Help - Loaning

T

TS_

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 December 2008
Messages
2,275
Visit site
I'm currently trying to loan out my horse but I'm not having much luck.
Where are good places to advertise loan horses? She has had an advert on; Preloved, TheHorseExchange, 2 local countrywide's and a shop window.
Most of the people who have called and/or viewed her have been unsuitable.

I have re-written her advert if anyone would mind having a look at it? I'm starting to worry as I will hopefully be going to university in a month (depending on tomorrows results) and if I haven't found the right home for her before I go it's going to be very difficult to do from university.

Any help or advice would be great.
 
Good luck with the results! I was in a similarly stressful situation when I had to put my pony out on loan when I was going to work abroad in the new year - I had something arranged and it fell through just before Christmas. It was the worst possible time to be looking for a loan home as well. I put up adverts in the local riding schools and livery yards which I would recommend you do - some of my friends have found part-loaners that way so it is definitely worth a try, but in my case it didn't work out.
My vet, farrier and instructor also called around people they thought would be interested in my pony - she is 14hh and safe and sensible, a pony club type so we went down the riding school route in the end as I wasn't having much luck doing it privately. Some people came to view her through my vet but they weren't a match. In the end I was calling around desperately - even ringing people out of the phone book - we are at about December 27 by now and I was leaving on Jan 4 - and I called a riding school at the other end of the country where I went to pony camp when I was about 12. Long story short, they took her and she was brilliant for them, they took fantastic care of her and she stayed there for six years while I worked abroad and came home and did my degree.
So, in summary, places to try apart from the websites that you are already trying:
- notices at riding schools and livery yards. Riding schools have advanced clients as well as beginners - there is one near me that teaches their clients piaffe and pirouettes on advanced dressage schoolmasters, and at livery yards there are always people looking for rides for their friends or who have just moved on, word of mouth and so on.
- vets, farriers, instructors - your own and your friends'. Word of mouth is really powerful. Mine were really helpful and put me in touch with potential loan homes even if they weren't the one I ended up going for. They know a lot of people in the horsey world (at least mine do :))
- if your horse is suitable for riding school or college work then cold call places. I really didn't think I would be ok with letting my horse go to a riding school and I wouldn't be ok with letting her be on a big school where she would be lost in it. The place she went to I think was very special and I was very lucky with just how brilliant my loaners were but I guess what I am trying to say is make sure you look at all your options.
Good luck and I hope you work something out.
 
Thank you for your advice, unfortunately I'm trying to loan her as a hack so she wouldn't be suitable for a riding school. I've tried to getting the word out through word of mouth, I think I might contact local pony club DC's and see if they can pass the word around. Will go on a noticeboard hunt in local horsey places too.
 
Just a thought. If your horse has limited use, it might be worth also adding that you would contribute towards insurance & ?. I just think that in this market, it would show that you aren't just abandoning the horse, may just give a prospective loanee another reason to look at your horse even if at first it doesn't sound perfect.

I also think that if you are still contributing towards the horse you are OK to expect to keep pretty close tabs on it. After all, even if you just turned it away there would be some associated costs, so looked at in the round it might be the way to go?
 
I like the idea of contributing to her cost in order to be able to keep a closer eye on her, so that's definitely a good thought. However I will be a poor uni student so I'm not sure how practical it would be.
She can't jump but other than that she doesn't really have a limited use and not everyone wants to jump so I'm hoping it won't make too much difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top