I’m curious to get some opinions on leasing your horse out. If the horse is able to be shown (english, dressage), at a facility that offers an indoor arena, round pen, and trails, what would you charge someone for a full lease? I would want the option to ride my horse 1-2 days a week and then lease him the other days to someone. I have never leased a horse before so I am curious what everyone charges. Thanks in advance 
That would be a half or 2/3 lease, not a full lease. Very generally, the rule for a full lease is 1/3 of the purchase price plus expenses (board, shoes, vet, insurance etc.). For a half lease I’ve typically seen 1/2 of expenses, but if the horse is easy to ride and competitive at recognized shows at First or higher and you just want to ride lightly on one or two weekdays and can be flexible about which days you might be able to ask for more. How much more will depend on your area and how nice the horse is.
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ok, that is very helpful thank you!
Yes, divide the monthly costs by 30 for your daily cost, and then multiply by the number of days the person will ride. You can add in shoes and any regular maintenance costs to your monthly cost. You can add on a bit of a cushion to your lease fee. But it’s also going to be determined by how nice your horse is, how nice your barn is, and what’s typical in your area.
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I’ve done a partial lease with my horse before but I did it very differently. We decided how many days she wanted to ride and how many days I wanted to ride. Then we took on maintenance costs - for instance - I wanted to make all the vet and farrier decisions, so I paid those bills. She paid board, training, her show fees, and maybe insurance. I can’t quite remember all the particulars, but you get the idea. Anyway, we determined what that amount averaged out to be and she wrote a check for that amount monthly. As my horse continued in training, the monthly rate went up. (I think I raised it twice over the five years we had a lease). To give you a percentage, she rode twice a week (every once in a while a 3rd day) and was paying 50-60% of the maintenance cost. We thought that was fair because of the wear and tear on my horse and she did not have the initial expense of purchasing a horse.
There is no rule about the price. Most of the leases I know about in the dressage world are simple “care lease” - i.e. the person leasing the horse pays for the feed, board, shoeing etc. I am leasing out one of my horses this way because is is a win-win situation. I don’t have time to ride that much at the moment, but I don’t want to sell. The rider is able to keep him exercised and rides at a level that will maintain his training. If the horse is very nice, or it is a schoolmaster situation, then you might be able to charge some money on top of expenses. This is very individual, and I don’t think there are any rules. It could be a $50 - 100 per month to pay for the “wear and tear” of showing for something doing local low-level shows. Our could be a few thousand per month for a true schoolmaster that is nationally competitive at FEI levels. But note that charges for a lease are quite variable and individual. In most areas of the country, there won’t be other similar horses for lease, so you really can’t compare prices. You also can’t be sure that you will be able to find someone that wants the sort of deal you have to offer - so it usually comes down to finding someone who is interested and then negotiating something that works for both of you.
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Realistically, for a low level dressage horse, you are looking at what is called a “free lease” where the lessee picks up expenses in proportion to riding time. So if your lessee gets half the rides on the horse, you would ask for half of the board, half of the shoes, plus half of other incidental expenses. Then the lessee pays for her own lessons, and typically she’d be obligated to take at least one a week.
Now, just because you are offering that does not guarantee there will be any takers, even though financially it’s a pretty good deal compared to buying. It can be hard to find a rider with the right skill level, with good responsibility and follow-through, and with the funds to pay that. In addition, you have to look at what you want and need as a rider-owner - will you have to pay someone to ride if you don’t have a lessee? Are you stuck with finances and you need money now? What do you need out of the lease and what will you do if you don’t get one?
IME it’s more important that the rider be someone who is good with your horse and is good to work with than the specific dollars. You might come out ahead even leasing your horse for a pittance of your expenses if your alternative is to pay your trainer to ride.
If your horse is an FEI schoolmaster and you don’t need the money or the ride, you will probably be able to get someone to pay more than just expenses. But even very nice horses can be very challenging to lease for an on-farm lease if your trainer doesn’t have a ready supply of up and coming lesson riders.
Thank you all for the information, you’ve been a big help!
