First part loan - what to expect?

A

amelia_megan

Member
Joined
12 April 2025
Messages
15
Visit site
I have found a lovely horse for part loan called Daisy at my local riding school, and I’m going for a private lesson on her tomorrow. Afterward I’m discussing with the owner/yard manager the details of the part loan.

I am wondering what should I expect from a typical part loan agreement and how should this process go, e.g., should a contract always be drawn up? Who normally proposes/creates the contract? what are some green/red flags to look out for?

If you have experience part loaning, what did/does a typical week look like for you? Do you compete/do events? how much contact/discussion do you have with the owner? Do you do lessons as well as hack/arena hire ? Tell me everything 😄
 
Honestly that all depends on the individual loan you’ll have to ask the owner
The owner should draw up the loan and everything should be outlined on that
You’ll look after the horse on your set days and you do jobs or pay a certain amount a week
 
I'm a YO and we have other people's horses/ponies on loan at my yard, and have done in the past. I've also been both a Loaner and a Loanee in the past.

The essence of a "good" loan is communication, transparency, trust and transparency between the YO, the owner, and the loanee. This "triangle" is vital, and without it any loan can go really badly wrong.

Communication: important for everyone to agree to have a regular chat and communicate any difficulties/anything that might need looking at.

Transparency: loanee (i.e. OP) needs to be totally honest about their riding ability & what they're prepared to take on; and the instructor will also need (in this case) to be honest about the ability of their client.

Trust: a vital component. We had a horse on loan from someone who lived 4hrs drive away. She wanted to come up to my yard (I live on site, so it would have been a disruption) to see how her "darling" was faring. Then blubbed about "not being allowed to see her horse" because she'd turned up unexpectedly at my house door at 0845 on a weekend morning and I'd told her sorry but come back later. She obviously had trust issues, and we allowed her to take her horse back home.

Transparency: the above "client" didn't really want to loan out her horse, she hadn't thought it through and because of that it just didn't work. Transparency in a loan arrangement is vital and IMO is the most important factor. If things are not working out, and any one person in the "triangle" of Owner, YO or Loanee senses that something just isn't right, then this needs to be aired and not kept silent about.

Hope this helps.
 
If it is a riding school horse you are part loaning, I presume it will be used on the school at other times? I would just make sure that you and the horse get a good deal. I would want to know the horse's workload, if you can hack out unaccompanied, how periods of sickness would be handled etc.

If you think it is a good deal, and they do, then it is.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I'm a YO and we have other people's horses/ponies on loan at my yard, and have done in the past. I've also been both a Loaner and a Loanee in the past.

The essence of a "good" loan is communication, transparency, trust and transparency between the YO, the owner, and the loanee. This "triangle" is vital, and without it any loan can go really badly wrong.

Communication: important for everyone to agree to have a regular chat and communicate any difficulties/anything that might need looking at.

Transparency: loanee (i.e. OP) needs to be totally honest about their riding ability & what they're prepared to take on; and the instructor will also need (in this case) to be honest about the ability of their client.

Trust: a vital component. We had a horse on loan from someone who lived 4hrs drive away. She wanted to come up to my yard (I live on site, so it would have been a disruption) to see how her "darling" was faring. Then blubbed about "not being allowed to see her horse" because she'd turned up unexpectedly at my house door at 0845 on a weekend morning and I'd told her sorry but come back later. She obviously had trust issues, and we allowed her to take her horse back home.

Transparency: the above "client" didn't really want to loan out her horse, she hadn't thought it through and because of that it just didn't work. Transparency in a loan arrangement is vital and IMO is the most important factor. If things are not working out, and any one person in the "triangle" of Owner, YO or Loanee senses that something just isn't right, then this needs to be aired and not kept silent about.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
This is really useful, thankyou. I have 10+ yrs of riding ability under my belt, and am a confident rider (which is important since she’s a young horse who is a little green). I’m less confident in the yard/stable duties department - though it’s something I enjoy and will work hard at, with some guidance. i will be super honest about this aspect and make sure to keep communication open with the owner!
 
Echo Red. This is very dependent on whether the horse lives at a riding school or is owned by a riding school. And then whether the horse is going to be used in the riding school.

There is a "riding school" in this area where all the horses are on part loan and the owner of the place asks people by social media what type of horse they want her to buy next.

I think it's a terrific model for horse ownership.
.
 
If it's a riding school horse, make sure you are very clear as to what the horse will be doing each day and how many hours it will be used in the school. I've seen all sorts of horror stories - horse used in the school for long hours on the RS days, so the loaner felt compelled to give it a rest on their days; loaner getting the horse every day to ride, but finding horse had already done 2 hours that day; loaner needing to book horse in advance, then finding horse on a lesson when they turned up; loaner's days can't be a weekend because the RS is busy then.

Having said that, if you find a good one, it can be really good for teaching the care and stable management side of things in a safe environment.

You'll probably find you won't be able to compete off-site though. Most don't want the risk to a good school horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top