Too little time, an injury, a busy stretch at work: there are plenty of reasons a horse needs more exercise than its owner can offer. A good co-rider solves that, but you are handing your horse to someone you don't know yet. Searching and screening properly takes a few weeks and pays itself back every week afterward.
Know What You're Looking For Before You Advertise
First decide what you actually need, because that shapes the entire ad:
- Mainly exercise. The horse needs to get into the arena or the woods more often. Then you're looking for reliability and a suitable riding level, and a low fee or none at all makes sense.
- Someone to share costs. You want to split fixed costs structurally. Then you're really looking for a half-boarder, with the rights that come with it. So call it that.
- Training help. The horse needs to be schooled at a level you don't (or no longer) ride yourself. Then you screen for demonstrable riding experience, and the value the co-rider delivers is often worth a fee, not the other way around.
What's typical in terms of amounts is covered in what co-riding costs; asking too much for little riding freedom costs you the best candidates.
An Ad That Attracts the Right People
Honesty filters better than sales language. Include:
- The horse as it is: age, height, character, level of training, and above all its quirks. "Can be fresh after a day in the stable" attracts the rider who can handle that; concealing it gets you a co-rider who quits after two weeks.
- What you're asking: which days, what riding level, which duties come with it, and whether there's a fee.
- What you're offering: how often and where riding is possible (arena, trails, lessons), and what the co-rider can build toward.
- The conditions: minimum age, helmet mandatory, trial period.
Spread the ad where co-riders look: the notice board and group chat of your own barn, your instructor, and regional co-riding and social media groups. A candidate from your own barn has an edge: travel distance is no obstacle, and you'll hear more about them through stablemates.
Screening: From Message to Trial Ride
- Ask about experience, not years. "Ten years of riding" says less than what someone rides now and at what level. Ask where they take (or took) lessons and whether you may call the instructor; a serious candidate is fine with that.
- Have every candidate groom and tack up first. You see more in how they handle the horse on the ground than in the first minutes of riding.
- Trial ride always under your supervision, in the arena, at a quiet moment at the barn. Check whether the level matches the story and whether rider and horse suit each other.
- Multiple trial rides are normal. One good ride is a snapshot; a good candidate understands you want to see it a few times. Serious co-riders even expect that diligence, as you can read in evaluating a co-riding spot, the same checklist from the other side.
- Listen to your gut and to your horse. A horse that's consistently tense under a candidate is giving its own verdict.
Putting the Agreements on Paper
Agree on a trial period of a few weeks to a month or two, with a fixed evaluation moment. If it works out, put the agreements in a co-riding contract: riding days, fee, what is and isn't allowed, the notice period, and liability. The legal side, including what belongs in such a contract, is covered in horse lease and co-riding contract.
Also arrange the insurance before the first unsupervised ride: check whether your liability coverage includes riding by third parties, and ask the co-rider to check their own personal liability policy for custody coverage; the explanation is in insured as a rider or co-rider. And keep the legal side in mind: under Dutch law, as the horse's keeper you remain strictly liable in principle for damage the animal causes, even with a co-rider on board; how that works is explained in horse owner liability.
In Short
- First decide what you're looking for (exercise, cost-sharing, or training help): that steers the ad, the screening, and the fee.
- An honest ad about the horse and the conditions filters better than sales language.
- Screen with grooming, tacking up, and multiple supervised trial rides, and don't hesitate to call the candidate's instructor.
- Work with a trial period and then put everything in a co-riding contract.
- Arrange insurance in advance: your own coverage for third-party riders and the co-rider's personal liability policy.
Sources (verified September 7, 2026): Dutch Civil Code, Book 6, art. 6:179 (wetten.overheid.nl)
See also: What Co-Riding Costs · Horse Lease and Co-Riding Contract · Evaluating a Co-Riding Spot · Half-Board: Agreements and Contract · Horse Owner Liability · Level: Your First Horse