[Shropshirelass]

Am I mad? I used to ride & work with horses a bit a long time ago & I've been wanting to get back into it but haven't often had the time or money to ever have a chance to & a friend of mines offered a me a chance to part-loan with her,  her 3 going on 4 year old that we've been breaking in & schooling & she's a very quiet nice cob X.

I'm still young (In my 20's) but also messed up both my knees working with horses several years ago, but have ridden since - what do you guys think? She's been ridden by a 12-14 year old & is 15.2hh & is used to children, dogs ect, & vets bills & food costs shouldn't be too much hassle wise & I can also get discounts on both due to work & family.

Is this the ideal thing to give me a good insight into the possibilities of horse ownership - before I get to old or have kids ect? or am I opening a can of worms up along with a good, yet costly albeit fun addiction? xxx

[lachlanandmarcus]

I think it sounds the perfect idea. Make sure there's a written loan agreement, british horse soc have samples you can download I think, and also that any agreement specifies what happens if horsey gets poorly/broken in terms of loan ending and vet fees responsibility, also make sure horse is insured and so are you.


Lots of people I know have done this with their horses and generally it suits both parties very well, most owned horses don't get enough exercise and it helps with cost sharing and work sharing .


Go for it!

[Hevxxx99]

Sounds like a perfect reintroduction.  Go for it and have fun! 

[Humblepie]

go for it but dont commit for too long. my friend did this but when she had to leave the country to look after her very sick mother - she still had to pay as she was under a year contract.

[ellied]

Sounds like a better plan than rushing out to buy or loan on your own if you aren't sure about your knees particularly, it would be hard to try and cope with bills and work alone with physical pain, believe me!

When I first loaned it was on the basis of a month trial to see how it fit with my expectations and other commitments aswell as the usual financial and personal feelings about it all once it was real.  I then continued with a month notice either side for nearly a year and was then put in a position to have to decide as the owner wanted to sell.  By then I was too emotionally attached to say no but at least I had the experience of what it meant to me at 25 and in full time employment.

From the other side if someone I knew and trusted wanted to help me back and school a young pony for free, with experience and then was willing to part loan for a trial period, I'd jump at it no matter how long the commitment.  Being the owner it is equally hard to know how you'll feel when someone else has a sense of responsibility and part of the decision making process has to be consultation rather than your own opinion.  And a contribution to bills/work/exercise is welcome at any time but this time of year particularly so! 

As it's an existing friendship and you both know the pony, I'd go for it but as I say take it steady with the commitment period initially so as issues arise you can work through them knowing you both have a way out without wrecking the friendship in anger because of something you've not anticipated.

[Rosemary]

I part-loaned Smokey years ago and it was a brilliant arrangement. It was with a friend and I continued to meet the costs of keeping him, but we did alternate days of mucking out, turn out and feeding - and riding of course. So Monday was Smokey's day off but he was ridden six days a week, usually hacking out. He was in the best condition and level of fitness EVER.

It worked well because Mo was quite happy to ride him and look after him but just did as she was told about his care  so if I said "feed him this" and "his tack gets cleaned on Monday" she didn't offer any opinion, she just did it. Being a bossy cow, it worked fine for me