FestiveFuzz
Well-Known Member
I'll try to keep this short but I'm stressing a bit about everything so bear with me if I go off on tangents a bit.
I'm due to take a horse on loan in September and will be moving her to our yard then. In the meantime I've been rather fortunate as her owner has allowed me to ride her whenever I like as she's pregnant and can no longer ride. On the whole I've been really happy with the arrangement but slowly and surely doubts have been setting in and I'm now not sure what to do.
I should probably add at this point that I was never looking to take on a loan horse and have been saving to buy a new one at the end of summer. I had been riding this horse as my friend keeps her horses at the yard and this particular horse had no rider and needed exercise. Also when I have previously had horses on loan it had always been a long term agreement i.e. for as I wanted the horse rather than a year long agreement like I have with current horse. When this was initially discussed I thought it would be absolutely fine as the horse wasn't the sort I'd usually go for, but as I've spent more time with her I've naturally found myself getting more attached and already dread the time coming when I have to give her back
A few weeks back I discovered that the horse's owner actually loans the horse from someone else and that whilst she's agreed to buy her years have passed and she still hasn't paid for her. This in itself worries me slightly as I just feel there's so much potential for something to go wrong with so many people involved. Maybe I'm just worrying unnecessarily but I just don't understand why I was misled at the start as to who owned the horse and wonder had I not asked her about it would she have told me at all?
Then today the horse went lame. Naturally I wanted to call her owner but she didn't pick up so I spent an hour and a half ringing round other people to track her down as above hosing the sore leg and checking for lumps, bumps and heat I wasn't sure what else she would want me to do and what with it not being my horse I wanted to be extra sure I'd done everything she'd want me to. This again reminded me why I like to own my horses as that way I can act on my own judgements rather than wasting time ticking boxes so to speak.
Whilst examining her leg I found a lump and when I mentioned it to the owner she said that her original vet had thought the horse has sarcoids, though a later vet said it was just a blocked gland. Obviously had I known she potentially had sarcoids I'd have said no to loaning as enough can go wrong with horses without willing taking on one with health issues. So question here is can I ask for certain exclusions to be added in to our loan agreement so for example if she developed severe sarcoids owner would have to pay vet costs as it was a pre-existing condition? Obviously I'd cover everything else but don't want to be footing the bill for something that is likely to be an insurance exclusion.
Ultimately I'm already tied as I can't really back out of the loan now but I'm just stressing about the health issues (apparently the lameness may be a recurrent issue too) and worrying about getting too attached and then having to hand her back
Strawberry cider and chocolate mousse for anyone who got this far!
I'm due to take a horse on loan in September and will be moving her to our yard then. In the meantime I've been rather fortunate as her owner has allowed me to ride her whenever I like as she's pregnant and can no longer ride. On the whole I've been really happy with the arrangement but slowly and surely doubts have been setting in and I'm now not sure what to do.
I should probably add at this point that I was never looking to take on a loan horse and have been saving to buy a new one at the end of summer. I had been riding this horse as my friend keeps her horses at the yard and this particular horse had no rider and needed exercise. Also when I have previously had horses on loan it had always been a long term agreement i.e. for as I wanted the horse rather than a year long agreement like I have with current horse. When this was initially discussed I thought it would be absolutely fine as the horse wasn't the sort I'd usually go for, but as I've spent more time with her I've naturally found myself getting more attached and already dread the time coming when I have to give her back
A few weeks back I discovered that the horse's owner actually loans the horse from someone else and that whilst she's agreed to buy her years have passed and she still hasn't paid for her. This in itself worries me slightly as I just feel there's so much potential for something to go wrong with so many people involved. Maybe I'm just worrying unnecessarily but I just don't understand why I was misled at the start as to who owned the horse and wonder had I not asked her about it would she have told me at all?
Then today the horse went lame. Naturally I wanted to call her owner but she didn't pick up so I spent an hour and a half ringing round other people to track her down as above hosing the sore leg and checking for lumps, bumps and heat I wasn't sure what else she would want me to do and what with it not being my horse I wanted to be extra sure I'd done everything she'd want me to. This again reminded me why I like to own my horses as that way I can act on my own judgements rather than wasting time ticking boxes so to speak.
Whilst examining her leg I found a lump and when I mentioned it to the owner she said that her original vet had thought the horse has sarcoids, though a later vet said it was just a blocked gland. Obviously had I known she potentially had sarcoids I'd have said no to loaning as enough can go wrong with horses without willing taking on one with health issues. So question here is can I ask for certain exclusions to be added in to our loan agreement so for example if she developed severe sarcoids owner would have to pay vet costs as it was a pre-existing condition? Obviously I'd cover everything else but don't want to be footing the bill for something that is likely to be an insurance exclusion.
Ultimately I'm already tied as I can't really back out of the loan now but I'm just stressing about the health issues (apparently the lameness may be a recurrent issue too) and worrying about getting too attached and then having to hand her back
Strawberry cider and chocolate mousse for anyone who got this far!