Loan vs buy - what would you do?

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glenruby

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Hi

I have been offered a horse on loan. The idea would be to bring him back into work and get him ready for sale as owner has never gelled with him and has no time for him anymore as has too many horses. At the moment he is on grass and owner is hoping not to have to move him into a livery yard to work him as can hack to a school from the field (though horse is difficult to hack!). The other option is that i do actually "loan" the horse and move him to a yard of my choice at my expense. Horse could be around weeks/months depending on how things go. He has quirks - is spooky x country so hasnt made the event horse he was bought to become. Lovely on the flat and showjumping, nappy to hack out. Owner feels she cant sell him with a conscience at the moment. I havent tried him yet by the way.

Now the other thing is that financially I am almost in a position to buy my own. original plan was to buy a young ISH/Connie, bring it on and probably sell it early hunting season with a few shows and hunts under his belt. then pick up an ex-racehorse to hunt and team chase and have some fun with. The only drawback is, I dont know how long I plan to stay in the country - probably another 15mths-ish and selling on an ex-racehorse may not be the easiest thing to do - especially not a team-chasing type (unless very successful!)!

I work fulltime including a lot of weekends, regularly finish work after 8pm, on call some nights etc. If I were to keep a horse at the yard of my choice then having someone to thow him a bit of grub in the evening/moring when Im on a call would not be a problem. The "loan" horse is currently at grass about 10mins from work (25 from home) so would be doable and wouldnt require having to fin time to feed etc when on call, but might be a little more difficult to fit in exercising him.

So, the question is, if the choice was yours, would you buy your own horse or loan someone elses? Your thoughts please!
 
Well if you are going to be getting the horse fit for her to then make a profit from it, I would expect her to pay a fair bit, if not all of its costs.

You say you are almost in a position to buy your own. Sounds like this could be an ideal way to get riding again, and yet continue saving on your own.

I'd go try it and see if you like it. You never know, the last pony we took on to fitten for the owners we ended up buying and keeping...
 
ex-racehorses are currently being given away free, even advertised as such so I wouldn't touch one of them. The market is horrendous so if you are not in a position to hang on to a horse for a few years, I would be either getting a free one or v. ideally loaning! (and if the loan one isn't dangerous-would be v. tempted by it!)
 
If you think you may want to move abroad in the reatvely near future I would not buy, and if loaning, get a written agreement that the horse goes back, if not suitable or you move etc. You could get very stuck, if horse injures itself or doesn't turn out to be a very saleable proposition. They are difficult enough to sell at the moment unless they are superstars or saints. I was once in your position, and did the sensible thing and passed up buying a horse that would have been very suitable. Was worried that may not be able to sell when I wanted. I really missed having my own horse to ride, as the hired alternatives were not such a pleasure to ride. Even more upsetting, as our move was delayed for some months. I did the right thing, at least I didn't have my money tied up in a horse I couldn't sell and furthermore didn't have to pay full livery once I had left.
 
Divasmum - thats partly what Im thinking. So i think i will try this guy out, if hes amenable and a nice ride in general then I may give him a go and just pick up a racehorse later on.
Yes racehorses are going free/cheap (I personally wouldnt pay for one - unless it had an affiliated competition history) which is partly why I am looking for one. can give it a good home and probably could keep it even if i go travelling (would have to send it to ireland though).

Missbird - the "loan" agreement is a loose one - basically its up to me whether she pays for him or i do. Where he is now is probably workable. Ideally she would like to loan him to someone but understands that is unlikely. the alternative if i dont want him is to sned him to a trainer to school and sell. Any profit would go to me anyway. but she would just be ahppy if she could get back what she paid for him - i dont know how much this is but he was a green just backed horse when she got him and is now very well schooled (though out of work a few mths) just not brave enough to event really.
The only thing if I were to loan him would be that i would essentially be spending money on him that i could be saving towards the horse i eventually buy (or the car Il need to buy atthe end of the year!).
Think i may go and try him and see how things go. i have had plenty of offers of horses to ride since ive moved here, I just cant seem to organise my time to make it work on a regular basis- would be much easier if it were my own as its hard to work my schedule around anyone elses.
 
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