I couldn’t afford my own horse until I was 32…and didn’t get my bronze until I was 54…LOL. What’s your hurry?
Seriously, you have TIME! Don’t fret!
My goal was to get my medals on a horse I trained…I’m old but I can still ride and train!:winkgrin:
A quarter lease is just silly if you want to show, it takes a lot more riding to do third level!
I’d roll with the punches for now but insist on scheduled ride times. It’s a PITA to coordinate ride times each week with someone else, especially since there are many people who don’t like to plan more than a day or so ahead (which would drive me batty!!).
And yes, sharing a horse with a bunch of riders is what happens with a quarter-lease. Frustrating but workable.
[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]
funny, because I read this and thought “$200 for just two rides a week? F THAT!!”… You can find a nice horse around here for lease for 300-400, and IMHO, $200 would go a lot further for OP if she took lessons instead.
OP, if you truly have show aspirations I’d see about being someone’s WS. It’s what I did thru college.
[QUOTE=Bogey2;8138529]
I couldn’t afford my own horse until I was 32…and didn’t get my bronze until I was 54…LOL. What’s your hurry?
Seriously, you have TIME! Don’t fret![/QUOTE]
It’s true that I have time, but it’s been said that it takes lifetimes to become a truly masterful rider. I’m in a hurry to get my bronze because my real goal is to get my gold, and to be able to train a horse from foal to GP, so that I have the option of breeding and training and competing as a career alternative, if that pans out down the road…I guess I just have (perhaps unreasonably) high expectations for myself… But in any event I know that the kind of skill it takes to be a really excellent GP rider and trainer will take decades to develop. So I’m doing what I can to work towards that.
It might be good for this horse to be ridden more (as long as the riders are fairly good and are not undoing any training). It’s good for the drafty types to be more fit otherwise they can become the McFatty Fat body types!
Right now my husband and a friend both share a horse. He gets ridden 7 days a week–although some days are just easy hacking. A big draft cross too. Horse is being worked at training/1st level and it is not hard for him at_all. He is nice and fit and has had zero lameness issues since he has been on this program. I will occasionally ride him, as will another more experienced rider–and those are the rides where he actually has to work a little harder. He is happy to work and very forward going. When we go to shows—2 or 3 tests in a day are no problem for him.
I think that you should wait and see how it all works out. It may be that the horse does well with a few more rides a week. It would be different if the horse were being worked at a higher level too. Training/1st level isn’t all that hard on a horse.
I get the impression that the concern is more that the rides will be hard to schedule amongst 4 or 5 riders than that the horse will be worked too hard. I agree that this would be a fair concern. OP will likely be riding the horse on the same day as someone else…as most people ride after work, that may mean the window of time that the riders all want to ride will be the same. I think you should discuss this with the person coordinating the lease.
[QUOTE=beowulf;8138619]
funny, because I read this and thought “$200 for just two rides a week? F THAT!!”… You can find a nice horse around here for lease for 300-400, and IMHO, $200 would go a lot further for OP if she took lessons instead.
OP, if you truly have show aspirations I’d see about being someone’s WS. It’s what I did thru college.[/QUOTE]
I’d love a WS position, but I also need income and my school/ IHSA schedule makes it challenging… But I’m not crossing it off as a possibility.
You might be right that my time would be better spent on lessons alone. I did that for a while when I had access to a really good trainer-- I learned sooooo much, but that trainer is very far away from me now and two rides a month (what $200 in lessons got me there) just isn’t enough for me to progress the way I want to.
Can you create a schedule in Google Drive or somewhere so you can schedule on-line? That could give people some flexibility and should make scheduling easy. Also gives people the info they need not to work the horse too much, or too closely together. After a month or so, if you can’t get time booked, give notice and walk away.
[QUOTE=stryder;8138796]
Can you create a schedule in Google Drive or somewhere so you can schedule on-line? That could give people some flexibility and should make scheduling easy. Also gives people the info they need not to work the horse too much, or too closely together. After a month or so, if you can’t get time booked, give notice and walk away.[/QUOTE]
This sounds like a sensible idea - discuss scheduling methods and see if you can all agree on something good. If you need, you can mention your concerns about being fair to the horse in terms of getting and keeping her fit, in addition to making sure you get your own ride time in. (Like, it isn’t JUST that you want to make sure you get your share, you also want the horse to be in good shape, which means having some idea of what other people are doing with her at least in terms of intensity, and when. Lazy half hour trail ride versus focused one hour lesson can be a big difference in terms of what you should have as your goals if you’re riding the horse on the same day.)
Just out of curiosity what level is this potential 3rd level horse showing at currently? I only ask because moSt people who own a confirmed 3rd level horse would not be quarter leasing it…maybe one other rider on a very confirmed horse under supervision
This is going to be harsh, so brace yourself. If your goal is actually to become a GP trainer, then unless you have a scholarship for being on the IHSA team, you need to quit that immediately. Find a working student position instead.
IHSA isn’t going to help your dressage, and collegiate dressage is a joke.
You’re currently mastering training level, right? You need to be on as many horses as possible, and being a working student is the best way to achive that. I assume you’re a good rider otherwise people wouldn’t let you exercise their horses, so it shouldn’t be terribly hard to find a trainer to work for.
If you’re in as much of a rush as you say, then two lessons per week on a first level horse doesn’t exactly seem like the fast track to me. Working student, working student, working student. It’s hard, often unpaid work, but 5-6 lessons per week sure improves one’s riding.
[QUOTE=SAB;8140556]
This is going to be harsh, so brace yourself. If your goal is actually to become a GP trainer, then unless you have a scholarship for being on the IHSA team, you need to quit that immediately. Find a working student position instead.
IHSA isn’t going to help your dressage, and collegiate dressage is a joke.
You’re currently mastering training level, right? You need to be on as many horses as possible, and being a working student is the best way to achive that. I assume you’re a good rider otherwise people wouldn’t let you exercise their horses, so it shouldn’t be terribly hard to find a trainer to work for.
If you’re in as much of a rush as you say, then two lessons per week on a first level horse doesn’t exactly seem like the fast track to me. Working student, working student, working student. It’s hard, often unpaid work, but 5-6 lessons per week sure improves one’s riding.[/QUOTE]
I agree with the WS thing… but hey… I learned so much on the IDA team - not from my trainer (who was a joke) but from the horses in the program. A lot of them were UL horses, most were GP in their earlier years and were donated to the program. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater OP, you can learn while riding the other horses.
I agree a WS position is crucial. You can find one that either pays, or you can volunteer your time a few hours a week in exchange for lessons - I did this with a friend during college who was a more advanced rider than me… In exchange for helping her @ the barn (and at her food truck :lol: ) I got to keep my horse close to school and she gave me lessons on him when she rode with me. You don’t have to commit your entire time to a WS position - if you are in college most trainers understand you are just trying to make things work.
I’d ask your IHSA or IDA instructor for some guidance - they will know people in the area and I’m sure they’d be thrilled to help you.
Personally? From a time/money standpoint, second leaser or no second leaser, I’d look for a reasonably talented horse closer to home. One that you can half or even full lease, spend 5+ days a week riding and training, and either haul out for lessons or maybe even just plan to attend clinics. It’s not clear to me whether the bi-weekly lessons are in addition to your two days a week or included in it, but either way that’s really only 8-10 rides PER MONTH.
Fast-tracking your way to a bronze is not going to be done easily in 8 rides a month, unless maybe you are on a schoolmaster.
Not even if on a school master.
I was working with horses and riding 8 horses a day. 4 in lessons. This was dressage not jumping. I was winning on horses I trained before going there and I am nowhere near a grand Prix rider
Three of us share a horse. We each ride two days a week, and he is off one. We have a set schedule for who rides each day, so I ride Wed and Sat, rider B rides Mon and Thurs and rider C rides Tues and Sun and he is off Friday. If I can’t make it on a Wed or Sat for some reason I can usually switch days with one of the other riders or let them know that I will ride on Fri instead of Wed. It helps that the schedule has a framework, so changes seem easier to manage. We keep a calendar in the tack room so we can note who rode, if it is trail, hack or school (or off) plus if he got a turnout after the ride. It is a little bit of work, but definitely doable. We are all competent, if not top level riders and conscientious horse-people and that helps.
I know how rare this type of collaboration can be, and I am so thankful to be able to be a part of it because it suits my life right now wonderfully. I just wanted to point out that just because it may not be common, doesn’t mean it can’t work out.
And two of us are going to take him to a couple of shows over the summer. I won’t be able to enter as many classes, but we will split costs and be each others grooms, which will be nice to have!
Realistically, getting the first level scores for your bronze is something you can do any time - even after you have your third level scores. Once you are able to get the scores at second and third, you will be able to either drop down to first to pick up the scores or put your leg over pretty much any horse for the first level scores, because once you are that good, a 60% at first is straightforward to achieve.
I agree also that it’s possible to share the horse at a dressage show, perhaps to your mutual benefit.
So, ride this horse because this horse is great and this trainer is great, and maybe worry less about the specifics of your bronze right now. Lots of time in the saddle with the best instruction you can find is what you need most of all, especially time without stirrups, etc.
The biggest thing that would concern me about the change is the variable schedule. If I were coordinating this, I would assign each person a day and then they could swap it at their own discretion. I would not be happy with a situation where another rider could bump me off my day without my consent.
If you choose the working student route, be very clear with your goals and expectations, and be prepared to walk when or if the trainer treats you as a stable hand. Many ws positions will not provide a training level rider the fast track to progress, and some won’t provide any opportunity to progress.
[QUOTE=arapaloosa_lady;8138570]
I’d roll with the punches for now but insist on scheduled ride times. It’s a PITA to coordinate ride times each week with someone else, especially since there are many people who don’t like to plan more than a day or so ahead (which would drive me batty!!).
And yes, sharing a horse with a bunch of riders is what happens with a quarter-lease. Frustrating but workable.[/QUOTE]
I think arapaloosa_lady sums it up well. Some horses would be fine in this schedule and others not, but you will not know until the other quarter leaser starts riding too.
I had the opportunity to ride one of the lesson horses again over the weekend (I had been spoiled and was the only one riding him for a few weeks), and as I am sure others have run into, I could tell other people had been riding him! He was trying to pull his tricks to get out of work… You will have to see if the horse can handle the riding styles of both leasers.
My mare (not a lease candidate :D) would be a miserable sort if she was worked 6 days a week for an hour+… We are progressing wonderfully with 2nd/3rd level work on a schedule of 4 rides a week for 30-45 minutes. This is great for a working adult with a kiddo and other pets! You will just have to see how this horse handles the workload.
Can you afford to buy out the other 1/4 lease?
