legal advise/ loan agreement

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florrie25

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Help! Im looking for some advise, Last year i brought a horse that turned out to have arthritis in 3 legs, after much treatment i decided to find him a home as a light hack/ companion as he was unable to cope with the work i wanted to do with him. I advertised him and found a lady who wasnt willing to pay for him but would rather spend the money on mantaining his treatment and offer him a loving forever home. After meeting her and seeing her livery yard decided to give him away for free to a good home as the situation seemed ideal. On taking him to her home she asked if she could loan his brand new saddle for 2 weeks with the agreement (unfortunately only verbally with witnesses) that i would keep ownership/passport of the horse and would return in 2 weeks to exchange payment for the saddle for the passport. The arranged meeting was cancelled due to her daughter being ill and instead a bank transfer was to arranged and once i had received the money i would send the passport. The money was never transferred and i spent 2 weeks trying to get hold of the new owners with no reply. Eventually they contacted him and said that the daughter had been very ill and required expensive treatment and could she pay for the saddle in instalments. Again because of her situation I agreed to this. Again no payment was made. I spend another few weeks trying to contact her leaving messages and even contacting there livery yard owner! Eventually i received a message to say that they can not longer afford to keep the horse or pay for the saddle. I suggested that i come and see them and talk face to face, collect the saddle and she can arrange for the horse to be transported back to me. This was met with abusive messages and that she had found a new home for the horse. She won't arrange a meeting and from what i understand from the livery yard owner the horse has been moved to a new unknown yard. I wondered if any one had any advise on how i stand legally as i can't see that the situation is going to be easily resolved
 
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The horse you gave away so that's that. Sounds to me like she's sold it, probably never intended to keep it. Probably sold your saddle with the horse and never intended to pay you for it. It's easy enough for people to get a new passport. She's stolen the saddle but I think your chances of getting it back are zero and unless it was worth thousands its probably not worth the hassle of court either, since even if you win it doesn't guarantee payment. Sorry :(
 
I suspect Sugar & Spice is correct.

It doesnt' help you, but I am always amazed at people who give horses away to people who 'seem nice' and then are surprised when it goes wrong. Con men(women) and normally charming by definition.

So here is a plea to anyone loaning their horse. If you don't know the person, however 'nice' they are, take references, you are giving away a horse you have a duty of care to for goodness sake. Employer, vet, farrier, neighbour, whoever, just do a bit a of research beforehand and don't be embarrassed to ask. If you can't be bothered to do that, then have the horse PTS.
 
Hmm. My first (and probably only!) concern at this point would be to locate the horse to ensure he was in a loving home,being well cared for. In fact,I wouldn't be able to sleep at night until I'd established this-I'd ask questions of anyone and everyone and track the horse down. If happy& well cared for,I'd leave him be,if not,I'd offer to buy back(if indeed they have bought him) so I could properly secure his future. Legally,in regard to the rest of it,I think you're shafted. But seeing as the whole shaky/dodgy situation has fallen apart anyway(she does sound a
complete con artist) I'd be trying to at least mitigate the sorry saga by locating the horse-you do not mention that as part of your concerns?
 
First of all try to locate the horse. Then try to find out where these people live. Once you have an address contact the 'Land Registry' and pay for a 'Search' on thier property, it will cost about £4 on line. You will then find out if they own the property. If they do it will come up if they own it outright or there is a 'Charge' on the property, this means a lending company i.e a Bank will still own the property BUT you can take them to Court and put a 'Charge' yourself on the property. This means she will have to pay you back monies owed even in instalments. If she fails you go back to Court and you could force the sale of the House. If the value is below 5K you can go through the small claims court, if over 5K you still can go to Court but the fee will increase either way you can do it yourself. BUT this depends on the value of the horse, you say its stiff in its legs?

A warning to people out there, if you have an old or lame horse, you can no longer keep, the kindest thing you can do is have it pts. THEN you will know where it is and you will never worry again of its whereabouts or if its being looked after.
 
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