Fails and successes of loaning horses

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hoir14

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So ive had my part loan mare for about 7 months now, all has gone smoothly (apart from her recent lameness but appears to be sound now after a few weeks off) and i love her owner too, we both get on really well and have a very similar approach to horse management! I know that her owner has had a couple of loaners for her other pony in the time ive been loaning isla and they have both recently fallen through (not sure on the exact circumstances)... in the past i have never been able to sustain a loan (be it part or full) for more than 6 months, i have loaned from a series of owners which have been fine for a few months then something has happened which has led to them terminating the loan... quite a few horses we have had an agreement where i loan them for a reduced cost in return for schooling the horse, with the promise of then having a good horse to ride as a result of my hard work, but once the horse was schooled, they terminated the agreement then got another loaner for the normal price. At this 7 month mark with isla im getting nervous that something is going to happen and i wont be able to loan her, im looking for some success stories of loans to let me know that things can go well with loaning! As im beginning to lose faith! Some fails would be good too to let me know that i really havnt had the worst of it! From either a loaners or owners perspective of course!
 
Belle my Belgian x French draft.

Her owner and I are really good friends, she lives a good few hours away and has been up to visit and is delighted with how Belle is getting on. We talk regularly and update each other as to how our other horses are getting on.

She is welcome here any time for a visit and is welcome to stop over for a night or two as well, we really are all good friends (Her, myself and my parents).

She is very happy with what Belle has up here and I'm hopeful that this is a lifetime/indefinite loan.
 
I got Rog on loan from a friend when he was 17. We'd known him since he was 4 and always loved him! He had been on loan a few times before but his current loaner were going through a really tough time and were looking to return him. My mare was going to spend the summer at stud so I was going to be horseless.
So she suggested he came to me and we've never looked back! He moved down south to be with Gill at the start of the first winter and then came back when she did. He was then gifted to her.
H still visits him if she's in our neck of the woods. He turned 30 this year.
 
I've been both a loaner and a loanee.

The "success" story is a lovely friend who didn't quite know what to do with her mare who'd been an endurance horse but needed just a little easier life and yet because she was a bit quirky (Welsh D/mare!! you get the picture) she wanted to send her to someone who was right for her. She had already put her out on loan but for various reasons (no-one's fault) mare had bounced back. Mare came to me on a breezy autumn's afternoon, and I rode her straight out from the box for a quick trot round the block in a real breezy hooley! My friend is also my trainer and her policy is always to ride out a new horse straightaway, on arrival, and then let them settle for as long as is needed, this is the way she does things and I've done the same.

This was my first "mare experience" and we did take a little while to get to know each other; but then when we did bond it was the most beautiful relationship ever, this mare was just soooh incredibly loyal and really looked after her rider in every possible way. She was also wise beyond measure and I loved her to bits. She bonded with my old traddy boy and brought him what was basically a "wife" in his dotage. My friend actually gave the mare to me by Deed of Gift. Bless her, this is the most precious thing I've ever been given. Friend was with me last autumn when we put the two oldies, the mare and my old boy, to sleep, both on the same day, together. It was hard, yet it was easy, if that makes sense, two lovely horses and we were doing the very best and kindest thing for them.

My experience of loaning a horse has been firstly my old lad who went to equestrian college on working livery for two years, and a private loan. This was due to the fact that I was having to be "carer" for my mother and just couldn't cope with what was a quite quirky horse with all his foibles (bless him), but which needed constant attention and correction.

Equestrian college suited him, it gave him the basic schooling which as bum-follower in a trekking centre, he'd never had, and he loved the busy-ness and activity of it all as he was a popular horse and loved being the centre of attention. This lifestyle wouldn't suit every horse however, and two years were plenty as he was beginning to get stale by the end of it.

The private loan was a disaster! I somehow didn't manage to adequately filter-through the numpties and hopefuls, and a girl took him who had the "right energy", or so I thought.

She kept him at a riding school set up, and I'd stipulated thoroughly on the loan agreement that due to his sweetitch he must be kept covered up at all times especially when turned out. The first weekend he was there it was a very hot September weekend, the hottest on record, and he was put out......... without his sweetitch rug. Result, he was raw and bleeding, all the effort I'd put into keeping his mane and tail all nice and so you wouldn't know he had sweetitch, all raw and bleeding, and he was in considerable distress with it. The YO was a total knob and insisted that he'd been sent to the yard like it, I said please would you ring my vet who can confirm the condition he was in before he left home, and handed him my phone with the number all ready. He backed off. I should have removed my horse immediately after that, I wish I had done.

Anyway, roll on five weeks into the loan and the YO rang me and asked me for some money for his livery! Apparently the numpty girl who'd had him hadn't paid a penny, not diddly-squat, from the time he'd been there! And now the YO wanted it from me. I told him to jog on and pursue it with her direct as it wasn't my responsibility, would he please note the loan agreement where it was clearly stated that livery fees would be paid by the loanee and not the owner! He then started mentioning "extra's" such as shoes, extra feed he'd apparently had, then went off on one about his staff's time dealing with the horse which would have to be paid for etc.! YO said it all this was my responsibility! I reiterated that he'd have to pursue any outstanding fees with the girl concerned who he knew anyway as she'd ridden at the riding centre and that if she wouldn't or couldn't pay it was something he might have to take up with solicitors etc. Basically not my problem!

Well anyway, there was a show coming up at the venue where he was at, a friend was going and had a free place in her lorry and so I went along and quietly and quickly went and got my boy and loaded him up. Thank christ the blighter loaded!! I mucked out his stable and left everything all neat & tidy, and left a message pinned on his stable door saying "returned to owner, thank you for your assistance", and we scarpered! Deed done.

Key words for both loaner and loanee are:

TRUST, HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY, and very importantly COMMUNICATION between owner and loaner, especially in the early days.

Always have a loan agreement and always make sure the person is someone you know by at least one degree of separation, never a total stranger, and include the right to pick up your horse immediately if there is a problem. Retain the right to "pop in" at a reasonable time and see how things are going or at the very least have a situation where you or a trusted friend can look over the hedge on a weekly basis to check all is well. Better still is a spy at the yard where the horse is at! Also you must include a "euthanasia clause" which basically says that if something awful happens and you cannot be contacted despite repeated efforts to do so, the vet can PTS for humane reasons without your being present". Awful yes, but there was a recent case on here where someone looking after someone else's horse had to deal with a situation where they had to watch a horse suffering because the owner hadn't sorted this out basically.

Sorry a bit long! But hope it helps.
 
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I would chat through your concerns with the owner. It's fairly uncommon for happy owners to get rid of sharers / part loaners coming into winter! But if the owner does have any little niggles or things she'd like to tweak getting them out in the open and ways forward agreed is much better than letting them fester into something larger that ends up in a very difficult conversation.
 
Polos Mum said:
I would chat through your concerns with the owner. It's fairly uncommon for happy owners to get rid of sharers / part loaners coming into winter! But if the owner does have any little niggles or things she'd like to tweak getting them out in the open and ways forward agreed is much better than letting them fester into something larger that ends up in a very difficult conversation.
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We have a solid loan agreement set out and were always talking and she loves the fact that i want to take isla out and about as she doesnt get the chance to ride much, in all honesty theres no reason that she would want to terminate the loan, its just me being paranoid because ive had so many loans fail in the past and i constantly think its going to happen again especially as me and isla get on so well! As with a lot of mares there was a long period when we didnt trust each other but over the summer we have just clicked and everything is slotting into place nicely!
 
I had my old share horse for more than four years. His owner and I were never particularly close, but we both wanted what was best for the horse and mostly agreed on the best way to achieve it. (Where we didn't agree, I shut up and let her do it her way.) I only gave up the share because his owner moved.
 
After a few failed loans I started helping out with a green 6 year old ISH mare. The owner of the ISH helped another owner out occasionally and I ended up with 2 to ride and look after. The second horse was also 6 and could be quite spooky and gave me a few scares. I ended up where the original quieter horse became quite a handful (turned out to be physical issues) and I formed a really good partnership with the spooky horse (my profile pic). I switched to doing just the spooky mare after a bad fall of my original share and had so much fun with her over the years and became really good friends with her owner. I shared her for 6/7 years, go on holiday with her owner and can still go and visit her now at the age of 18. I took her on a beach ride just last year despite not having loaned her for about 5.

Sharing is a mine field and my current share has had its up and downs but so does buying. I have loaned 4 horses and had a few trials and summer loans and to be honest the right owner is just as important than the horse!
 
I have had some horrific experiences but one utterly amazing one. She started off by effectively part loaning him, then she took him on full loan and I eventually signed him over to her as she looked after him far better than I ever could. She kept him, in the standard to which he was accustomed, until the day he had to be PTS. That one experience makes it all worthwhile. The horse never really felt like mine, it always felt like he came to me so he could eventually make his work to her. He hadnt always had the best treatment and I will always be glad that his last years were happy with an owner who adored him.
 
We loaned my son's first pony for over 5 years before he outgrew him (in terms of ability) and he went back to his owner and now found a new little boy.

I also loaned my outgrown pony for the summer once to a lovely lady on here (her daughters own pony was off due to an injury) and it worked out really well too.

Fiona
 
I loaned my old pony whilst I was at uni as his owner (a friend of mine) had outgrown him (i'm really short, he was 13hh and she's tall!) she had owned him for 4 years at this point and I had known him the whole time she'd had him. I had him on full loan for about 3 years until he got a very bad laminitis episode which I helped him through and once he was sound again he was gifted to me :) I paid a grand total of £1 for him! He was a pony of a lifetime and I had him for 10 years in the end, we did absolutely everything together, even though he got naughtier as he got older. I lost him two years today from EMS/lami complications that finally caught up with him and I miss him every day, he was such a brilliant character and a firm yard favourite. As he was kept off grass (in at night, large pen during the day) he was always getting attention from everyone on the yard so he was very well loved!
 
Have not loaned someone elses horse, but I did loan my mare out twice when she was in her late teens/early twenties. No issues with either of the homes, both had a BHS type loan agreement. First time she came back after 18 months when loaner fell pregnant and the second time after a couple of years due to loaner changing career and needing to reduce outgoings. She came back to me 9yrs ago and has been fully retired since.
 
We had one of our current girls on loan to begin with. The owner visited her regularly & gifted her to us after a year of loaning her.
 
i got my loan horse from someone local who my YO knew, we filled out a loan agreement and i had 2 fabulous years with her, i physically couldnt manage the winters any more and spoke to the owner in the june and said i needed (not wanted) to give up, i shed a few tears and the owner was lovely, she let me keep her till the end of the summer and once she was home i went to see her and rode her a couple of times before she went to her new loan home,. i still miss her and if i'd had the money to pay for help with the jobs i would never have given her up....it was a perfect loan as the owner and i both adored the horse and she was very happy with the way i kept her...
 
I have put two of my horses out on loan. One worked out brilliantly and came back to me after four happy years when his loaner had a baby, and the other was a bloody disaster.

The loaner looked after him fine, but did some very odd things. I sent things for him to use - headcollars, boots, etc and even an anatomical bridle to help with his fussiness in the head - why would you not try something like this?! And they came back unopened, never used. What did come back used was DISGUSTING. Now, I didn’t mind my horse coming back scruffy and with clip lines that I would never have done, as that can be changed and is personal preference (although I was annoyed that my beautifully pulled tail was left to turn into a big brush), but what really REALLY made me angry is the state my rugs and tack came back in. My Thermatex was mouldy and stinking with rusty buckles, my rugs were FILTHY - I have never had a turnout rug disgusting on the INSIDE, but mine were so bad that I picked up a new turnout from work and threw away the one he came back with (lucky I work for a rug company haha!). My tack was disgusting and I actually had a cry about it when I saw it. My bridle was a beautiful Sabre that I had had for years, and had been on several precious horses. I have had to throw it away. It was so dirty the stitching was rotting. Ditto my lovely expensive reins. And my saddle was so filthy it is now permanently marked and to be honest I might just bin it as well rather than sell it for the £20 it’s worth now. It isn’t a fabulous saddle, it was an interim measure, but it was worth a good £300 and is now worthless because the leather is ruined.

I work hard to pay for my things, and I really take care of them. I wouldn’t dream of sending borrowed tack back to someone dirty, let alone ruined. Made me so so angry and still upsets me even though he’s been home since March.

I also got very annoyed by the constant messages implying this person knew my horse better than I did. I appreciated her input and when she discovered a bit he really loved I was thrilled and he’s had one ever since. However, ‘he goes best in a grackle, he doesn’t like his bridle’ was just bloody rude. I sent a brand new anatomical bridle (which, incidentally, he loves and goes beautifully in now that it’s actually being used) which didn’t even get unwrapped, yet was getting almost lectured about what my horse liked best. I have owned him for a long time. I know him thank you. If you have a suggestion put it across like a grown up.

Hahaha, can you tell I’m still annoyed by this? 😂
 
Am sooohh feeling your pain "Starzaan", why oh why can't people be respectful of other people's property??

Reminds me of a "friend" who used to ride my old lad (a good few years and a good few horses ago now. We'd been in pony club together and just happened to meet up again.

She came to ride but didn't have her hat anymore so (me being me) I said OK so borrow mine. This hat was an old-fashioned fixed-cap hat, you wouldn't buy one like it now! But it had been my hat that had seen me through my first pony, all the way through pony club (and several falls - and no I didn't replace it!!), and it was very precious. It was a lovely velvet-covered hat and there hasn't been any other hat that has fitted me half as well if I'm honest; you could slap it on in the morning, hunt all day in it, come home and you'd never know you'd worn it. Lovely little hat! I'm so regretful it can't be worn anymore.

Anyway, so she borrowed my hat and went out for a hack; then when she'd come back that day, she couldn't meet my eye. I wondered what had happened, but something was deffo fishy! When I went to ride the next time, I found my hat: it had a mark in it where she'd obviously gone under a tree. My lovely hat! The look of it totally ruined. I was furious.

The next time she came I did ask her what had happened to the hat; she brushed it off saying "oh I think it was a branch". No offer to repair the damage, no apology. I was livid.
 
Years and years ago i put a horse on loan, was going 60 miles away so thought thats not too bad. In my agreement i had stipulated he must be fed the same stuff im feeding, to keep him in the best condition. He went with full tack and rugs etc. And also in the agreement I said that I can visit any time I like so long as I give her a text or a ring first. So first month went by and i thought she hadn't kept in contact like agreed so id just swing by her place for a look and make sure he was ok, he was standing miserable in the field! Head hanging low and he looked sad, i went to the side of the paddock and called him he immediately perked up and ran over snuggling into me, i gave him a kiss and a cuddle and left.
Four weeks later i had been trying to text her but no answer at all, tried to call and nothing so i thought fk this im worried now! So i text her to say i was coming up , didnt matter if she was there or not and to leave his tack out! She wasnt there when i got there. But when i took his rug off i burst out crying i was horrified! My boy! All his weight and health gone! I suspect she didnt feed him at all. He had ringworm on his bum! Looked like his rug hadnt been off for a while Wtf . He was a 17.2 ex dressage horse a big beef of a boy and now i could see his ribs! I phoned my husband sobbing my heart out and i said im bringing him back. He is a mess, and skin and bone literally 😢 so i phoned for some transport to come and pick him up, just at that she returned and asked me wtf was I doing! I told her to go get his stuff and im taking him back, she hadnt looked after him at all and had practically ruined my boy in 8 weeks! She started shouting and swearing at me and i just told her get out of my face before i kill you you absolute cow of a woman! She shouted this isnt the last youll hear from me , it was. And i gathered his stuff and left . Never ever again will i loan or share 😢
 
I had a lovely young Oldenburg on loan for around year & if it weren't for his lameness I'm sure I'd still have him now. Owner had home bred him & wanted him to go out on load for a few years to have some fun before having him back as her happy hacker when her oldie retired. We had a fantastic relationship always in touch despite being about an hour or so away & it worked well sorting his vet appointments etc out. When he had him back & he completed his box rest for a while I still went over to ride him. Not ideal as obviously he had to go back, but the owner & arrangement was great despite the circumstances.
 
I loaned a pony over summer as a teenager. The hardest part was when he went back to his novice owner - it wasn't uncommon for him to still be stood in at 11am, rugged in warm autumn weather and dripping in sweat.

I've been a sharer for many years. Never had any formal agreements.
Worst was sharing with a teenager - they never told me the horse was supposed to be on box rest for intermittent lameness, only found out after bringing him back from a ride one morning when the yard asked what I was doing. I was mortified.
The rest however have all been successes - current share horse I've been riding for 3 and a half years now and all going well (touch wood!)
 
I started out as a loaner. It worked so well, I paid a small amount towards livery, owner brought up bags of feed when needed and we kept in touch via text. Owner worked long hours far away so wasn't really ever around in person but any issues at all I could call/text her.

A few years ago I loaned my mare out to somebody on the yard. Mare and I didn't particularly click, she was fantastic in every way but there was a spark missing. Mare stayed on the yard and was unofficially shared by a girl who adored her. They were moving to the next village and asked if they could take her on full loan. I said yes, they were happy together and it all worked for me as I was just starting uni. I gifted mare to loaners last year for. They were chuffed and are out hunting locally and doing pony club. I see mare occasionally and she is so happy and looks so well
 
We had an initially real success story with our loan. He was too small for my daughter to ride (other than hacking out) but he was getting to the age where we didn't want him passing from pillar to post. Wonderful at the start we checked up on him fairly regularly and if they had any issues we went and helped sort them out. Regular visits gradually reduced to 3-4 a year as he was well cared for and loved. After a couple of years they moved to a place with their own land and stables but no school. The mums ill health led them to getting rid of the horse box and the daughter gradually stopped riding him other than hacking out once or twice a month, they kept promising he would be ridden more but he was getting fatter and fatter each time we saw him.
We made the decision that at his age if he wasn't ridden more regularly he would effectively be retired and if they returned him we would have field ornament as it would be hard to get him back into work. We gave them a months notice with the option to prove they would get him back in work and if they did we would leave him with them. They said they couldn't commit to it and were quite horrible about it in the end accusing us of all sorts. Anyway he came back, my daughter hacked him out and schooled him on the flat and got him back into work and he now spends his time at the local agricultural college where he is a firm favourite, coming home to us for holidays.
Whilst he continues to remain sound and happy this is what we will continue with until it is time for him to retire.
 
I had a friend who loaned out her teenage homebred - he had a perfectly acceptable, normal, name that he had his entire life.

The loaners changed his stable name! It used to irritate my friend no end - they used to be ‘Chester’ this, ‘Chester’ that to her face .... she would call him by his real name, but they persisted.

She was remarkably self contained about it though, at the end of the day she couldn’t take care of him and the important things were being done well enough by the loaners so she just had to bite her tongue.
 
I have a girl who's loaned one of my ponies for the last three years - it's a part loan and he stays under my care and she can come ride/do jobs etc whenever she wants - it works really well :) If she wants to compete, I make sure I'm free to take them etc
 
I'd say the majority of being a sharer have been good experiences. My experience in having a sharer is very mixed.

The worst share I had was when I was a young and Horse mad. I shared a 15 Welsh x TB which regularly tanked off with me. Only a small yard and some how I ended up mucking out about 4 Horses, turning out and bringing in everyone's Horses every time I went up. I just assumed it was the norm. The Horse I shared also got sold and I went up one day and she was gone, the owner told me I could share another Horse (belonging to another livery and she was on holiday) I didn't see anything wrong and rode the Horse for 2 weeks (I wonder if the owner ever found out)

one other share that was not good, the owner had zero trust in me and constantly turned up on my days and wanted to watch me ride. The pony was actually quite sweet and I shared him for a year before the owner just got too much (she was extremely OCD about everything!)

Since then only good experiences. 1 I shared one for 4 years, made really good friends with the owners and ended up buying my own Horse and keeping it at their yard. We are still in contact now and I get to see my old share Horse.

I share currently as I lost my Horse after 8 years. He is fantastic and the owner is great, I am really enjoying him and owner trusts me which is nice.

I had 2 sharers for my Horse, 1 good and 1 not so good.

The bad sharer I had to give her marching orders, she continuously did things I asked her not too, the main one being tying Horse up by the bit ring to get herself ready. I politely reminded her to pop Horses headcollar on top of bridle and told her what could happen if Horse spooked whilst tied by bit. One day she texted me and said she couldn't ride as my Horse broke my bridle. When I asked how she said Horse spooked whilst tied up and the cheekpeice snapped (thank god it did!) I was fuming with her and told her where to go. She wasn't young and had owned her own Horses before. She also never had anything nice to say about my Horse. I'd text every 2 weeks or so and ask how she is getting on and she would reply with only negative points.

The good sharer, doted on my Horse. Kept me informed. Kept herself and Horse safe and always did chores to a really high standard (my tack had never been so clean!)
 
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