I will never loan again

[peaceandquiet1]

Their vet believed that the acute pain episode was all orthopaedic related but not laminitis, he did not diagnose the kidney infection that the loaner said he had, and I will have her assessed by my own vet next week. So not really any the wiser and probably going to be a lot poorer! I expect they will try to make me pay their bill, as the loan was conditional that they would not be liable for associated costs of the re-occurrence of the previous injury, unfortunately its taken a month of vet visits and no real diagnosis. Instead of a "oops she is lame on the known leg, please take her home."

 

[Tickles]

OP I really hope it works out for your pony.

Re: loan vs sell though think how much worse this wd be if you found out what was/wasn't happening but could do nothing becasue pony wasn't yours anymore. There are probably as many bad buying as loaning homes, it is just people don't as often know what happens to the animals they sell.

 

[PucciNPoni]

hmmmm, I own a horse that is on loan with a friend. We keep in touch very regularly and so far my friend think the mare is great. If I have issue with the way she is being managed I'm not afraid to speak up. The mare has issues of her own and that my friend can manage these and the fact that we have open dialog keeps the arguments at bay.

I also have a horse on loan - I didn't know the owner previously but I have given her loads of references (including my YO who the owner knows well). The owner and I keep in touch - and in fact she offered to come groom for me at a recent show. I would like to think this is the beginning of a new friendship and we both adore the horse. The horse had been sold previously and she bought him back in a terrible state. So as a result, the owner is very concerned about horse's well being so at first was probably not too sure about the whole loaning thing or about loaning to a stranger. So far it's working out well (only been six months) and I don't see any reason things should change. I'm a big enough girl to be open and honest with the owner of the horse and have made it perfectly clear that she is not only welcome to stop in to visit, announced or not.

 

[ladyt25]

I am very sorry to hear your loan experience is not a good one. However, all I can say is there are more good loanees than bad BUT you are never going to hear about all the good stories as it doesn't make for such good reading does it!

I have loaned out my pony twice and both times to great loan homes. The loans ended for genuine reasons, no issues at all. I also loaned a pony from the age of 10 til about 13 and had years of fun on him. I later loaned a pony and that went very well. the owner never rode him, he was kept at a livery yard and really she knew nothing about him at all. He was really quite poorly when we got him but, over the few months we had him he flourished. The owner then moved south and offerd to sell him to us except she wanted a fair bit of money for him given his age at the time so we decided against buying him 9i will forever regret this)

To cut a very long story short we returned him via a transporter arranged by his owner - the journey would take about 5 hours and he was not a good traveller. The owner did not accompany him. Upon arrival we received a call from her accusing us of neglecting him as he'd arrived in such a state and was thin (I wouldn't mind but she had visited him and ridden him whilst he was with us so knew his health had vastly improved and he'd gained plenty of weight). IF she had known 1 thing abut her own pony she'd have known he stressed when travelling and indeed being anywhere alone, you couldn't put him in a stable for 5 mins without company without him stressing. he would drop weight through stress and she woud have never arranged to travel him over that period of time. i learnt this within a very short time of knowing him.

So, all in all that loan DID end badly and no doubt we were painted as 'bad loanees' but we definitely were not and I regret ever sending him back to a 'owner' who clearly did not really care or know anything about him at all!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I let a BHSI have mine on summer loan. He was on working livery at equestrian college at the time and she was staff there.

She told me that she wanted him for the summer so her novice friend could have him to learn to ride on. We also agreed (verbally) that I could ride him say two or three times a week as the hacking at the yard she was taking him to was absolutely stunning and was where I'd ridden as a child.

Anyway, towards the end of term (after which she'd have him on summer loan) she promised that she'd have the loan agreement ready for me to sign before he left the yard. Then one day I went over to the yard just to see him, only to be told by one of the other staff that "he'd gone on summer loan". I didn't know where the yard was specifically, only the general area, and I hadn't been given the chance to sign any loan agreement before he'd left the yard!! And this was a BHSI who should have known better.

Anyway, when I eventually got to see him, I found that one of her relatives had showed up and wanted to ride, as well as the "friend", and I was only allowed to ride him when she said so. I had to negotiate hard, but was only permitted one half day a week to ride/see my own horse.

Because he was going back to the equine college in the autumn, I didn't want to make a fuss coz I didn't want to (a) create problems for my horse and (b) or myself really coz this person was one of the instructors there and I would have had to deal with her regularly and didn't want the ill-feeling. But realise now I should have told her that she wasn't having him coz we hadn't signed any agreement, and should have got some transport organised and taken him to another yard PDQ.

She also let his sweet itch get well out of hand coz he was turned out without his mask on, and was in an awful, awful state for the rest of the autumn. My poor boy.

I also had "mummy" breathing down my neck & all over me like a rash - I only saw him for the half day per week and she never ever let me alone with him. I think she was jealous, that's the only way I can see the way she behaved.

So no, I'd never, ever let anyone have my boy again. Like I say this person was a very highly qualified person and should have known much better than to take a horse away from a yard without any loan agreement being in place. Unbelievable.

 

[Kellys Heroes]

Oh my God OP I hope your horse makes a full recovery I part loan Kelly and she has come down with lami and a seizure (of unknown cause) whilst in my care for those days. I immediately rang her owner who advised me on to whether or not to call out the vet. She's now 65% recovered coming back into work and there is just getting her fitness back and getting her fully back into work and I've been there every day for her even when she was on box rest (I learnt to french plait!)
We're not all bad
its just the few people who couldn't give a damn that ruin the rep for the rest of us
K x

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Am inclined to agree. My girl hasn't been mistreated thank god, but it has turned a little bitter in the end, and I am picking her up next week. It has been so so stressful, that I really don't want to do it again. :/

 

[milesjess]

I've part loaned 3 horses in total and never had any issues. All were well cared for and treated as my own.

Finally I'm at the stage where I can buy my own now instead of loaning.

I think if you find a genuine person who is honest and reliable you can find the perfect home for any horse... But let's face it, not many honest people are around these days!

Sorry to hear of your bad experience, as mentioned a small minority ruin it for everyone else, but there are good loaners out there.

It's very interesting to hear of everyone's experiences when it comes to loaning.

 

[noblesteed]

Poor pony hope he gets better.

I was a good loaner, my loan mare went lame and I went AGAINST owners wishes (she said mare would be fine, just a bit stiff etc) and I called the vet out. Turned out she needed an op which my insurance paid for, me paying all additional costs. 6 months after the op, building up to walking out 20 mins twice a day (which I did despite working full time in a school in special measures), she was ready to be turned out.
As soon as she found out mare was on the mend the owner turned up in a borrowed horsebox with a load of mates and took her back.
The mare has since been up for loan at least 4 times that I have seen advertised since I bought my gelding.
I will never loan a horse again!!!