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Leasing a horse at a lesson barn

Hunter/Jumper
#1

I tried a search in the forums, but couldn’t find the exact thing I was looking for.

I am considering leasing a large pony at a hunter barn where I have been taking lessons. I like the trainer a lot, the horses are well trained and well cared for.

Here is my (slight) dilemma. When I approached the trainer about leasing a horse, he was fine with it, as I have been taking twice weekly lessons with him and we both agree I would absolutely benefit from more time in the saddle (who wouldn’t?).

Here is where I am stuck. He said that lease fee would be $325 monthly + shoes. Not an issue for me at all. But then he mentioned using the horse for other lessons. Now I am thinking not such a good idea. I don’t want to pay a lease on a horse for other people be riding him also. I know he doesn’t have unlimited horses, so how do I approach this? I don’t want to sound unreasonable at all, I just never encountered this in a lease before.

#2

Is this a large pony that you will be showing?
What is the board price at your barn?

Paying a lease fee for a lesson horse frequently includes the horse still being used in lessons.

A hunter pony that will do shows it is not strange to charge above and beyond what it costs for the upkeep of the pony for the lease fee. A good pony has value.

4 Likes
#3

What you are looking at is not a full lease that entitles you to sole use of the horse.
The fee you were quoted is reasonable for a partial lease.
How many days were you intending to ride outside of lessons?
This will be limited by the number of lessons horse is used in and you should have this information before agreeing to the lease.

That said, it is not unreasonable for the horse to be used in a lesson, then ridden again the same day. Either by you or in another lesson.
What kind of riding is done in the lessons & at what level are the riders?

Only one thing I might question is why you are expected to pay the total cost of shoeing.
That seems a bit unreasonable if horse will still be used in lessons. In that case you would not be the only one contributing to wear on the shoes.
Does this horse need special or corrective shoeing?
If so, then you should feel obligated to pay at least a part of the bill for the farrier.
Even just regular trims or resets are part of the wear you add to by riding.

Do you have plans to show?
If so, will other students be using the same horse at a show?
What part of costs for showing would you be asked to pay?

All of the above are things you need to discuss with the trainer before agreeing to any lease contract.

2 Likes
#4

$325/month at a hunter barn sounds like a partial lease, therefore yes I would expect the pony to still be used in other lessons. If you want exclusive use of the pony, ask what the cost of a full lease would be, barring others from riding the pony. He may not be willing to offer a full lease, if he needs such a pony for other lessons.

7 Likes
#5

I agree, for $325 a month you are not going to be getting full use of the horse. My guess is that is two days a week. Part leases are usually based on a percentage of the monthly costs of the horse, and however the owner decides to split the costs is really up to them. Some owners charge a higher monthly rate that covers the shoes and incidentals, others charge for that separately. I would check the cost and frequency of the shoeing, as there could be a big price difference depending on whether the horse gets keg shoes every 8 weeks or some special therapeutic shoeing every 4 weeks, or is just getting good hot forged shoes on a 5 or 6 week rotation.

I am not sure what the downside of other people riding the lease horse in lessons would be. It would keep the horse tuned up and under the eye of the trainer.

I’m sorry, but the only way you get your Own Special Individual Horse is to buy one, and pay all the board costs yourself. That will cost you significantly more than $325 a month. As long as you are sharing horses that belong to someone else, you can count on there being other riders if the horse is a good ride and is in a program.

2 Likes
#6

The first information that would be helpful to know is what is the cost of board? Are you expecting to be doing a full lease? If so, that is usually the full price of board + an additional lease fee (since the pony is no longer bringing in revenue). $325 plus shoeing does sound like only a partial lease (although you should not be responsible for the full price of shoes IMO).

Depending in your area, there may be people looking to do free leases, that would let you take a horse/pony under your care. In that scenario, you would be responsible for shoes + board plus any other costs negotiated. That may be your best bet if you are looking to have exclusive use of a horse/pony without breaking the bank.

I found my current lease horse on a state wide classifieds page. I pay $300 a month for three week days (his owner gets weekends). Board at the barn is $650. I do not contribute towards shoeing or any other costs.

#7

Often private owners will do a half lease on their horse that is a “money loser” because their priority is to get the horse exercised on days they can’t ride, and to find a congenial match for their horse. And often in such cases, the leaser can pick up extra riding days free if the owner doesn’t want to ride them. Indeed, at my self-board barn I’ve done a part lease of my own horse just in exchange for the leaser doing the daily chores and feeding.

I would expect that a horse in a good lesson program would have a lease price that covers his real costs and a small profit margin. And I would expect the horses in general to cost more to lease because they are embedded in a good program and are kept tuned up, and this is very very important for a beginning rider just moving up from lessons.

You could probably go out of your barn and find many private horses to half lease, including some that are not being handled at all on a regular basis. Many might be on properties with no access to lessons or training. You might or might not agree with the feeding, training, or horse care priorities of the owners. And there would be no one there to help you out if you run into problems with the horse’s behavior. If you are an experienced rider you could be able to evaluate these situations, find one that works for you, and solve your own training problems.

I would not recommend this for a beginner. You are way better off leasing a horse that is embedded in your trainer’s lesson program.

And no, he is not going to be Your Horse. He is still under the trainer’s care, in the trainer’s program, and being ridden by other people. You are sharing him. This is good. It gives you a support system and it helps you learn.

2 Likes
#8

Just to clarify a few things. I typically prefer dressage over hunters, but I needed some lessons and some saddle time while my pony is in training. Since I am already paying full training board, I do not want to buy another horse.
I rode the horse today, he is a gem, well behaved and sweet. He is actually pretty close to 16 hands, so maybe not so much a pony, but that is fine because we worked well together. He def has more whoa than go, which is fine with me gaining my confindence and working on keeping hands quiet, etc.
He does have some serious farrier stuff, his feet have always been a mess, but I can deal with some of that. I think I want to speak to the trainer a little more and hash out details, because in all honesty I can be happy with the arrangement if all he needs him for is weekends. I do think I will have to discuss farrier costs before I commit.

#9

Ah apologies for making assumptions! Usually people asking about leases and moving up from lesson horses are 13 years old :wink: and when they say pony they really mean a pony!! I read this as a child wanting My Own Pony in the absence of family funds to have one.

In your situation yes really get clarity on the feet and also how much horse will be ridden by others and if that will affect what you can do with him.

1 Like
#10

Why don’t you just take an extra lesson per week? You get more saddle time and don’t have to take on paying for the horse’s shoes.

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#11

I pay a similar lease fee ($400, but no shoes), and my lease horse is in other lessons. I do know those other lessons are a part of why my lease is so reasonable, especially for this particular horse.

I’ve been leasing her for 2 years now, and I think the biggest things that make it work are:

  1. My trainer is great at communicating. If someone cancels a lesson or wants to reschedule she will text once she knows what is going on, and at various times we’ve all had to work around each other’s schedules, but my trainer coordinates that very well.
  2. I really don’t have the time or commitment right now to be able to ride as much as B needs (she tends to be chubby, and does best in regular work), so those extra lessons are something that helps me out a lot.

I definitely think in your situation, the big issue would be how much the farrier is going to be, when the other lessons are, and how many other lessons there are.
Also, depending on the type, timing, and length of lessons, you might still be able to ride on the same day as a lesson. Figuring out what the policy is on that would probably be useful to make your decision.

#12

Paying for the farrier does not make me cringe.

The fee is what the fee is, the trainer in this case is saying the fee is X+shoes. They could have just as easily said whatever that whole number is.

Though the OP already owns so it is not a huge deal for them, I kind of like this system (X+shoes). It helps people who do not own realize how the expenses of a horse work while they lease. Dobbin costs board (the X number) plus shoes.

#13

I never understand the lesson horse lease. Why pay more for access to a horse you already have access to? Spend the extra $500 on more lessons on this same horse, not … the privilege of riding around unsupervised?

And the horse you already own is unrideable by you and must be in full training instead?

Um…

#14

You probably misunderstood my posting have a pony in full training as “this horse is an unridable asshole”, however, the sweet little 4 year old Welsh/Qtr cross is a baby just learning. I want him started correctly, so I have him in full training with a lady I know will not screw him up, like I have seen many others do to their horses sending them off to a trainer that really isn’t qualified to train a rat. I am being rude and snarky because I have this experience and it really torques my arse that people aren’t willing to put the time in to find a well qualified trainer and take the time to do the right thing by a horse. I leased a horse that was like that and it taught me a valuable lesson. If I had known how the horse I leased had been “trained” before I bought her, it would have been a no deal.
The reason I wanted to lease another horse was to be on something safe that knew it’s job, I could ride at least a few days a week and take lessons on with the trainer that owned it. I need work, too. I started riding only 8 years ago, and I still need lots of improvement.

2 Likes
#15

Leases come in all shapes and sizes. At $325 a month plus shoes, it sounds like you are considering a half lease. Half leases give you rights to the horse for half of his schedule. The owner has rights to the horse for the second half of his schedule. If you don’t want anyone else to ride the horse, you’ll need to do a full lease which is likely to be about double the rate you were quoted.

#16

Each to his own. Some folks like the consistency of being able to ride Dobbin in each and every lesson versus getting stuck with “Cranky Pony Mare That Doesn’t Like to Trot”. Some people find the consistency and the extra saddle time is worth paying for.

2 Likes
#17

Years

#18

Definitely to each their own! In some barns (including mine) you have to lease in order to show. Showing definitely a big part of why I lease a school horse. I think it also depends on the quality of your school horses. Some places I would never be tempted to lease a lesson horse, others I’d be happy to!

The other reason why I lease is the consistency and becoming a more well rounded rider. I eventually want to purchase my own horse, and leasing lets me do a lot of things to that I don’t run into with lessons. I’m responsible for my own training plan for that day and I get to choose what to work on. If I want to work on extended/collected/medium trot over poles I have to learn how to do the correct striding. Hacking also allows me to really notice and work on my bad habits without any other focus. Trying to improve my leg? Instead of riding just 3-4 minutes without stirrups in warmup I can do much longer sessions.

In a perfect world, I would do a full lease from someone off-site, board at my barn, and continue to do lessons twice a week. However, if I could budget for that I would own a horse already. Leasing a lesson horse is a great compromise between a standard lease or only doing lessons. I’ve only been back riding for about a year now so lessons are very important for me. I personally however think that after 2x a week you start getting diminishing returns and you are just as well served practicing what you learned in those two lessons rather than being in an additional lesson.

5 Likes
#19

I agree with the above posters, leasing a lesson horse definitely has some great advantages for some people. No reason to look down your nose at it if it is not the right thing for you, that does not make it not the right thing for someone else.

1 Like
#20

I agree there are lots of advantages to half leasing a lesson horse which is why a lot of people do it. And yes, getting to ride outside of lessons to work on things when and how you want is a big part of that.

For my kid, there is nothing like having a horse to love on, dress up in ear bonnets and sparkles, groom for hours- her and the other tween/teen girls that lease get to live the pony loving dream for a fraction of the ownership price.

1 Like

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