full livery including exercise/ schooling a couple of times a week, tack cleaning and grooming etc you're looking at £1k per month + in the home counties/expensive SE, depending on exactly how nice the facilities - I'd be surprised but not astounded if there are riding schools attempting to charge that for a share / loan arrangement out there, especially if they'll throw in lessons and taking the child out competing - but if you're paying that much it probably would make sense to just buy your own I would have thought? The school could probably make a nice commission on sourcing the pony too if the parent is wanting to throw money at it (which I agree many are?)

Bloody hell! £750 per month??! No wonder they ended up buying their own horse instead! That is madness for a share.

DD’s first pony was £2.5k - makes him seem economical 🤣🤣