Learning to share

Since been offered Sofie as my own I have been desperately trying to find a way of affording her. Fact of the matter is my salary only goes so far, and with a mortgage, a wedding, and a poorly Mr T to pay for already Sofie is a bit of a stretch.

On top of this the betrothed is not too delighted to hear that I want to get another horse – the first one has been an expensive pet for the last two years so I can understand where he is coming from.

So I have compromised, I will take Sof on full loan (with view to ‘buy’ when Mr T pops his clogs) and I will get a sharer for half the week to help with her running costs. It seems to be the most pragmatic thing I can do given my circumstances.

This does mean I have to share my princess, but it is in her best interests. More riding would help our slimming world efforts. I was a bit nervous about finding the right sharer though. I have put a lot of effort into turning Sof into a lovely horse. It would be horrid to have that undone. On top of this I have to find someone who has the patience to persevere with barefoot.

As luck would have it the perfect sharer arrived almost instantaneously. Emma was looking for a horse to share so she could ride with her daughter who has a little pony at the yard. I’ve known Emma for years, we used to ride together back in the days when Tonto had working legs and she owned a welsh D. Emma is a good rider, perfectly capable of dealing with Sofies strops but not unkind in any way. And as they are mainly going for gentle hacks around the estate there is no real need to put boots on Sofie. Her feet are pretty good now anyway.

Emma is also happy to help me feed Mr T his meds – and she knows all of his quirks which helps. I can have 3 guilt free pony days off a week. Sharing seems positively beneficial in fact.