Advice on loaning

Horse_Mad!

Horse_Mad!

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Hello all!! I am new to the forum and just wanted to get some advice. I don't have a horse yet but am planning to get one on loan when I graduate this year (May/June).

I wanted to know when people think I should start looking for a horse to loan and also wanted to get your advice/tips on anything to do with loaning (I have had horses before so I don't mean about horsecare, but more things to be wary for, loan agreement issues etc)

Thanks :)
 
Firstly, welcome to the forum. Keep your head down and have no opinion on anything and you should live without being called a troll :)

Have in mind what you want in your horse age/height/breed/experience and what you're looking to do with the horse. Plus have in mind where he/she will be kept, whether you'll be on DIY/Part/Full livery etc.

Deffinately make a loan agreement. There's a good prototype on the BHS website. Hope this helps.
 
Ha ha I had noticed all this talk of 'trolls'!!

Thank you for the advice, I have already given it quite a lot of thought and have had a good look at the BHS website too.

Have you loaned/had your horse go out on loan before? I'd be interested to hear people's experiences. I seem to only hear about people's bad loan related experiences - hopefully there's some positive ones out there too!!
 
Welcome to the forum! :)

A nice loan experience for you: I got my boy on loan 4 years ago now when he was 17. He came with full tack and rugs, his owner is a real gem. I competed him for two years until a nasty injury so now we mostly hack. Sadly his owner had to sell up her horses but she said that I could now keep my Byron for life now :D It was a poor example of a loaning - no written agreement, we took him the day we saw him, but I'm so happy to have my boy :D Bit of a pointless story, but basically what I mean is that there are lovely horses and owners out there who are willing to loan them!
 
Hi :) I have a loan horse that i spent months looking for and if i were you, id start looking the second you have space free!! Dont look too early as if you find one you love you wont be able to have them until your ready by which time they might have been loaned to comeone else and also youll be labelled a timewaster!!! What sort of horse or pony are you looking for? In my experience, there arent many horses out there taller than 15.2 that arent in their very late teens and looking for lighter work. It depends what you want though. Theres lots of smaller horses though! And competition loan is all good too but the owners want a very very competative rider.

Which leads me to my next bit of advice. If you do find a decent horse...look it over very carefully and check the reasons for loan. Not many people out there will loan out their 8/9 yr old 15.2hh+ horse when they could sell it and get a good sum of money!! There will probably be some reason that would be picked up in a vetting!! Therefore, if you do find a horse with minimal problems, youve done well, but get the problems written into the contract so that if something goes wrong, youre covered. Ask the owner to pay for any vets bill related to an ongoing illness and get it written in your contract what is your responsibility. Also, take lots of photos the day you take him/her home and give a copy to the owner, then attatch to the contract so you know exactly what he/she looked like when you took out the loan.

Good luck :) I do believe if you can find a good loan horse, its much better than owning!! No where near as much hassle :)

Enjoy!!
 
Best thing is to make sure you've got a good written agreement that suits both you and the owner. We have everything written into ours, and I mean everything. Starting with who pays what bills (we pay running costs, owners pays insurance and we split vet's bills 50/50), what happens if she wants him back/if we want to send him back, so how much notice to be given etc right down to the fact we are NOT to hog him unless showing at county level and no one else is to ride him unless with a qualified instructor present (which gives me a good get out for letting any friends I'm less than keen on putting aboard, but don't want to offend!)
And I can also give you a good story of loaning! Had my boy three years and two days now :) and his owners have been fab and really supportive with everything we've done with him. They're confident that we care for him as best we can and they can trust us and we know they will have him back if we can't keep him any longer. I hope you're as lucky as I have been in finding a suitable loan horse :) good luck xx
 
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