Horse on trial with view to buy - owner know wants a loan....

I agree with everyone else here, she's extracting the urine a bit, getting her horse bought on for free, whilst you are paying for its keep! If she sent it to someone for training imagine what that would cost?!
 
Tarbs said:
Email back saying you are not comfortable with loaning so you would like to return the horse ASAP as you have another to look at. Calling her bluff might force her hand.
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This.

I would also throw in a casual comment about how you're actually quite relieved you have the chance to send him back as he has shown a talent for bucking this week and got you off twice since she saw him. Leave them to sweat about that!
 
Honey08 said:
This.

I would also throw in a casual comment about how you're actually quite relieved you have the chance to send him back as he has shown a talent for bucking this week and got you off twice since she saw him. Leave them to sweat about that!
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Love the way you think Honey08 ;)
 
Love Honey08, that is such a good idea. I would be very upset but as you have a written agreement then perhaps call their bluff if you want the horse. I would not loan for year and risk losing the horse or having to pay extra now that you have put in the hard work. Bloody cheeky owner.
By the way just buying a 5 year old straight over from ireland anybody want to loan for a year ? :)
 
What a bummer. Not surprised you are miffed, but then I suppose that's the reverse side of having a LWVTB. We usually hear about potential purchasers being gits.

I agree, you should state she has broken her contract and you are not happy about it. Either she sells or collects ASAP. You never know, if it goes home and they can't handle it it may come up for sale again, and you could make a cheeky offer.
 
Polos Mum said:
Send back asap! Unless you are happy to bring on the horse for free for 12 months, then have her taken away when you've bonded even more.

I'd make it clear to the owner that I was very upset and that as she'd breached the LWVB arrangements you'll be charging her full livery from today until she comes to collect the horse and that you won't be doing anything other than basic care from today. Sounds like just the sort that 'won't be able to arrange transport for a couple of weeks' just so she gets a few more weeks free schooling livery from you.

If she won't stick to an agreement now what makes you think she will in 12 months time?
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This.

Coblover63 said:
Would definitely return the horse to the seller ASAP but would also reply to email stating that the terms were LWVTB and NOT a loan and if she is changing the terms of the agreement (verbal or otherwise) then you are rightly changing yours too and that she will now owe you £X amount for livery and schooling charges.

Damned cheek!
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And this.

Honey08 said:
I would also throw in a casual comment about how you're actually quite relieved you have the chance to send him back as he has shown a talent for bucking this week and got you off twice since she saw him. Leave them to sweat about that!
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Oh yes you MUST do this, seriously I would!! :D :D
 
Tell the owner to come & collect the horse & also bill her for the time you have spent schooling her horse. This is an old ruse the owner is trying on. She let you have the horse & you've done a load of hard work for free & now she wants you to continue schooling it until she decides it's at a point when she will have it back & ride the horse herself or let her partner ride the horse. In my view it is unlikely she was ever going to sell the horse she wanted it schooled up by someone who knew what they were doing & then she'd take it back to ride it herself or sell it for more money because it will now be worth more.

Send the horse back before you bond with it further & don't forget to bill her for your time.

On the other hand you could remind her that she entered into a verbal contract with you, which is legally binding, regarding a loan with a view to buy. You could pay her the money, keep the horse & let her try & take legal action to recover the horse. I have no idea who would win a court case, I suppose it's down to who the judge believes.

Good Luck whatever you decide to do.
 
Coblover63 said:
Would definitely return the horse to the seller ASAP but would also reply to email stating that the terms were LWVTB and NOT a loan and if she is changing the terms of the agreement (verbal or otherwise) then you are rightly changing yours too and that she will now owe you £X amount for livery and schooling charges.

Damned cheek!
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Outrageous of owner. Do this ^^
 
very difficult for you.
But you should either send horse back straight away or tell other you want to buy now at agreed price.

Sounds like the owner wants you to do all the work then get a nice horse a year later.

If you are already bonding now imagine how you will feel after a year?
 
Sadly agree with the buy now/send back immediately advice.

AS you were LWVTB I expect owner, as well as yourself, had the right to cancel that (but d check the contract!) so you probably can't bill retrospectively. But you can certainly bill going forward.

Hope it works out.
 
Agree with the majority, send it back or offer to buy now. But strange that she only considering this loan now she has seen how great the horse is looking .....
 
What a clever girl she is.... ((hugs)) to you, but unless she will sell now, then send the horse back... I love the 'bucking' comment. Excellent x
 
Whilst I have sympathy for the OP, who has clearly brought the horse on very nicely, this seems an interesting question.

First, you need to decide IF you want to buy the horse at the price agreed.

If so, and she prevents this being an option, she has broken her agreement and you may well be able to take her to the Small Claims Court to get back the costs of livery and training. You would have suffered financial loss as you were planning to buy a horse and now can't.

If you don't want to buy him, I can't see that you have had a financial loss. You tried a horse out, and it seems reasonable that you take the hit on costs and effort for the period you were deciding whether you wanted him......




IF you do want him, I'd itemise every penny you've spent on him and a reasonable cost for your time/ livery for the LWVTB period. Then write to the owner and say that either she sells him to you at the agreed price, within 24 hours, or that she collects him immediately and a court claim for £x will follow.

Unless the horse is pretty special, I suspect that the cost she would be sued for, will outweigh the increased cost that she might get for him if she sold now.

As for the new loan idea, id run from that as fast as possible, you clearly can't trust the woman!
 
I had a horse on trial and did quite a bit of work on the horse in that time. At the end of the trial period the owner turned up with his mate and tried to intimidate me into paying extra and said they had a buyer who would pay the higher price if I didn't. I said fine take the horse and whilst you are loading her I'll write up your invoice for schooling which I want paid before I return her passport. They took the original amount and left. They look so shocked that I stood my ground but there was no way I was paying extra or schooling their horse for free.
 
If you have a written agreement which says you have the right to buy outright after a specified period of time and it has passed that time then you are entitled to do so. If she refuses to do this then she's in breach of contract so you could (may be considered a little extreme but entirely possible) sue her for breach of contract.

Definitely wouldn't keep schooling the horse for her, no matter what kind of bond you have with it, when the likelihood is she'll just take it back after a year, or keep you hanging on indefinitely, or potentially sell it out underneath you. If she sells the horse then you wouldn't be able to get the horse back legally, you'd only have a claim for damages for breach of contract.
 
Just playing devil's advocate here - loan with view to buy is also risky on the part of the seller as she entered into this not really knowing whether you would bring the horse on or ruin it/injure it. What would we be saying if the boot was on the other foot? I can just imagine the thread now: Horse on trial with view to buy - I've changed my mind about selling WWYD?

Rather than think the worst of her immediately how about having a chat with her and reminding her politely about the agreement that you had re the sweetitch? If you panic and buy the horse now without really seeing what the sweetitch is like in a few weeks time will you be kicking yourself later in the summer?

I don't think you can reasonably charge for anything that you've done schooling wise or keep wise during the loan period even if you do send the horse back. It's kind of a risk that you both took by not buying outright but loaning for an agreed period. She's been quite fair in letting you wait until the sweetitch took hold before giving her any money so you had the opportunity to walk away. It could have really backfired on her.

I would think that both of you have the right to terminate the loan agreement at anytime, and actually she holds the cards because it is her horse not yours and changing her mind is her perogative! And although the bucking idea is fun - it's really not the right thing to do and I'm sure you know that. :)
 
Well I am hopeless at understanding all the machiavellian things that people do in order to try and sell horses for loads of money or buy them cheap. Total mystery to me. Bit of a shame as I am trying to buy one at the moment!

But if the SI is really an issue, the seller could be being very clever by pressuring OP into agreeing to buy the horse now, before she has had time to check out whether the SI is a problem.

Not entirely sure why OP cannot stick to the original agreement and keep the horse on trial (NB she has said it is trial not loan) until the agreed time and then buy it or send it back.
 
horserider said:
You have a written agreement, if you like the horse, call her bluff with a solicitors letter and a cheque for the purchase price.
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Wouldn't work. We did this once with a pony we had........she agreed x amount in 1 month. She never came to see the pony, only saw a pic once I had its feet sorted, it clipped, schooled and tidied up from the bedraggled state it was in. I spoke to the daughter who still said yes, agreement still the same, so I sent the cheque.
Unfortunately that week my sister stopped her job with them and low and behold........she turned up to take pony back - along with the one she was loaning to my little sister. Made out she would NEVER ever sell it as she bred it..........I believe it sat in a field for years then she tried to sell it.....the other loan pony my sister managed to school (was an iinhand show arab so couldn't go properly under saddle) and that was also SOOOOOOO precious to her and she would never see go somewhere she couldn't visit, she sold to someone down in Englandshire.

Basically, unless you give the money there and then the agreement is worthless as surely either party has the right to back out at any time.
 
Could be that she has genuinely changed her mind, but if so then she has still benefited from free schooling livery and should still be paying you for that. Unless the contract gave her the right to change her mind, I would set out a reasonable invoice for the costs you have wasted through her breach of contract (including a reasonable allocation for your time) stating that from now on you are not schooling any further, and will be charging £x per day to cover your costs for keep. Don't let her remove the horse until she has settled the invoice.

I wouldn't offer to buy it outright now unless you are prepared to live with the sweet itch as it may well be an opportunistic way of making you buy before you have witnessed the extent of the problem.

A written (or verbal) contract to buy *is* binding, regardless of whether money has changed hands, and although you would not be able to force her to go through with the sale in courts you would certainly be entitled to fair compensation for costs you have incurred acting in reliance on the contract.
 
gnubee said:
I wouldn't offer to buy it outright now unless you are prepared to live with the sweet itch as it may well be an opportunistic way of making you buy before you have witnessed the extent of the problem.
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I may be cynical, but this sprang to mind immediately. Clever way of doing it too.
 
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