Leased horse has (another) new rider... What would you do?

[zaparaquah]

Several months ago I started a quarter lease on a Percheron X Friesian mare, hoping to get my first real show season under my belt - I’m in college and ride on an IHSA team during school so I could only manage a quarter lease, 2 rides a week, $200 a month. She’s a great mare and we’re pretty well matched. She’s a fantastic ride and definitely ready to move up to first level competition.

My goal is to earn my bronze medal by the time I graduate college (3 more years) so I was hoping to get quite a few shows in - enough to master training level and get my qualifying scores at First Level by the end of the season.

But just this week my trainer decided to have a new rider try her out - on my scheduled ride day - and asked me to ride on a different day instead. Which was fine. But now she’s saying that this new lady wants to do a quarter lease (which leaves me wondering how the horse will manage the work load… 4 leased rides and two training rides a week leaves one day off and that’s if her owner never rides - she’s a draft after all, and she needs her downtime), and that we’ll have to coordinate our ride days however we want, and that it might not even be a fixed schedule (which doesn’t really work for me)… And that this rider wants to show her, so our show weekends would be split with me riding one day and her riding the next. This might work out just fine, being that we can split fees and such. But I’m worried that the horse will be over worked and that I won’t get to show as much as I need to to get my qualifying scores.

Friends have advised me to start looking for a different lease situation… Which might be a good idea since this barn is a good hours drive from where I’m staying this summer. But she’s a very nice horse! And I’m doubtful that I’ll find a better situation, let alone a horse that I can just jump on and start showing this month.

What would you do? Am I being over reactive? Should I just wait and see how the situation pans out?
Thanks for input

[enjoytheride]

I would find another lease. It sounds like your trainer is more interested in making as much money as possible off this horse and less interested in fulfilling her arrangement with you.

[norcalammie]

Do you have a written lease? What does it say about your ride days/times and showing?

[zaparaquah]

If I recall correctly, the lease just says that I will ride her twice a week and take bi-weekly lessons with her trainer. It’s not a long-term commitment, I just have to give a month’s notice to the owner if I want to stop. I might have to go see if I can look at it again though. I actually don’t have a copy of it.

[AZ_TD]

Is the other person a good rider? If she is it might be beneficial, but if not, detrimental. Most horses handle being ridden 6 days a week, of course, it depends on how hard the rides are.

[zaparaquah]

I’ve been told she’s a good rider - an adult who used to train horses when she was younger. I’m hopeful that it would be good for her, but like I said I have no idea how experienced this lady actually is or how she’ll do with Zeta (the mare). Should i give her the benefit of the doubt and roll with it for a while?

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=zaparaquah;8138286]
I’ve been told she’s a good rider - an adult who used to train horses when she was younger. I’m hopeful that it would be good for her, but like I said I have no idea how experienced this lady actually is or how she’ll do with Zeta (the mare). Should i give her the benefit of the doubt and roll with it for a while?[/QUOTE]

You are currently riding a horse nice enough to go for your bronze for $200 a month, from which you could walk away at any time with no strings attached if you don’t want to play anymore for whatever reason.

I would suggest waiting for the situation to actually go wrong (which it might, but it also might not) before you upend everything and try to replicate that deal.

[Foxtrot_s]

The life of a lesson horse, unfortunately. You might find that of the four riders, not all of them use up all their allotted time and the mare may not get the full workload. Let things ride for now and see what happens, but I think I would be keeping my eyes open for another situation just in case.

I have a beautiful horse and until recently would have loved a rider for her.

[CatPS]

I’m not sure where you are located, but $200/month for two weekly rides on a well-schooled horse and showing opportunities is a steal in most places. If you want more showing opportunities, unfortunately you’ll have to pay for more horse time. It doesn’t sound to me like the owner is being unreasonable. You’ll just have to decide if the situation works for you. Personally, I would think it would be very difficult to get your bronze with less than a half lease in most cases.

[arlosmine]

What meupatdoes said.
You are worrying about things that have not happened yet, and may not happen at all. The new rider may even be a fantastic rider who helps make the horse an even better ride for you.

Wait and see. Expect the best out of the situation and form a team with all concerned. If the horse is fit, this is not too much riding. Drafts need less time off, not more time off in order to stay fit for performance.

It’s unlikely to find a better deal for the amount of money you are spending, if the mare rally is ready to be competitive at rated dressage shows.

[joiedevie99]

Ditto. Wait it out and see how it goes. It’s unreasonable to expect sole showing/scheduling privileges when you are only paying for a quarter lease.

[zaparaquah]

[QUOTE=CatPS;8138392]
I’m not sure where you are located, but $200/month for two weekly rides on a well-schooled horse and showing opportunities is a steal in most places. If you want more showing opportunities, unfortunately you’ll have to pay for more horse time. It doesn’t sound to me like the owner is being unreasonable. You’ll just have to decide if the situation works for you. Personally, I would think it would be very difficult to get your bronze with less than a half lease in most cases.[/QUOTE]

This is probably accurate, but between IHSA rides/ fees and caring for my own retired horse, and being a full time college student, this arrangement was all I could afford. I’m very aware that it’s a great price, even for the area (which is fairly remote and full of horse barns), but with the gas money of driving to and from I’m not entirely convinced that it’s saving me money vs. a nearby horse and a half lease.

I know I’ll probably have to find a way to get more dressage-horse time to move beyond First Level, but I’m not worrying about that just yet…

[zaparaquah]

@arlosmine;8138394

Wait and see. Expect the best out of the situation and form a team with all concerned. If the horse is fit, this is not too much riding. Drafts need less time off, not more time off in order to stay fit for performance.

I’m only worried about her fitness because she’s NOT particularly fit. When I first started riding her, she was used to not having to work very hard. Her owner doesn’t push her at all and the trainer only asks a little more of her than the owner does. I actually pushed her too far initially, not understanding that she didn’t have the endurance of the TB I was riding before, and she had to take a week off. We’ve been building her up slowly since then and she’s much fitter and better balanced now, but she’s still not in top condition, and it takes time for her to adjust to harder work. I’m just worried that having two ambitious riders working with her at the same time might be enough to put her back on stall rest…

But you are right that I’m worrying about things that may or may not happen, and I did know all along that I’d likely have to share show privileges. She’s a good quality horse who did well in rated shows at Training level last year, and there’s no doubt that she can move up. Guess I’ll wait it out and passively look for other options in case things fall apart.

[CHT]

You are paying for a 1/4 lease. That means there will be three other riders. This means horse gets 8 paid for lease rides per week. That is the definition of what you are paying for. This means that the horse will be ridden more than once a day, and I imagine scheduling might be an issue, but that is expected when you sign up for a 1/4 lease that allows for 2 rides per week.

I agree to wait and see, but make sure your expectations of the arrangement are realistic. I wonder if you had it good for a while, and now that the horse’s dance card is filling up so that your portion is truly only a 1/4, you are feeling the constraints of the arrangement more.

[soloudinhere]

well, real talk time:

you’re paying for a 1/4 lease. Reality is you’re sharing the horse. That means for shows as well as in daily life. In exchange for this, you’re assuming basically none of the cost of owning a horse ($200 a month is really not anything in the grand scheme of horse ownership- especially one that can be ridden to 3rd by a relative newbie).

Frankly dressage shows are easy to share a horse at. You can’t exactly run a horse twice at a 3-day event. But a horse can bang out 3 first level tests in a day no problem.

I’d also be a little more open about your medal scores - it’s nice to have goals, but reality is you only need 2 at first level, from 2 different judges, which can be had in one show. So I wouldn’t panic just yet.

[Bogie]

I’m in the camp that says not to stress about it until it becomes a problem.

Honestly, four leased rides and two training rides a week isn’t that much unless those are hard rides. How long does your lesson go? an hour? If so, I wouldn’t sweat it yet.

My own draft x mare thrives on work. She’s currently hunting twice a week (that’s 2 hours or so of varied terrain with galloping & jumping) and is ready to go out any time. Mostly I don’t have time to ride her every day but she would be fine with it, especially if the work is varied.

If anything, she’s better the more work she gets.

I think the potential issue is that the riders all have different riding styles but if everyone is under the general supervision of the same trainer, that should be manageable, especially if she has a sense of humor. My TB is not that keen on having a lot of different riders; my mare is a good sport and will tolerate a lot of variation in riding styles without getting upset.

[soloudinhere]

I should add that my horse who is polishing up the 3rd level work is ridden 6 days a week and is completely fine.

[zaparaquah]

[QUOTE=CHT;8138423]

I agree to wait and see, but make sure your expectations of the arrangement are realistic. I wonder if you had it good for a while, and now that the horse’s dance card is filling up so that your portion is truly only a 1/4, you are feeling the constraints of the arrangement more.[/QUOTE]

Definitely a possibility. The truth is that for the bulk of my riding career, I’ve done half-leases on lesson horses, had my own horse, and exercised horses for absentee owners (which equals more or less unlimited access). When i went for the quarter lease, it was because $200 was all I could spend, and all that I’d spent before for half leases, and two days a week seemed reasonable. I guess it didn’t occur to me that there might actually be three other people all expecting to get as much from the horse as I got.

[Blume_Farm]

I agree that you are worrying about things that have not happened yet. I think most horses that are really being trained are worked in some fashion or another 6 days/ week. Remember that means all the horse has to do is exert itself 1 hr out of 24 in a day. And if you are all working at First Level work one hour of balanced walk, trot, canter, some leg yielding, transitions should really not be too hard for a horse. The only way the horse is going to get more fit is through more exercise! Obviously I don’t recommend pushing the horse, but it doesn’t sound like that is the case here.

Sounds like you have a great learning opportunity with this horse and trainer. I’d stick it out a bit. On the flip side, I’d keep my eyes open for possible other options if this one doesn’t pan out.

Good luck!

[SuzieQNutter]

As long as the horse is fit enough then it is the rider that needs downtime, not the horse.

If the other rider is a good rider the horse will excel.

If the horse is not fit enough it needs to be brought up to being fit enough or it will not cope physically.

To be worked every day it not only needs to be fit enough but needs to have enough feed and tack that fits correctly. It also needs to have riders that understand fairness. In actual fact that is all the things that all horses deserve.