I would proceed with a bit of caution, especially if you are in the UK. (I can’t speak as well to other parts of the world at the moment.) I’m a sitter with extensive experience with horses and I have had non-stop invitations to sit since joining and I know the majority of them have been ultimately unable to secure a sitter. If you are at all rural, which I’m assuming you might be, and your sit requires that the sitters have a car, I know that has been a significant barrier. In regards to insurance, I carry a policy that covers me for everything I was worried about (vet expenses, public liability etc.) when I am handling and riding other peoples horses, but NOT if I’m doing it in exchange for a wage. It might be worth asking potential sitters if they carry such a policy as a way ease that concern and as an indicator about whether a sitter is positioning themselves specifically to look after horses.
@AmyS Our family completed a farm sit in Georgia for 2 horses, 4 dogs, 1 baby lamb, 1 sheep, 1 goose, 1 duck, 1 outdoor cat, 1 bird, 1 bunny & 12 hens. It was one of the best experiences!!
Communication & transparency from both the owner & sitter is definitely key. We were upfront and honest about our horse experience in our application & Zoom, and expressed our willingness to learn anything we did not already know. We signed a horse waiver (this was required in Georgia - check your region and see if they have anything similar for more peace of mind). The owner gave an in-person walk thru and provided detailed written instructions to reference. She was always available if needed and we sent videos to help monitor an injury one of the horses was recovering from. Based on the videos, the owner was able to watch the horse’s progress and coordinate proper care. She decided to add an Epsom salt soak to the regime, so sent us tips on how to administer. Both horses loved grooming, so I learned how to do horse braids and my daughter loved brushing them! I know this owner has had many successful sitters before & after our family, so a menagerie of animals is always attractive to the right sitter
We completed another sit in North Carolina with 4 horses on the property. They had routine workers who continued their care while we stayed & cared for the other pets. However, we were encouraged to visit the horses in their pasture and enjoyed spending time in their company.
All in all, just make sure you verbalize any concerns & priorities, ask as many questions as you can think of, really screen potential sitters prior to confirming them, and make sure you / a local contact is always available. I would say an experienced sitter in general would be your best bet - you can see how they have adapted & handled previous situations, and get a better feel for their communication and overall judgment.
I am new to THS and joined specifically to find a sitter for when we gon on holiday.
However I’m really interested and excited about the possibility of also being a sitter, so I have a question I’d like to ask…
…if you found your ideal sitter who had all the experience you required would you consider allowing them to bring their own dog???
The reason I ask is that for the last thirty years my hubby and I were farmers, rearing cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, horses and children.
We had four horses and my daughter and I competed regularly, our horses lived in during the winter (clipped and rugged) and our during the summer, so I would class myself as experienced. It just doesn’t make sense for me to become a sitter if I then had to find a sitter for my own dog!!!
Hi @LizzieS … I’m sure you’ll get some feedback from @AmyS and other members, but just dipping in to share another thread with you on this very topic of sitting with your own pets - you might find it an interesting read. All the best, Vanessa
Thanks @Vanessa_A thats a really interesting thread, I guess the kind of HO that might consider us would be a small holder who perhaps needed the goat milked and someone who would spit fly-strike on their sheep! Probably not the majority but who knows?
Hi
I think it is best to have a video talk with potential sitters. We have people the day before so we can show the routine as well as full instructions. We have had two excellent sitters and one that did not follow instructions and caused a bit of harm. We had other people on call to help. Just be careful and make sure that you are really happy with the sitters before you accept. Good luck.
Is there a different site that’s more horse-centric? There’s no search option for horse riding. Large-animal care when I had horses often involved stuff like giving the horse a shot yourself - which I don’t mind but is way out of the experience of the modern urban human. Just having experience being around horses so you’re careful not to get kicked is a really important thing, I would think a huge liability thing for the website and the homeowner. I have a friend who just retired, signed up for this service and told me about it, and I’m most into horses so I started looking, but all of the horse sits on offer seem to either say the horses are just pets that aren’t ridden or not mention whether you can ride them. No way I’m going to go muck out stables just for the fun of it as an adult (shoveling horse manure is another thing modern people probably don’t have experience with) - at the very least the horse owner had better want someone to ride the horses, ideally a great horse friendly trail that you can ride to, I don’t want to mess with putting someone else’s horses in a trailer just to be able to ride. Given all the complexities I’m reading about on this thread, I think the horse owner should offer to subsidize a platinum membership to the website so insurance is covered… better yet also set aside a few bottles of good wine from your region per week and offer it as a gift to thank the sitter for shoveling horse manure!
Hi Chad, we have horses and we do not ask our sitters to do anything other than check and feed them twice a day. We would never ask a sitter to muck out the field. We would also never offer our horses for a stranger to ride. Ours are competition horses and without seeing someone ride, it would be extremely dangerous. Secondly a sitter does not know the area and this could lead to untold dangers. Regardless of insurance I would not want the sitter to have an accident or my horses to be injured. It is not about getting insurance to cover vets fees but how long would they be off work and the possible extent of any injuries. It is not because we are being unkind it is because of possible dangers. It is very rare to find “hacking stables” where as a stranger you can hire a horse to hack out as one could years ago. The liability and possibility of being sued nowadays is too much. Best of luck with what you are looking for and I hope you get some good sits.
Hi PetsSit, have just read your reply about putting the experience needed with horses in the profile. This is great if the potential sitter reads it. We also state that a car is needed because of no public transport. I think I have one application that has mostly read the listing.
@Chad Welcome to the forum community and thank you for your contribution to this topic. It’s a very interesting question!
We have housesat for horses via this site and outside of the site and have been lucky enough to ride on two occasions, but this was after the pet parents had seen videos of me riding previously and one was a repeat sit where I had a riding lesson with the riding school next door first so they saw how I rode. I’m lucky enough that I used to own and work with horses previously as an event groom, but we would never expect to ride and on both occasions went in a non-riding capacity and got offered by the owner to ride at a later date, once they knew us more.
We have done sits that are non-riding and either just fed and watered in the field or some have included mucking out, but as I am unable to own my own horse at the moment even mucking out with all of the smells etc takes me to my happy place!
We both work remotely and if there were too many horses to muck out say in winter it might not work for us, but normally the care requirements for horses are pretty clear on the listing and the owner will ask if they require someone with horse experience or not.
I’m not sure of any horse-centric sites that work like this one, if you find one let me know! Facebook groups can be good at finding similar horse opportunities, but they might not quite work on the same ethos as THS. I would say not to think you can ride with any horse housesits and if the owners offer that is a massive bonus!
This is a great topic on the subject and discusses things like insurance:
[quote=“AmyS, post:1, topic:18256, full:true”]
Hello,
I am considering joining Trusted Housesitters, particularly as an
Hello, I am considering joining Trusted Housesitters, particularly as an owner, but maybe as a sitter as well.
I have three horses, two dogs, one indoor cat, two outdoor cats, and 9 chickens. I have a young lady who usually cares for my “menagerie”. She does an excellent job, but she is not always available. My main concern is the horses. All of my animals are gentle, but horses are heavy, and a careless person can get injured, even with gentle animals. I know that people are not always truthful about their animal knowledge, either. So, I am concerned (1) about the liability (looks like insurance only covers cats and dogs), (2) whether or not my animals will be properly cared for, and (3) if participating in TrustedHousesitters is even worth the cost. From looking at the Forum, it appears that people don’t always find sitters.
Hi Amy, your concern about extent of horse experience is certainly valid. I’d encourage you to ask tough questions and ask for horse-specific experience. Let me know if I can help—- I’ve owned, leased, ridden, competed horses nearly all my life, 50+ years of loving & caring for horses! They are my passion
@botvot thx for approving my very first post! I see that you’re in South Africa where my daughter Taylor is currently on a horseback safari living the dream, and she’s not even retired! Def on my bucket list too. (Why are our kids so much smarter than us?). Hope to meet you…. Maybe on safari?!
@Coco great advice. As a lifelong equestrian with 50+ yrs of loving, owning, riding,competing & caring for horses and a hubby who loves to travel, a Trusted Housesit for you is def on my bucket list! Please see my profile for a link to my sitter page.
Thx @Kelly_U We’re new to Trusted Housesitters and hope to combine my passion for horses (and 50yrs experience ) with our love for travel as we’re recently retired.
From what I’ve seen, there are definitely some sitters who are horse people. Those sitters will look for horse sits. They will discuss their experience in their listings. They will probably have external reviews mentioning their experience, and they will probably have petsitting reviews onsite with horses. In addition to publicly posting dates, you can also search sitters with filters looking for people who listed “horses” on their profiles and see what the experience is. You can also try inviting those sitters to apply for your dates privately, but generally that doesn’t work so great unless you are posting many months in advance since they might not be available.
It’s important that you mention on your listing, that you are only seeking sitters with horse care experience. Sometimes sitters apply without reading the listings thoroughly or have inflated opinion about their abilities. You should be able to read the applications, look at the sitter’s profile and make an assessment as to their experience. You don’t have to choose someone just because they applied. It’s a process which can include a lot of back and forth emails with questions AND a video chat, so by the end of the process it should be clear whether or not you would trust a sitter with your horses.
The one advantage THS has over similar sites is that it is HUGE. With so many sitters listed, you can probably find someone who will work out for you.
I don’t think you have too many animals. two chickens or nine chickens isn’t a lot of differenc, except a few more yummy eggs tro collect. Cats generally are not too much of a problem expecially outdoor ones who tend to wander off and amuse themselves. Then two dogs which would depend on the breed and if easy to walk? I have looked after four horses before now, which was not a problem as just needed to check they had enough water. I could also ride one when I wanted. I have owned horses in the past. If insurance only covers cats and dogs it looks like I have looked after many without insurance and would not worry me. Happy to do anything at my own risk. As well as horses I have looked after llamas, sheep, goats. geese. ducks, chickens, rabbits, fish and of course cats and dogs. Location of course would play a part.
I’m a horse sitter…. we owned many of our own horses at home before retiring and downsizing. I think whilst short sits might be ok for an inexperienced sitter with simple instructions for feed/water the problem arises in terms of spotting when a horse might be lame or have colic or an unusual bump… unless you’re observing with an equestrian eye how would you know if if the equine was exhibiting potentially dangerous symptoms or that a lump wasn’t part of the animals normal outline?
I’m new to THS and have searched for horse related threads- hence my interest in this one.
Hi! I have done a few pet sitting jobs for farm families who have horses, cows, goats, and alpacas. Before that, I didn’t have any experience with farm animals. I watched many videos online to learn about farm animals and asked the hosts many questions. I also keep my distance from the animals when I feel it is not safe, especially when the host warns me to do so.
If you just need a sitter to make sure the farm animals have water and food, I think most carers can handle that. However, if you are looking for more professional care for your horse, it might be harder to find a suitable sitter. I would not suggest joining THS if you have that kind of need.
Regarding insurance, you can ask the sitter if they have their own health insurance. For example, I always ask hosts if their pets have insurance.
For me as s sitter, it is totally worth it to join THS. Also for the hosts, I believe it is also Worth it considering the paid sitters are very expensive.
Def on my bucket list too. (Why are our kids so much smarter than us?). Hope to meet you…. Maybe on safari?! 
Please see my profile for a link to my sitter page.