Hi! So I'm planning on eventually trying to lease a horse in maybe a couple of years (it would be a partial lease), and while I'm doing my own research on the subject I also wanted to ask the community on their own experiences or tips on and about horse leasing. Anything seriously helps, I'd appreciate anything you could offer. I have a little less than 7 years of riding experience and I'm still continuing right now, but I've kind of been on and off lessons at certain points in my life. Leasing seems like a good first step to at least learning about horse ownership. Anyways, correct me if I'm wrong about that or being irresponsible. I would love any tips or experience that the community can give me, thanks!

Leasing is awesome!

As someone who hasn't owned yet and has only leased, I've seen my fair share of good/bad 😅

- if it's a partial lease, chances are other people might ride the horse depending on if you're leasing from a lesson program, but if you're leasing directly from an owner it could be different. if you want to ever show, that's where the sharing with lessons can sort of be a con, since while you're trying to perfect show techniques, another maybe less experienced rider might hop on and not know what work you've done and may put you a few steps back. (it happened to me for like 5 years, kinda stinks)

- if you do plan on showing, or honestly just in general, the horses owner brings up a shared lease, my advice would be don't go through, but if you really love the horse i'd say check with the owner on terms for sharing. sharing sucks worse than having lesson kids hop on. it tires the horse out, especially at shows.

- depending on barn rules, getting to go ride the horse whenever you want outside of lessons is awesome! it's a great time to work on what you need to independently.

- you only have to pay for the lease! for me, no boarding or vet fees are included in my lease, but they might be in yours.

it's also so nice to be able to bond with a special horse for a while, even if jumping from horse to horse is also beneficial.

Honestly my biggest tip would be to read over the lease agreement and ask questions! (And to full lease, if possible. it makes life SO much easier in my opinion)

it's a super fun experience and is a great look at what owning a horse might be like at a very small and mostly affordable scale!

other things i love about leasing (and this might be barn dependent) are getting to use your own gear if you have it, instead of lesson gear. when i started leasing is when i started buying saddle pads and head stalls and such. and if your barn allows for free rides, it's a great time to plan with friends for a ride together!

ive never leased off property so i can't say much about that but leasing through a barn can be super fun!

I would say stick either leasing from a program rather than a private owner; in my experience, less things go wrong that way.

Thank you both!

I've ridden a lot of different horses, and I'll admit it gives good experience but I'm always a little nervous whenever they put me on someone new. I've tried lessons at a lot of different places, one of which isn't even in business anymore sadly. I've enjoyed everyone in the end though, even if they have bolted with me haha. Over communication during a lease is better than not enough I assume? Leasing sounds super fun! Hopefully I can own a horse eventually, but for now I'm planning on trying out a lease and seeing where I should go from there.

I wasn't aware about program leasing vs Leasing from a private owner either. I'll keep that in mind, thank you! I'll do some research on that too :>

I've leased two horses, (free, off site lease, through a private owner) and while is was really nice to "own" a horse without the big initial price tag, it can be really stressful, horses are already accident prone, but when they aren't your horse. I would recommend a contract, and a program or like a lesson barn. Talk about timelines and possibly a lease to buy agreement.