How long would you allow your horse to go on trial to be sold

C

cariadssogreat

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 June 2006
Messages
1,136
Location
The great english countryside!
Visit site
As much as my gut instinct tells me not to do it! The people live a distance away and would like a trial to be sure that the pony is what they are looking for. They have ridden her and had her vetted - but are asking for a month. My feeling is that a fortnight is more like it. What do you think?
 
I would never ever consider letting my horse go on trial...especially not for a month. You hear too many horra stories of them being messed up or disappearing...sorry but please think long and hard before doing this as you have no control once your horse is gone.
It is just my opinion but I don't agree with the whole trial thing anyway...you don't have a trial of a house or car before you commit so why a horse? That is part of the risk of buying anything in my opinion.
 
Personally I would never put a horse out on trial. They have had her vetted and ridden her and that is that. Trials can be disasterous. Your pony might take quite a time to settle into her new home (mares especially can take a while to adjust) and might not behave exactly the same as she does with you. What happens if she injures herself - you could end up taking a lame pony back. Who would be responsible for the transport costs if she has to come back. I wouldn't do it. Unless you specifically stated that you would consider a trial period, I would tell them no.
 
I had Ellie on loan for a month but I knew the girl I was loaning from and Ellie stayed at the girl's yard. (It took me a month you see to persuade hubby it was a good idea!
smirk.gif
)

I personally wouldn't let my horse out of my sight. Could they not come to stay for a few days/week? If not then I would say sorry not on your nelly
grin.gif
 
I had this same dilema and everyone told me not to do it but I did. I sent mine on a months trial but wrote up a full loan agreement and visited once and sometimes twice a week ( I was lucky they lived only half an hour away)
It worked really well and she did buy him.
I checked out where he was going and arranged to meet them 3/4 times before he went. I hacked out with them from my yard and spent a bit of time getting to know them. I also boxed out other horse over to them and hacked out from their yard.
It worked well for me but obviously you do hear horror stories!!

Good luck
 
TBh it depends on whether you think they are the right people for the pony (would you give them the pony for free, if the home is most important). It also depends on the pony, two weeks is ample time to get the idea. I sold my daughters pony last year for a huge reduction in price because I was happy with the new people, first they took her a two week trial, and we had already discussed payment etc.
What they must do is insure the pony for everything and you should have a formal agreement signed by both partys.
Go with your gut instinct.
confused.gif

ETS COuld you ask for references from the yard they would keep the pony at or from their PC?
 
I would bever consider a trial as had a really bad experience with one of our ponies. If you are 100% confident that the pony is everything you say then draw up a contract stating what the pony is, does and any quirks (if any). A month is a long time and there is always a settling in period where most ponies or horses 'try it on' to some degree and can have people chucking them on a lorry and bringing them back faster than you can say 'it's not what were looking for!'
 
Well I had one of mine on a week's trial before buying him which was long enough to have him assessed by everyone I wanted to check him out before I bought him (he was about 1 hour's drive away from where we lived).

Why don't you propose that they buy him off you, but insure him etc etc and if after 1 month if they are not happy they can return him to you and you will refund their money? If they've had him vetted then they are presumably serious about buying him.
 
I agree with PennyJ, they should pay you for him with an agreement in place that if he doesnt prove suitable he can be returned within 1 or 2 weeks (no more). I think thats long enough. I have had a trial of every horse I have ever bought so it worked for me (and the sellers!). But I do think they need to part with the cash before you go ahead with the trial
 
I have loaned horses out with a view to buy (6 months)..the horse came back at the end of it but none the worse for the experience, and I have had a horse on trial before buying, she was unusual though and had lots of issues - we needed to be sure that we could make some headway with her before committing to a purchase..that also worked well and I did buy her.

I would say if your horse/pony is nothing out of the ordinary (in terms of problems) and doesn't need especially skilled handling then there should be no need for a loan..my two examples were of quite challenging horses that might otherwise not have sold at all
 
[ QUOTE ]
Wouldn't put it on trial full stop.

[/ QUOTE ]

totally agree.

i have NEVER seen the point of trials...either you want the horse or you don't.
 
Would never give horse on trial again - last horse came back broken after a trial - 12 weeks box rest, and another 8 weeks off before he came sound.....
 
I sent a pony out on trial for 2 weeks (dont normally like to do trials) it worked out great they fell in love with him, i went out to see him twice, and he was doing wonderfully.

I think it would be best if you are going to send your horse out on trial to ask for payment first as you hear of so many stolen while out on trial by the 'buyers'
 
Maybe what you could do is sell him, but with a 'buy back' clause. This would have to be watertight, and their refund would depend on the pony being in good health etc. You could agree to give them 95% of the purchase price back, to cover your costs.
 
[ QUOTE ]
i have NEVER seen the point of trials...either you want the horse or you don't.

[/ QUOTE ]

why not? I had three horses on trial before Louis and thank god I did! One was fantastic when I tried it, had a lesson on it, jumped it and hacked a few times then got it home for a 2 wk trial and it was such a nervous wreck we couldn't even get it out the stable! It was scared of it's own shadow! I perervered for 2 wks but it just got worse...thank god I didn't buy it! Second one was fantastic, jumped like a star and I had a few lessons on it, got it home for two wk trial and found out that it was incredibly aggressive to other horses out on hacks (lots of threatening kicks and stamping) which meant I had to stay away from every one else...not ideal! I had Louis on a 2 wk trial and even though he was a little Loopy I fell in love with him
grin.gif


When I sold my first horse he went for a wks trial. The girl who bought him came and hacked and rode him numerous times and then wanted to buy him. I told her to take him on trial for 2 wks to see how they got on. I wanted to make sure they were 100% right for eachother as I wanted him to go to the best home.
 
I wouldn't allow my horse out on trial. However I would consider letting someone come to my yard.

I did have one of mine on trial for two weeks before I bought him but he was slightly lame on the day of vetting & the trial period was to see if that got better or worse.

I was also on a yard that was about 5 miles away from the owners house
 
I just wouldn't do it. Interesting how often I see buyers being advised to ask for a trial because "if a seller is genuine, they will give one"!!! To many things can go wrong, what if they mistreat or hammer the horse, it develops a behavioural or physical problem and they decide not to proceed on that basis. Plus even where everything else is going well, getting money out of people once they have the horse can be difficult, annoying and stressful (been there with a 'friend', won't go there again). I know several people whose buyers didn't pay when agreed and money came in drips over long periods.

I'd give a potential buyer the opportunity to come and ride the horse at my place as often as they wanted for a period. Maybe two weeks, beyond that, I'd be telling them that if another buyer came along, they would have to make a decision.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe what you could do is sell him, but with a 'buy back' clause. This would have to be watertight, and their refund would depend on the pony being in good health etc. You could agree to give them 95% of the purchase price back, to cover your costs.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good idea Sooty.

I'd not let a horse go on trial but I would let someone come and try a horse as many times as they liked at my yard.
 
nah - never again
had problems - one horse wasnt paid for and came back with pulled tendon, i lost loads of money
another one took me two years to get some money out of the buyers.
So never never again, I had contracts blah blah blah
they are not worth the paper they are written on
the phase "cant get blood out of a stone" springs to mind
when it goes wrong you can lose everything - money and the horse
 
I had a horse on trial and it worked out fine. They offered us a month but we didn't need that long. It also gives you a better chance to 'vet' the prospective owners.
 
I'd never give a horse on trial unless it was to someone I knew well and it would depend on the horse. On the other hand when I was looking for a new horse I got the first one I liked on trial but I did know the people, it was the middle of winter and they had no facilities except a bog of a field so unless I could try her properly I wasn't interested. Unfortunately she failed the vet so I went looking for another one. I went and saw one advertised in the paper 2 hours away and really liked her, the people offered to give her on trial to me (I didn't even ask!) for as long as I liked so I went and collected her and took her home, the only contact we had for each other was a mobile number. I did ask whether they wanted to see where she was going or get a reference but they were happy enough- I must've made a good impression!! They didn't come to the vetting either which she passed and only came to see where she was when it came to exchanging money. Luckily I take very good care of all my animals and especially mind the ones I have on trial- turned out individually etc. but the first day I had her on trial she decided to pop out over a 1.30 fence to get into one of the ponies- thats when I decided I wanted her!!
 
I might give a week - but no longer. I would also state what type of reasons were good enough for the pony 'not being suitable'. I put my pony on trial for 2 weeks - she came back with laminitis - not good!
A month is a long time - especially as then you may get her back and then start having to re-advertise etc!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top