Ready For Leasing?

[horsedolls]

My mom said that I can lease a horse over the summer (she said it last year too, but i didnt need anyone to tell me that i wasnt ready to lease... if you catch my drift)
but now i feel more confident but i still need someone else to tell me if im ready or not. i keep forgetting to ask my intructor because every lesson i just kinda get really excited about horseback riding. xD

Okay so you can watch some videos of me on youtube, just type in horsedolls and a whole bunch of my videos will come up.


they dont allow jumping here when you lease a horse i believe...

[Ross]

Where is here?

Being ready to lease is about far more than riding. Do you know how to care for the horse? What it needs to be eating? When it needs shoeing? When it;s not well? etc. etc.

If you're going to a yard where there are lots of people about who will help, that makes a big difference too - I wouldn't advise taking a first horse to a field behind the house and trying to work it out on your own :)

so, some more details on where you are, where you're planning to keep the horse, and what you're planning to do with him would help...

Ross

[Lot1983]

To be honest you need to speak to your instructor, you could lease a horse if all you know how to do it walk, then you could just walk that horse, but as mentioned before, the care of the horse is the difficult bit, I'm hopefully leasing a horse as of tomorrow, after not having one for a few years and to be honest the care of the horse is the part that is worrying me most, this is a VERY different type of horse to what I am used to.

[louise1]

lot1983 let us know how it goes tomorrow and how your new lease settles in. It would be interesting to know how get on 'getting to know' your new horse.

[horsedolls]

well i think where i ride, its just a matter of taking the horse out when ever you want andriding it. Im not gonna be bringing the horse to my back yard... lol
Im just going to the stable to ride.

Ill go talk to my riding instructor on saturday and get my info to tell you guys.
:D

[CurlyWurlyRach]

ok but will you be able to groom it, pick feet, tack up, clean and put tack together correctly for it?
Sounds quite unfair to me that you can ride it whenever you want but if its a lesson horse thejn wont it already have a heavy day? and you wuldnt be able to ride when it was in a lesson/had had a lot of work that day already. i know a few people that felt too bad riding their lease horse after it had already done 2 hr long lessons that they just brushed them.
Is that the case with your barn?

[mayoguinness]

Plus grooming the horse and so on helps you develop a relationship with the horse and helps you learn that theres much more to horses than just jumping on there back and riding! For instance, I might spend a couple of hours just in the field with my horse. Sitting with him or running round the field without a headcoller on him(which by the way is great fun) but generaly just spending a bit of quality time! I dont just expect to ride him, we have a partneship together and I find playing in the field is as fun if not more fun than riding! When I do ride we can do so much and its so relaxed becuase we are bonded and freinds. So I can jump on him with no saddle or bridle knowing thats hes going to be fine with that and responsive! Theres alot more to horses than riding and a whole lot of fun you'll be missing out on. So I'd reconsider if its just a matter of riding!

[horsedolls]

oh my gosh guys! dont get me wrong! :eek:
i totally want to learn how to take care of a horse. I mean, honestly i rather learn how to take care of one now and get better at riding later.

I dont ride JUST because i like to ride, i ride because i find horses amazing and if i had a horse, like mayoguinness, id probably spend some quality time with the horse not riding! Id probably go into the barn and just snuggle my horse, or go into a field sit under a tree and do my hw by him/her. :D

The obvious main reason i want to lease a horse is to hopefully be able to own one one day.
I got an idea, maybe over holiday break ill ask if i can go to the barn for a day or 2 and someone can start teaching me the main things, grooming, picking feet, cleaning the stall, put tack on right...
all that. i thinki have time to learn that, summer break is kinda far away and between now and then i can try my best to learn the basics. Maybe on sundays i can go to the barn.

all this talk about me going to barn and stuff is making me excited... >_<

[Shadowlark]

Leasing in North America is VERY different then leasing in the UK.

In the UK people tend to do all the care work whereas here in NA generally everthing is done for you.. DIY is unheard of here. (DIY means kept at home here ;))

All the best to you, take the plunge somewhere with a lot of support - it will be a great way to learn!

We used to lease our school horses out to people looking to "try" horse ownership and get thier feet wet. Part of that meant us teachingt them LOADS more then they ever bargained for :D

[Skyhuntress]

Leasing in North America is VERY different then leasing in the UK.

In the UK people tend to do all the care work whereas here in NA generally everthing is done for you.. DIY is unheard of here. (DIY means kept at home here ;))

All the best to you, take the plunge somewhere with a lot of support - it will be a great way to learn!

We used to lease our school horses out to people looking to "try" horse ownership and get thier feet wet. Part of that meant us teachingt them LOADS more then they ever bargained for :D


That's what I have to keep reminding myself before I go in with "Of course you're ready to lease! Anyone can lease a horse!"

I sometimes forget that the lease system is quite different in the UK, as unlike here, you have DIY barns.

I think that if you can find a place that would be willing to help you if you ran into problems, go for it. It's a great way to gain experience without having necessarily all the responsability.

[mayoguinness]

Really?.......I've never heard of that before.........How strange.........

[EquineGal]

Our barn is very DIY I suppose. Most leasers/owners do all the mucking out and grooming and stuff. Even new students who've never ridden before help "groom" a little. Generally that means running a brush down the horses back but we're all expected to tack up, muck out, and stuff once we're able too. Regular barn chores:feeding, turn out, blanketing are often used to entice us lesson people to help out for extra riding time though. I think it depends on where you go in NA what type of barns there are.

[Grace O'Malley]

Hmmm. The norm in boarding facilities/schools in my area (which is also in North America) is sort of semi-diy. Staff feed hay twice, or sometimes three times, each day, but owners/leasers muck out, blanket, give supplementary feeds etc. (as well as all tacking and grooming). Many places you can pay extra for staff to clean and/or feed. Most places have something in the contract to the effect that if you're on diy and fail to clean regularly, they'll do it and charge you for it.

It's not unusual for schools to part-lease horses to students. You pay a flat fee and get use of the horse for some agreed number of days/times per week, including your own lesson. Usually there is some kind of schedule so that the horse isn't overloaded with lessons. FREX, you agree to ride Wednesday mornings, so horse won't be scheduled for any other work until late afternoon/evening. And if it's a school, they should help you learn what you need to know to care for your lease horse (which is the point of the leases after all :cool: )