Does loaning ever work?

My friend was firmly against the idea of loaning, and had always been a TB person. Somehow I convinced her she should come see a 4yo welsh D.

She watched him being ridden, declared him to be 'a slug', and almost didn't even try him herself. (At that point I'm surprised the owner didn't tell her to P*** off).

After taking him on loan for a year, doing the hard work bringing him on, she paid £4k for him. Horse is anyone's ride, and a real gem. She finally has a horse that's never lame, that she can do anything with, and he has a 5* home for life.

I would say that worked out for everyone.
 
Good loan-ees do exist! I loaned a mare for a year, and she was treated like absolute royalty - if anything I looked after her better than our own horses as I knew she was someone elses & I was paranoid about something happening to her. She was very well cared for, I bought her an entire wardrobe (she didn't even come with a headcollar), fed her up and got her awful feet sorted, teeth sorted, physio out etc etc. I schooled her up and took her out to pony parties. I sent many updates to the owner as I had promised to do, and it broke my heart when she had to go back.
 
Yes they do. I've loaned and been a loanee.

In all cases we looked carefully at what our long term aims were and went from there.
 
For the 1st time in my (long) life I am a loanee at present :o

My big horse is with a lovely person to find a new home & until he has sold I would have been without something to ride. So I contacted a few friends and have had FLF (Friends loan Fuzzy:D ) with me for nearly 5 weeks now, overlapping with HF for 3 weeks.

I have been told I can keep her for as long or as little as I like with a max of 2 years as FLF will go back to resume mummy duties to the upcoming young stallion that my friend has.

Yes, I could have gone 'shopping' for another horse, funds are (almost) available) but better to play safe until HF has found his new home - as I didnt want the possibility of 3 to do & keep, if he comes back home.

However, I did once loan a pony out around 25 years ago - and promptly collected him 3 weeks later as the loaners had not stuck to their side of the agreement & he was out in a big field 24/7 (not good for a laminitic,prone to be overweight pony) :(
 
Yes, I had bailey on loan for years before he was finally given to me and officially became mine :) I have also put him out on loan for a year to a loving pony club home and had no issues with that either! I would say loaning to someone you know or through word of mouth with references really helps
 
As plenty of people have said, yes, it can work very well. When I was a kid my first two ponies were on loan from the yard we were at. It was a regular thing there, they had a bunch of schoolmaster/mistress 15yrs+ 12-14 handers who were loaned out to friends and friends of friends from the yard. We were all young, the loanees, and supervised, but we all took good care of our ponies.

I later put my (own) 14.2 out on loan away from the yard as I didn't have time for him and my mare while I was at uni. The first two homes he went to didn't work out, so it was a bit of a hassle initially. Then he found a great home with a lovely lady and her teenage daughters, who looked after him very well, cossetted him through a couple of nasty injuries (not their fault, he was ridiculously accident-prone!), and kept him until he was ready to retire - when I'd always planned to take him back.

I also currently have on loan an utterly gorgeous mare, who I've had for nearly 3 years now. I've reschooled her, spent a fortune sorting out her saddle, nursed her through gastric ulcers and treatment for arthritis, and any hassle/heartache she's caused me has been completely worth it for what she can turn her hoof to the rest of the time. I love her to pieces and would only give her up if I absolutely had to - or her owner wanted her back, of course!

There are good homes out there!
 
I'm both poacher and gamekeeper I guess: I've loaned my boy out in the past plus I've got a friend's mare on loan.

When I loaned my boy out: it was a disaster. The numpty girl that had him let his sweetitch get out of control the first weekend she had him, turned him out without his rug on which was a blatent breach of the loan agreement - then only five weeks into the loan she decided she couldn't afford it anymore and said he'd have to come back to my place. It then transpired that she hadn't paid a single penny for his livery at the yard he was at, since day one!!! YO wasn't exactly a happy bunny and I don't blame him - and I was in the embarrassing position then of who exactly was going to pay his livery fees!! So I'd never ever loan again. The only loan that DID work, and which I'd do again, was when mine was at equine college on working livery.

The mare I've got belongs to an old schoolfriend; we've known each other for years basically, on and off. The mare can be quirky, but has taught me such a lot and has also sorted my boy out as they're out together and she's basically got him sorted :) I keep in touch with her owner on a regular basis and we're both very happy with the arrangement.

My feelings with a loan are that you need to be very VERY selective who you let your horse go to. If not 101% sure, then don't do it, and if they seem too good to be true then ask questions and double/triple check.

Keep in regular touch, and if possible don't let the horse go beyond a 30 mile radius so you can drive up and look over the fence if needs be. Or, even better, if you can, have a "spy in the camp" at whatever yard they're at to keep a watch-out for you.
 
I'm a bit hypocritical on this topic I'm afraid!
My boy, whom I have owned 9 years originally came to me on loan and after a year we bought him. We were the 'perfect' loanee for him and I am so glad I took him on loan all those years ago!
So when I was heading off to uni I spent a lot of time searching for the right loan home for him and I thought I had found it! Due to other circumstances I returned home after 1 year away and shortly after my return was asked to take my boy back as he now 'wasnt suitable'. To this day I regret not taking him back sooner as he came back depressed, under conditioned, had lost all his schooling (which I had put a lot of effort in too!) and without a number of items he went with! After only having him back a matter of months the transformation back to his old self was unreal and all of these 'problems' they had never surfaced. Yes loaning can be great but be very careful. If I was to ever do it again (which I seriously wouldn't!) but if I did I would only do it with someone I knew.
 
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