[QUOTE=jetsmom;6228900]
I just tell them “Oh Dear, I’m so sorry, but he is a show horse in training, so no one else is allowed to ride him”.[/QUOTE]
This doesn’t work when I’ve just talked about a great trail ride. I think I’m liking the insurance excuse. It doesn’t give them a whole lot to argue against.
I had a 13 year old beginner tell me she could handle my hot mare no problem. I told her I was too pregnant to scrape her off the arena floor. She never asks anymore.
No one has ever asked me if they can ride my horses. :no:
Perhaps that says something about my crazy OTTBs :lol:
How about “No”
Next time they ask, say
“Hey that’s a great idea, and while you’re riding, I’ll take your car out for a spin.”
Last time my brother visited me, he announced that he wanted to “gallop around” on my horse (an OTTB). I told him that even though he hadn’t been in the saddle for over 10 years, I would let him do that as long as he wore a helmet as well as boots and breeches. When he declined to wear “those stupid tight pants”, I told him he would be limited to walk and trot.
Luckily, my horse is very kind and patient and tolerated him bouncing around like a sack of potatoes. 
Made a boo-boo…
I posted in the wrong place. Ignore this…
I can take pretty much anyone out on my horses. That’s not the issue. The issue is I pay all of the money and do all of the work, and I don’t have cool stuff for other people for free. This gets hard with people who are good friends.
Basically I say I am not sponsoring/leasing my horses, but I can give you some leads if you want to pay $200-$300 a month to ride. If they just want to ride, point them to an instructor. I think the cheap ones that do kiddie rides might be as low as $25, and then on up.
I don’t think people realize how rude it is to say “I want to come ride.” If they have a cool car, would you say, “I want to drive your car?” Or if you have a pool, I want to come and swim? Or they have a vacation home you want to use? Or a boat?
I don’t get that question/statement often, but I usually tell them I don’t have anything safe for “just anyone”. I have a picture on my phone of my ASB show horse- a regular professional show ring picture. When I show them that they understand I don’t have trail horses. Honestly, just about anybody could ride said show horse (and I keep hoping my trainer can find a small child to lease her), but looking at the picture you wouldn’t think so.
Once in a blue moon a random stranger will come down the driveway and want to see the critters. If they have a small child, are polite people, and I happen to have a safe critter handy, I’m more than happy to hoist the kid on a horse’s back. I like to share in that way, and I don’t even like children much…
I’d stick with crazy. It always works. I tell them mine are crazy and I don’t let anyone ride my horses. Or I tell them I only have show horses and nothing for them to ride. Makes it sound like my show horses are off limits and they never question this.
I always just say sure, and it ends there. If it didn’t, I would mention that my mare is 30+ and reared for no apparent reason on our last trail ride. Which is somewhat true, she did rear for no reason, 2 yrs ago. I happen to believe in telling the (selective) truth ;)!!!
LBR
I also simply say, she is not ammy friendly and LOVES to buck and rear!
But when I was younger I had a pony that everyone wanted to ride, and bieng younger I always obliged… My two words of advice were: when he takes off, don’t scream, and for gods sake don’t let go of the riens! Funny, they always screamed and let go of the riens when he took off! You could actually see the devilish smile on my pony’s face lol…
How no one was seriously injured is a mystery to me!
This is a very timely thread, with great info I needed for sure! Thanks! I agree with playing the “liability” card. Not much they can argue with then…
If someone was going on and on about how they LOVE their large, inground pool and just had a GREAT swim in it and you said “Oh, I’ll have to come over and have a swim some weekend, maybe bring my husband and children as well because they like to swim too” people would be aghast at the rudeness of inviting yourself over. Same thing here except ten times worse because of liability and the poor horse having to tolerate the people. If someone is rude enough to issue their own invitation (and not take the hint at your less-than-enthusiastic response), I wouldn’t worry too much about being diplomatic.
I always say sure. My horses are safe and sane, and I’m thrilled to have more people involved with/interested in horses. I have three horses, and all can carry a newbie safely and won’t be ruined by one less than optimal ride. My only rule is that everyone who rides wears a helmet.
I also take people out on my boat, loan out my vehicles and equipment, and my friends do the same for me. I just don’t feel that possessive of what is mine.
Obviously, if my horses weren’t safe, or if I were in training for something where a minor mishap might mess it up, that would be a deal breaker.
[QUOTE=spotmenow;6229327]
If someone was going on and on about how they LOVE their large, inground pool and just had a GREAT swim in it and you said “Oh, I’ll have to come over and have a swim some weekend, maybe bring my husband and children as well because they like to swim too” people would be aghast at the rudeness of inviting yourself over. Same thing here except ten times worse because of liability and the poor horse having to tolerate the people. If someone is rude enough to issue their own invitation (and not take the hint at your less-than-enthusiastic response), I wouldn’t worry too much about being diplomatic.[/QUOTE]
No, many wouldn’t. Folks with pools get this all the time.
People constantly ask me if they can “come riding” with me, as if because I own one horse, I get instant riding access to all the horses on the property.
Then when I explain that’s not how it works, they say “oh, but I can ride your horse, then, right?”
No, you may not. I usually have to go with “she’s kind of crazy.”
I just laugh and say NO. I’m not friendly with anyone rude enough to persist, and anyone rude enough to persist is not my friend.
[QUOTE=Hunter Mom;6229405]
No, many wouldn’t. Folks with pools get this all the time.[/QUOTE]
And sometimes they don’t even ask, and you come home to find your neighbors have climbed over the 6’ fence and are in your pool. Ugh.
If one of them drowned, they’d sue so fast…
Well, it’s sort of like this. When I moved here I had a buddy and all he did all day long was talk horses, so I asked him about these trail rides that were so great that he was going on and if one of his other horses that he was riding all the time would suit and if he needed or felt like having one ridden would he consider having me tag along. He hemmed and hawed so I said, well can you recommend a good lesson barn or a trail riding outfit, and of course he couldn’t. I walked across the street to the tack shop and asked there for a lesson barn and got pointed in the right direction. (He did tell me about the tack shop though).
It actually bothered me a little that he kept “bragging” about these wonderful rides and wonderful horses, and when he started asking me if my daughter was available to show some of them in the juvenile division I told him the truth, which was that she didn’t know how to ride well enough to show his horses competively although she was taking lessons and would be competing in Academy.
So my advice is to come up with a bright smile and tell them about a wonderful (hopefully inexpensive) lesson program, or a local trail riding outfit that you’ve been to yourself, and keep a couple of cards in your wallet to hand out. Or you can make a vague arrangement and then never call back, that works pretty well too.
I’ve told this one before (pool related), but still shows the idiocy of some parents:
A friend and her DH moved to the beach in Alabama, but the house they bought had a pool (they weren’t looking for a pool, and since it wasn’t in great shape were considering filling it in). Day two or so in the house, early in the morning, the doorbell rings. There were two very young girls (first grade or younger) in bikinis with towels saying they wanted to go swimming. The lady of the house was horrified, took them home thinking the parents didn’t know the kids did this, and was stunned to talk to the parents and find out they did this with the kids constantly. She asked the parents if they knew anything about her or the other neighbors they sent the kids to alone, and the parents thought it was funny. She asked them if they ever checked the sex offender list or any other source of info. The parents said it was a nice neighborhood and couldn’t believe anyone like that would live there. The lady told the parents that their kids were not welcome, and they weren’t either, went home and immediately locked the gate to the backyard so they wouldn’t have any other self help swimmers trespass. They drained the pool, got an estimate on fixing it, and had a talk with the insurance agent-so they filled the pool in to avoid the liability and the bother. The lady talked to some other neighbors who confirmed that the little girls and other kids were allowed to trespass on property, and go out alone all of the time.
Kids aren’t the only people who don’t think trespassing is a problem, and the entitled, spoiled parents will sue you into poverty the second anything happens to their kid on your property. My insurance agent suggests that to keep financially safe I don’t allow anyone’s kids on my property without my supervision. Actually, I have very few friends or acquaintances with little kids, so I don’t have much tolerance for trespassing kids.
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