Lame horse on trial.

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navaho

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We took a little gelding on trial for my partner nearly 5 weeks ago, it became apparent within the first week of having him that he wasnt right, i should add that we didnt try him when we viewed him as she had hurt her leg & couldnt ride & i just hurt my arm so we both agreed to a trial of 1 month. I took him out on the road & i felt he was nodding a little in walk & when i pushed him into trot he was definitely lame. I contacted the girl who we had him from & she said it was because he didnt have shoes on (why let a horse out on trial without shoes if you know it needs to have them?). We agreed that we would pay to put shoes on & if he was still lame that she would give us the money back for the shoes, which is fair enough. Anyway in between waiting for the farrier we decided to try him in the sand school, as my way of thinking is if hes just footy because he didnt have shoes he should be fine in the school.....nope still lame. Spoke to my farrier about it & he agreed if he was just being footy he should be fine in the school & in the field, which hes not. I contacted the owner again & explained everything to her & asked her to have him back, well needless to say the horse is still here with no sign of going back. I think she feels weve not been very fair on him, but i dont think im being unreasonable in expecting the horse to at least be field sound without shoes, i just feel like id be buying into trouble & all that asides he is quite aggressive in the field if he thinks your going to catch him & was very nappy in the school, id put all those down to the fact hes not happy with being ridden at all. My otherhalf is moaning because the horse is still here & we are paying for a field ornament (we have our own field ornaments without adding more) & i cant get the girl to pick him up, we cant take him back as our trailer is off the road at the moment.
All in all i dont know what to do & shes making no effort to collect him, i think because shes hoping ill put shoes on him & prove her right & he'll be sound, maybe im wrong & he will be fine with shoes on, i just cant see it myself
Anyway sorry for the moan, just need to let off a little steam.
 
You want rid- hire a lorry and take it back.

Who has a horse on trial without even riding it first?

Could be that his feet and so badly bruised that any form of movement on them was painful? Did you get shoes on it?
 
I tried all this barefoot malarkey a few years ago. I found that even in the school and field both my horses were still footy. Now they are both shod there are no problems. It might be worth having shoes on to see if it makes a difference. If not, then send him back.
 
Well, I suppose taking a horse on trial is a sensible way of finding out what it is like before you buy it. You've given it a go, the horse is not what you want, so I'd be sending it back.
Can you not hire a trailer / box or get someone else to transport it for you?

Sounds like the owner doesn't really want it back - which would be ringing all sorts of alarm bells to me (if my lad was on trial wvtb and he was lame, I'd be fetching him back pronto).
 
Send the horse back I took on a horse on a loan with a view to buy, he was to compete on as my other boy was not safe enough to take out and also for new horse to accompany my boy to shows as he was young when he was safe to go out :)
The boy on trial was on the yard I was previously a livery and staff on. I knew the horse had been out on the lwvb on a couple of occasions and had heard he kept going lame, I asked the owners about this, they said they were jealous as they could not afford the actual cost of the horse
I decided to try him and had nothing to lose as it was a 6 month trial, once I started working him I noticed he went lame. I had the vet out for my horses vacs and asked her to look at horse on trial, she looked at him and asked i take it this is the horse you have booked in for vetting next month, I decided a month and a vetting was long enough to show any problems
Her next statement was I'll save you the cost of the vetting I will not pass this horse without c rays I am 99% certain the lameness is due to navicular :(
I was gutted but knew deep down she was right I called the owners and told them what had gone on and horse was lame
They refused to take him back and called my vet screaming and searing at her how sh@t she was :(
The refusal to take horse back went on for two weeks untill I called my old yard were the owners of the horse I had on trial had there others and asked yo if there was a stable for him and could she kindly go and let them know that I would be up to the yard with horse at x time and he will then be back in there care :(
An hour later they turned up on the yard to collect the horse
You need to be really firm and insist they take the horse back if thts what you want good luck
 
Write to the owner and tell her if the horse is not collected by x date then you will turn it over to the RSPCA or similar as an abandoned animal.

Sounds like she's using you as free livery for an unsound horse.
 
Yes i know it was stupid to take him without trying him, but to be honest i wasnt worried as she was happy to let him come on trial & i felt that would show up more issues that taking him out on a short hack at hers. In all honesty if any of you had a horse that was lame in the field & in the school, admittedly hes only slightly lame under these circumstances, but would any of you bother putting shoes on? I just think its a total waste of my farriers time & effort, which the vet & farrier also agree with.
The long & short of it is im not prepared to spend anymore money on him, trailer hire & diesel to take him home would come in in excess of £100 which im not happy to spend. The horse is lame she needs to pick him up, shes got plenty of people on her yard she could ask to collect him.
While i was replying to this she has just sent me a message to say his stable has gone at her yard & she cant have him back & do i want a longer trial.....aaaarrrgh!!
 
It could be that he is a bit footsore even in the field or school when being ridden (although that would be slighly worrying) and needs shoes on to really see if he is sound or not.

However, since you find him difficult in other areas, then just send him back. You had him on trial and you have decided not to buy. Simple.

You did have a written agreement, didn't you?

I agree with the others that you are going to have to be really firm about this and give the owner a deadline. Like someone I know sent a novice eventer to a well known rider (retired now, but still a well known name) on trial as a potential Intermediate and above.
After a couple of weeks trial the rider rang up the owner, said the horse wasn't suitable and if they didn't collect it by .......... she would turn it loose onto the road and take no responsibility for it. Nice!
 
To be honest, I think the owner was very fair and trusting to let you have the horse on trial, it's very rare for an owner to do that. It's entirely possible that he'll be sound if shod but it sounds to me like you've already made your mind up you don't like the horse.

Surely the least you can do is return him at your own expense?
 
Box him up and take him back - it really is quite simple.

The long & short of it is im not prepared to spend anymore money on him, trailer hire & diesel to take him home would come in in excess of £100 which im not happy to spend. The horse is lame she needs to pick him up, shes got plenty of people on her yard she could ask to collect him.
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Oh for goodness sake!
 
Flicker said:
Well, I suppose taking a horse on trial is a sensible way of finding out what it is like before you buy it. You've given it a go, the horse is not what you want, so I'd be sending it back.
Can you not hire a trailer / box or get someone else to transport it for you?

Sounds like the owner doesn't really want it back - which would be ringing all sorts of alarm bells to me (if my lad was on trial wvtb and he was lame, I'd be fetching him back pronto).
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I agree with this.
Can you not hire transport? I would want him to go back sooner rather than later.
 
navaho said:
Yes i know it was stupid to take him without trying him, but to be honest i wasnt worried as she was happy to let him come on trial & i felt that would show up more issues that taking him out on a short hack at hers. In all honesty if any of you had a horse that was lame in the field & in the school, admittedly hes only slightly lame under these circumstances, but would any of you bother putting shoes on? I just think its a total waste of my farriers time & effort, which the vet & farrier also agree with.
The long & short of it is im not prepared to spend anymore money on him, trailer hire & diesel to take him home would come in in excess of £100 which im not happy to spend. The horse is lame she needs to pick him up, shes got plenty of people on her yard she could ask to collect him.
While i was replying to this she has just sent me a message to say his stable has gone at her yard & she cant have him back & do i want a longer trial.....aaaarrrgh!!
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Don't be so tight.

Do right by the horse, either put some shoes on him and give him a chance or hire transport and return him to the owner.

Count yourself lucky you got the chance of a trial, not many would be prepared to do that.
 
Yes i would bother putting shoes on a horse I wanted to BUY. You can not think much of this animal if you can not even be bothered to have it shod to see if it makes a difference.
 
I only mentioned having him shod because with some horses it really can make all the difference. My horse went out on loan many years ago and the fruitcakes who had him on loan decided to take him barefoot and that's where the problems started. A few phone calls from them regarding the horse being lame and alarm bells started ringing. I arranged transport, sent him to Chine House where they diagnosed lameness because feet had been cut too short, I had him shod and he was fine. I also spent £500 on transport and vets fees etc. I think you've got off lightly if all you've got to spend is £100. Good grief, it would have cost you more than that for a vetting.
 
Clippy said:
To be honest, I think the owner was very fair and trusting to let you have the horse on trial, it's very rare for an owner to do that. It's entirely possible that he'll be sound if shod but it sounds to me like you've already made your mind up you don't like the horse.

Surely the least you can do is return him at your own expense?
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Its not that i dont like the horse, if he was sound & wasnt a problem being ridden then he would have a home here with us. However if the vet & farrier think he would still be lame with shoes...& infact nearly everyone else ive spoken to is in agreement, then i dont want to keep him. Ive been put in a difficult situation now & its not as straight forward as taking him home now as shes now told me shes lost his space on the yard, knowing full well that i wanted her to take him back. I asked her to have him back about 2 weeks after we had him, hes now been with us for 5 weeks. I feel like ive been had if im honest, shes getting free livery for a horse that she probably knew full well she cant sell.

I did also have a contract written up between us, all it said was that i was having him on trial for one month & the date the trial started & what tack he came with. At the end of the day maybe i am being unreasonable wanting her to collect him, i dont know, but that is all neither here nor there now shes got nowhere to take him back to. If you had a horse on trial & knew full well it was coming home would you not ensure you had somewhere to take it to?
 
I'm sure she'll find somewhere quick enough when you tell he what date he'll be landing on her doorstep ;)
 
Oliver12 said:
I only mentioned having him shod because with some horses it really can make all the difference. My horse went out on loan many years ago and the fruitcakes who had him on loan decided to take him barefoot and that's where the problems started. A few phone calls from them regarding the horse being lame and alarm bells started ringing. I arranged transport, sent him to Chine House where they diagnosed lameness because feet had been cut too short, I had him shod and he was fine. I also spent £500 on transport and vets fees etc. I think you've got off lightly if all you've got to spend is £100. Good grief, it would have cost you more than that for a vetting.
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Was yours footy in the field without shoes on? This is my problem, if someone actually said to me they had one like this then id be prepared to try him with shoes, but everyone ive talked to have said he should be field sound without shoes, including the farrier & vet.
 
my horse was very footy without shoes a couple of years ago even in the field, i would watch him and cry so i got the farrier out the next day and got shoes put on. he improved straight away.

he was lame in one front leg but was footy in all his hooves. the shoes helped him in that case so if it was me i'd try the shoes.
maybe he's being naughty/difficult to ride because he's hurting?
 
Just an aside, did you agree who was responsible for transporting the horse back if he proved to be unsuitable?

Did you pay to transport him to your yard initially or did the horse owner do it for free?

If the latter I do think you should at least offer to go halves on transporting him home but to be honest, if you want him off the yard then you will have to bite the bullet, book and pay for his transport and inform the owner the date he will be delivered to her.
 
I think you should give the horse a chance and put some shoes on it. Were you expecting it to remain unshod while you had it on loan? Had it been in any work with the old owner? If not then yes it probably does need shoes.

My mare has never had shoes on but with all this unseasonal dry weather she and several other horses I know personally and on here have gone very footy.

Give the horse a chance or hire a lorry and take it straight back.
 
Ive been put in a difficult situation now & its not as straight forward as taking him home now as shes now told me shes lost his space on the yard, knowing full well that i wanted her to take him back.
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That is not your problem.

Phone her and tell her the day and time you will be delivering the horse back.
 
Even though we've had a bit of rain, the ground is still very hard and lots of horses will be footy or lame without shoes.

IF he were sound, would you buy him?
 
This does sound like a mess....for the horse mostly, but anyway.

I think you have a responsibility to return him yourself, whatever the cost.

I would not dream of taking a horse on trial and expect the vendor to pay the transport cost. This should be factored in by the potential purchaser as a possible cost of a trial not working out....you trial has not worked out...for whatever reason, so you should return him.

At this point argueing about who picks him up is not going to get him back to his owner quickly, just prolong and complicate things further....all the while time is passing.

Phone her up, tell her that you will be returning him to the yard you collected him from, on a certain date and time and that you expect her to be there to receive him. Give her 48 hours notice. Back it up in email/ letter so as it is written notice.

Then do it.

It is not up to you to ensure he has a stable or not, that is her problem....I am sure this is simply excuses anyway to avoid collecting him.
 
The owner has let you have the horse on trial in good faith - you dont want the horse - you should take it back. Seems clear enough.
 
This is a tricky one , as spaniel above says , the owner has let you have the horse in good faith - or has she , now her livery space has gone , it makes you wonder if she hadn't been asked to move the horse , maybe she didn't pay her livery bill , hence the fact that the boy didn't have shoes on? For the sake of this horse it would be nice if you could actually speak to her , maybe ask tactfully if she's looking for a new place for him or if shes having money problems. Maybe if you came to an agreement that he could be a field ornament at yours until she's sorted something out , and in the meantime you could put a bit of your hard earned cash to getting your own trailer up and running which will be a benefit for you in the long term and you can ship the boy back.
 
Clippy said:
Even though we've had a bit of rain, the ground is still very hard and lots of horses will be footy or lame without shoes.

IF he were sound, would you buy him?
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Exactly!

I do find it odd that she let her horse go on trial without seeing how he would be ridden - she can't think much of him or maybe was relieved his unsoundness wouldn't be seen beforehand!

So if your written agreement said you would have him for 1 months trial and you have now had him for 5 weeks, how did you agree he would be returned if it didn't work out?

The fact she has lost her stable is irrelevant to you TBH.
 
To me it sounds like the owner cant afford the horse- he needs shoes but doesnt have any one, would guess he has been standing in a field doing nothing and is now being sold.

If you like everything else about him ?? why not just try giving him a week incase his feet are bruised,try fronts and keep to the school bringing him back to work gently for a few weeks.

If the owner has lost his stable and cant afford him you could make her a silly offer and get something good.

I dont understand also why you farrier is telling you not to bother unless he is hopping lame and needs a vet or the farrier knows somthing you dont ??

The ground is very hard, my boy isnt lame but noticed him dragging his back feet on the odd stride last week in the field.

I see your options as you either give him shoes and a few weeks more or hire a trailer and take him back. The seller has been very good in letting you have him on trial but surely that tells you that she doesnt really want him anylonger or cant afford him so will try and get out of having him back ....

I dont know of many who would give a horse they love and care about on loan to a complete stranger with no decent agreement in place and not jump to get it back when requested to.
 
I don't think you are being unreasonable in that you have the horse on trial and for whatever reason if a horse is on trial then he should be able to be returned if the sale doesn't go through for whatever reason.

Yes I feel sorry for the horse beign passed around and heaven knows what will happen to him if he goes back to this girl who doesn't sound like she wants him or can keep him. She is probably in some dire straights herself. But at the end of the day it is your perogative to return him during the trial period.
 
SEVERAL people on this thread have said they have footy bare foot horses even in the FIELD.

You basically have 2 soptions- put shoes on it, and see.
Hire transport and take it back

Have you paid for this horse yet?
 
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