Buying

[Epequestrian]

Hey,
Currently looking out for a new horse however I’d only be able to keep it a year - is it worth it? Horse would be sold in just under a years time.
Considered loaning but as I’m sure you all know not many like to let their horses go to someone else’s yard!
tia

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Hey,
Currently looking out for a new horse however I’d only be able to keep it a year - is it worth it? Horse would be sold in just under a years time.
Considered loaning but as I’m sure you all know not many like to let their horses go to someone else’s yard!
tia

I'd say it would be a waste of time and not really fair on the animal, but it's very much personal preference and whether you see them as a commodity or a pet I guess.
(ETA: I didn't intend my last sentence to sound sarcastic, it's not at all)

 

[cold_feet]

There’s a huge space between commodity and pet. Plenty of reasons for owning a horse.

 

[Epequestrian]

There’s a huge space between commodity and pet. Plenty of reasons for owning a horse.

So would you say it would be okay to do?

 

[Goldie's mum]

Hey,
Currently looking out for a new horse however I’d only be able to keep it a year - is it worth it? Horse would be sold in just under a years time.
Considered loaning but as I’m sure you all know not many like to let their horses go to someone else’s yard!
tia

By the time you find one & settle it in , it'll be time to start looking for it's next home. I'd loan.

 

[Epequestrian]

By the time you find one & settle it in , it'll be time to start looking for it's next home. I'd loan.

thank you for your response couldn’t you say that is the same for a loan though? They are so hard to find and by the time I do and get them settled in/used to each other I’d be thinking about sending it back again

 

[cold_feet]

So would you say it would be okay to do?

No. I was pointing out there are more reasons than commodity or pet for owning a horse. Who knows what your reasons are.

 

[Tiddlypom]

So would you say it would be okay to do?

Depends on whether you'd HAVE to sell the horse on in a year or not. What would happen if the horse got injured or sick and needed an extended time of recovery? Would you have contingency plans in place if this happened and you couldn't sell at the time you intended to?

 

[Fieldlife]

I would find a decent horse to share at a location that works for you.

 

[Goldie's mum]

thank you for your response couldn’t you say that is the same for a loan though? They are so hard to find and by the time I do and get them settled in/used to each other I’d be thinking about sending it back again

It's not the same for a loan because you wouldn't have to start advertising, looking through answers, having people to view, getting him vetted etc. He'd already have a home to go back to on a pre-arranged date.

 

[Leandy]

Don't assume you will be able to sell it exactly when you want and for the price you want. Life doesn't work like that. It can take a long time to sell a horse. Also, if something goes wrong with it whilst you do have it, it will likely be unsaleable or unsaleable at that the time you want to sell. What will you do if you find you can't sell for whatever reason? It would be a big risk to buy expecting just to be able to sell a matter of months later. You need to think about horse ownership in a longer term way than that.

 

[Polos Mum]

There are 100s of sharer adverts at the moment (many more than normal for the time of year). I would save the hassle of finding either and get a couple of local share's - if they don't work out you can try another one quickly. Sharing would be much quicker and the time taken travelling to another yard a couple of times a week will be vastly less than the time taken travelling to see lame / badly described horses for sale

Buying and off site loaning are likely to take as long as each other.

 

[Uliy]

When I was a teenager I was convinced I could do this - however, once I bought my horse I knew I wouldn’t have been able to let go of her within a year!

I guess it depends if you knew you wouldn’t get attached, that the horse would sell quickly, and that it wouldn’t pick up any tricky ailments. If it does, you might be stuck with the horse for much longer than a year!

 

[Wishfilly]

As others have said, what would happen if you couldn't sell your horse, e.g. they became long term lame, or developed an issue which made them difficult to sell.

This is really the sort of situation loans are for- and you have the knowledge you are sending the horse back to a secure home at the end of it!