Caught In Limbo......again!!

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scotsmare

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To cut a long story short, I have a semi-lame loan horse who was supposed to go back, owner refused to take it, we found her a new home as a broodmare which then fell through and finally, her owner was going to sign the horse over to me via my solicitor so that I could keep her and breed from her / ride her if she came sound.

Now, here's the problem, this all happened a good couple of weeks ago. I sent back the horses passport to the owner so that transfer of ownership could go ahead and my solicitor sent her a new agreement to transfer ownership to me.

She has done precisely none of this. So, I'm again stuck with a horse (and now with no passport
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) and really don't know what to do. She has read my emails regarding this (receipt returned) have tried phoning / texting all to no avail.

Any suggestions?? She had originally said that if I didn't want her then the ILPH was her next port of call, but my farrier does the ILPH centre closest to us and has said it's unlikely that they would take her - a phone call to the ILPH today confirmed this.

I really don't know what to do but feel that she is definitely taking the p*ss now!! Am going to speak to solicitor on Monday to see what he suggests.....
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but my OH is going MENTAL!!

Wine and chocolates for getting this far
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Bugger. Not much else I can say.... poor you. Good luck!! I am happy that at least I would never abandon the pony. How could anyone do that...and then be such a pain about giving passport back!?
 
What a rubbish situation. You would think if the owner doesn't want the horse they would be happy to sign her over.

Could you advise the owner you will start billing them or livery if they dont start procedings to sign her over or come and remove her?
 
Do you have a contract with the owner? Does it state how much notice you have to give? Does it state that you have to transport the horse back to her?

If the contract says that you have to give x months notice, and you did that, I would start sending her invoices for livery costs from that date.

Is it possible to go to the owner's house - is it far away? Perhaps go and try and catch her face to face to get the passport back?

I currently have a friend sat beside me who is a solicitor, and she has said that you should write out invoices for livery, and possibly take it to small claims court - it doesn't cost much, and can be recouped from the other side. They can issue a reposession order, which means that you can legally take the horse as payment. You could then contact the society that issued the passport, and get it reisssued. Chances are, if you threaten the owner with small claims court, she will change tack and play ball.

Good luck whatever direction you end up going in!
 
The contract states a months notice which we gave her, she is approx 200 miles away so not just round the corner and I can't just nip down for the passport.

The horse is also microchipped so not sure how the whole passport re-issuing thing would work out should it come to it.

TBH the whole thing is more hassle than it's worth and I really just want the send the horse back and be done with it, which isn't particularly fair to the horse, but owner has bags of land and is in a much better position to deal with her than I am as I really don't have the space!
 
Passport reissue is generally not a huge problem if it came to it.

As for owners being so far away, yup, join my club (loaners being so far away). I completely understand your position.

Will a transporter not agree to take her given the circumstances? I had a transporter move one of my horses, and never even ask for the passport. What about hiring a self drive box, and taking her back yourself?

I really do not know what else to suggest, but I hope you can get it sorted soon.
 
is there any chance at all you could get special permission to transport her without a passport? Did your solicitor keep a photocopy of it maybe? or get a temporary one? I'm stabbing in the dark here!
 
So sorry about this scotsmare.

Just like zoeshiloe, I was going to suggest small claims court. Something very official like an order is going to be the only thing that might make owner actually take notice I think.
 
In fairness I have loaned before and used the BHS agreement and it's all been absolutely fine. However, there isn't a section in it that goes "If you the OWNER is a total t**t, LOANER has every right to pull all of their hair out, incurr huge legal bills whilst you the OWNER laughs at them"

Am beginning to feel mildly hysterical..... think I need to go to bed
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Agree with all th above posts but I think I would start sending weekly livery invoices see if that speeds things up a little.Good luck you are having a rotten time with this hopless situation.
 
LOL, I will have to give that a try - the bit I'm stuck on is whether or not I have to give the months notice all over again (as we had agreed to keep horse if it was signed over)
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I'm rather hoping not! My poor solicitor is going to go mental on Monday - he felt dead sorry for the poor horse!! I think I also need to see if I can sue for my legal bills - I got the bill the other day and it was £500
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which isn't huge by lawyer standards but I'd rather someone else had to fork out for it - especially since it could have been avoided in the first place!
 
Definitely worth a try with weekly invoices and send another months notice to cover yourself and keep copies for your solicitor.I think it could shock her into action and I would send it registered post so she knows you mean business.Its the poor horse I feel sorry for I know you have done all you can.Include everything farrier bills hard feed the lot if you go to small claims you can hopefully claim it all back .
 
I am sorry but I would hire a small horse box, take the horse back to her and leave it there - she has the passport - if you are travelling the horse you don't have to have the passport you can use the copy and say you are taking the horse for training in the extremely unlikely event you were stopped. Just make sure you know the name of the local XC xourse. Once she has the horse what can she do. Sue you for returning her property? It is extremely unlikely that any rescue centre will take her as she is not a rescue. Anyone with a car licence can drive a 3.5 tonne box and is it very easy to do so, hire might cost you £150 for 24 hours but that has surely got to be the best option. It would take you one day to get there and back. Clearly this woman has no respect for you or the law so you need to take it upon yourself to sort the issue as quickly and effectively as possible. If the horse is on her land - it is her problem. End of.
 
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