Who and when to approach about horse lease?

[simply_spellbound]

Hi COTHers! Sorry if this post has been covered umpteen times, but I would love some advice please.

I have been taking lessons for around 3 months now, not long, I know…in a couple of week though, I’ll be taking a 1 hour group lesson, and a half hour private lesson each week.

I really want to try and find a horse to lease, either half lease or free lease. It would be nice to take my lessons on the same horse and really get to know it and bond with them!

Half of me feels like I should bide my time and not mention it to my trainer yet, but the other half of me is jumping out of my skin in anticipation, excitement and longing!

please give me some helpful advice!

[oppsfelldown]

You need to sit down with your trainer about your interest in leasing a horse - they should find one that has the correct temperament and training for a green rider.

Some trainers allow a 1/2 lease on their lesson horses this may be your best bet until you have more miles in the saddle.

Good Luck!

[OneTwoMany]

@simply_spellbound

Hi COTHers! Sorry if this post has been covered umpteen times, but I would love some advice please.

I have been taking lessons for around 3 months now, not long, I know…in a couple of week though, I’ll be taking a 1 hour group lesson, and a half hour private lesson each week.

I really want to try and find a horse to lease, either half lease or free lease. It would be nice to take my lessons on the same horse and really get to know it and bond with them!

Half of me feels like I should bide my time and not mention it to my trainer yet, but the other half of me is jumping out of my skin in anticipation, excitement and longing!

please give me some helpful advice!

A half lease and a free lease are very different proposals. If you are planning to move your riding schedule up to twice a week next week, it might be best for you to start out with a half lease.

A “free lease” requires you to take on the full expense of a horse. In addition to lessons, you’ll be responsible for all board fees, farrier care, vet care, etc. That is a lot to take on after only three months of riding.

I would suggest you explore the half lease to start. You’ll have three days a week to ride and bond with your pony and you can take things from there.

You are just getting started. Horse ownership (via purchase or leasing) is incredibly fulfilling, but it is also a huge responsibility. Give yourself time to “wade in” to the waters.

[WildLittleWren]

I vote for speaking to your trainer about a half lease

[Guilherme]

You need to ride a variety of horses in your first year or so. This will give you some insight into how different types of horses move and will significantly improve your skill set.

G.

[Tigoli]

Absolutely talk to your trainer about it. As others have already pointed out many lesson barns will half lease their lesson horses. If your barn doesn’t do that, your trainer should have advice about what to look for, or (even better) know of horses locally that would be suitable.

Sit down and have a chat with them!

[Pennywell_Bay]

@Guilherme

You need to ride a variety of horses in your first year or so. This will give you some insight into how different types of horses move and will significantly improve your skill set.

G.

^^^^^ Love and totally agree (with the post, though I am sure G is totally lovable )

[MissAriel]

I am siding with G and Pennywell on this. While it seems like riding the same horse exclusively will help you progress faster, really your riding will improve much more quickly by riding different horses. Every horse is a teacher with a different lesson for you - take advantage of that opportunity. Nothing improved my riding more than the years I spent without a horse, riding anything I could get my leg over and learning whatever each had to offer. You will have plenty of time to get into leasing later, and with the experience of riding many horses you will have a better idea of the type of horse you will prefer.

[NC001]

You should discuss with your trainer to what needs to be in place before you are ready to lease.

A few things to consider-
A half lease usually means you pay a set monthly fee and possibly some of the horses expenses and get to ride the horse a certain number of times per week or month. Lessons may or may not be included in the fee. Its set up differently at each barn so make sure you know what to expect. It is typically a significantly greater monthly cost than just doing lessons twice a week.

A free lease is where you take over the expenses of a horse including medical care, ect. It can be challenging to find a good horse for a beginner that is also a free lease. Do not go this route without help from your trainer!

You havent been taking lessons long so your trainer may not feel you are ready for a lease. Or there may not be a horse available for lease that suites your level of riding. So discuss with your trainer what needs to happen and the costs and time commitment needed.

Good luck. My daughter has been half leasing for a year now and it has been great for her. But she had been riding for almost 2 years and taking private or semi private lessons and the right horse came along for her. Just this week I started a very unexpected free lease on a horse that needed a place to go. So I will cover his expenses for awhile and see how he works for me.

[Scribbler]

If you need more saddle time and are safe to ride unsupervised, you may be able to have practice rides on school horses that are a bit less than the cost of lessons. That would be a way of having some more unstructured practice time to work on balance and independence of the coach. It might be easier for the trainer to schedule this on different horses rather than lock you into a half lease on one horse.

If you are not safe to ride unsupervised then you are not ready for a half lease.

[00Seven]

OP, just in case you weren’t aware, the “free” in “free lease” means that it is a full lease with no lease fee. But it is still going to be a lot more expensive than lessons - you’ll be responsible for board, farrier, vet, tack, other upkeep expenses and lessons. A traditional full lease would be all of the above plus an lease fee, which is usually around 1/3 of the horse’s value per year.

A half lease would probably be a better place to start. If you are interested, it might be worth discussing with your trainer - the costs are much more predictable and the time commitment is more manageable.

[Scribbler]

Yes. And typically the full lease is for a high dollar competitive horse. The free lease is generally for a horse that someone needs to rehome but doesn’t want to sell. Often girls going off to college. You take the horse, care for it like it’s yours but owner can reclaim or you can return.

A free lease can be a good way to get a slightly older well broke trail or lower level horse. But sometimes people try to free lease unbroke horses hoping someone will take the horse, put some training on it for no charge, and increase the value so owner can sell. Avoid that!

[Bluey]

What do you want now, to learn to ride all horses well, or to have a pet horse you ride?

Generally, you will be way ahead to keep riding all kinds of horses first and become good at seeing what all kinds of horses there are out there and how to handle any and all.
Riding many other horses will teach you to be a better horse person for the time you will later have your own horse to enjoy, do right by as a good horsewoman and yes, have it be your one and only horse friend.

If you only ride one horse, you are limited in what you will learn as far as riding, but you will enjoy, as you say, to have just one horse to be friends with.

I would suggest you wait for now, ride as much and as many horses as you can now, keep learning about horses, if that is what you want most.
There will be a time when your instructor will ask if you are interested in leasing a horse.
That may be when you are becoming good and a suitable horse becomes available.
Then it will be the right time for that step.

Unless all you want is to have a horse friend, then that is ok also.
Run that by your instructor and see how to go about that.

[simply_spellbound]

Thank you to each and every one of you for commenting on my post with so much wisdom and kindness!

I am getting ahead of myself, I know that. I have always struggled with patience, it is not my strong suit!!
As much as I love the idea of a half lease and riding unsupervised, i’m just not ready, and that’s okay!
I need to remind myself to be more realistic in terms of riding skill, and even time to dedicate to a horse. I’ll stick to my 2 lessons a week on the school horses (they are really all beautiful, kind, wonderful horses and I love them all).

I also really need to stop comparing myself to other riders of higher skill levels. It’s easy to tell my kids that everyone learns at a different level and to not be hard on themselves, I also need to put that into practice and be a little less hard on myself after lessons!

Thank you again

[blitzkrieg]

I agree with other posters that you would be limiting yourself in terms of skills both in the saddle and on the ground if you only rode one horse at this stage. I’ve known a number of ladies to lease or even purchase a horse early on and they’re not able to ride anything else years into their riding careers. You won’t become a knowledgable, experienced rider without getting on a variety of horses and the type of horse you’d be ready to lease at this point is not going to challenge you 6 months from now.

I will say, though, that I think it’s great you’re able to lesson so often! That will really help you develop riding and handling skills. If you’re looking for additional ride-time outside of those two lessons and you can independently tack correctly and handle a horse safely, why not ask your trainer if you can pay a little extra each week to ride on your own for a designated time on a specific day. You could rotate horses, whoever the trainer has available, or maybe there’s a boarder with a beginner-friendly horse that could use the exercise.