Loaning - A warning from Horsewatch

[PeterNatt]

The parents among you will know the old saying “There comes a time when you’ve got to let them go”. Thankfully, for our offspring, this merely means cutting the apron strings and letting them make their own way in the world. However, the same saying has a completely different meaning for horse-owners and a great many owners find it too unbearable to contemplate – so they put their animals on loan instead.

If you have such a strong emotional attachment and morale sense of duty to your old horse or pony that you feel they deserve a new home you should be prepared to commit to dedicating as much time to selecting and monitoring an appropriate loan home as you would to their last day on earth. Get references, verify them, get to know the loanee, if needs be do your own research on them, sometimes the internet can be quite revealing, draw up a contract, you can write your own or get a solicitor to draw one up for you, have the contract witnessed, visit your horse regularly and keep in touch. If you can’t find the time or inclination to do this for your old faithful friend you have to ask yourself if loaning is really for you?

Safe loaning is not a quick-fix, short-term solution to be used as a substitute for making the final decision over your horse’s future. Even with the best will in the world you could still fall foul of unscrupulous characters. One such unfortunate family have set up a website to log all the horses missing on loan in Britain in tribute to their two old horses. You can read their sad story and log your own missing horse here http://missinghorsesonloan.webs.com/

 

[kerilli]

having loaned before, I totally agree. please be aware that some people treat a loan horse as they would a company car - "it didn't cost me anything, so i don't have to take good care of it". very sad but unfortunately true.

 

[bailey14]

How very sad that those lovely mares ended up being slaughtered and how amazing that it happened despite them being registered stolen, freezemarked and ID chipped. Someone somewhere fell very short on letting this happen.

 

[DebbieCG]

Not sure of the actual circumstances of these two poor mares (and their owner) ie whether these mares were issued with new 'false' passports after they went missing by the unscrupulous 'loanee', but I think it is about time the Government made it compulsory for abbottoirs to check if horses that arrive at their final destination are stolen or not - I think that is one way to help the terrible issue of horse theft and horses missing on loan.

 

[Cuffey]

This is the story
The whole episode makes a nonsense of preventing bute getting into the food chain
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/276159.html

 

[brighteyes]

I'm on with preparing a pony and her loan family with the 'transfer of care' and she's going to a lovely home not too far away, so I will keep a close eye on things. I agree wholeheartedly with your comments and find I am over-cautious whereas the horses and ponies which have come to us have been sent with minimum scrutiny of our 'home', no contract (unless I have drawn it up and urged signing) and the blind faith we will do right by their animals.

I'm proud to say think I am a better than average type of loaner and the loan horses we regard as privileges (rather than company cars) and want for nothing. I get a feeling our pony on outward loan will be similarly nurtured and I'm not leaving any of it to chance!

 

[Baggybreeches]

I quite agree, I only have good loaning experience from both sides, but thats probably because I am upfront about what I want from a horse and a loaner/loanee.
Communication is the key.
I am always prepared to take a horse back instantly rather than risk somebody losing interest or being out of their depth.
We all know the Passport scheme like every other piece of ridiculous legislation introduced by this government is a farce, so I fail to see why people are surprised when it fails. Are we surprised when a maverick gunman hasn't got a firearms license? No, because the law only applies to those that obey it.

 

[trundle]

I have just taken a horse on loan. Her owners came to visit my yard before agreeing to the loan, plus I gave them a copy of my passport, and my council tax bill so they had proof of my identity and my address. We have a written contract as well.

 

[gails]

I agree, I wish I had done more homework and trusted my gut instinct, unfourtunatly my stupidness was Dexters downfall, all I can do now is make it up to him ( which he making full advantage of).

Well said brighteyses, and that is exactly the way I wanted him to be treated, if I did not give a fig what happened to him I would have sold him ,but I still wanted him, just could not devote the amount of time to him as I had a new baby, I thought that people who loaned would treat him extra special, but in my experience unfourtuantly that did not happen, the only saving grace is that he was loaned, other wise I am sure they would have had him shot.

 

[suzyseymour]

I have had a few few friends who's loans have gone wrong. I would be so cautious if I had to loan my horse out.

The first the horse went with everything, rugs, tack, brushes etc, came back with just a head collar.

The next loaned to someone they knew, the original agrement was that the horse who had been used for PC was to go on loan for 12 months. As everyone was happy it stayed another 12 months. When the owner wanted it back the loaner refused to, saying that she had told her daughter that it was on permanent loan and she didn't want to up set her. She was 15 for goodness sake.

Then a really nice, non horsey man had rescued a pony that was in a state and had it on full livery, put it out on loan to someone on my yard, which is 10 mins from him. He got a call to tell him to check the paper, and there advertised was his pony!! Thank god someone noticed.

 

[miss_bird]

A friend of mine was asked the other day if he had any old passports of horses that had passed away and he had not sent off yet, he said yes as he was curious to know why a person had rang to ask him they stated " i have 3 mares brought for slaughter but the slaughter house will not take them without passports" friends asked how his old passports would help and was told " slaughter house dont care if the passports do not match as long as they have the correct amount of passports for horses slaughtered".
So beware he was offered €100 for each passport he had to sell, he did not sell them rang man back and just said his wife had sent the passports off, was told thats fine there are plenty for sale just thought he would ask

 

[mairimog]

I would also like to point out that it is not just the owners of the horse who have to be on there gaurd but also the people who take horses on loan, as i have just found out things can go HORRIDLY wrong for people like me.

Long Story short i had a LOVELY horse on loan, i took her on at the start of winter, she was stabled and fed with the rest of the horse in the field, as the winter went on she began to drop in weight, so the fed was increesed, she balenced out and seemed to be doing fine altho slightly thiner than i would have liked, i early spring some of the horse she shared a field with moved away and that just sent the horse over the edge and it droped in weight, the feed was incresed as was the quality of feed and the owner informed although not that interested, the horse was mover to the field with the horse it had been with before were and all the lovely spring grass, although still thin the weight was going on and condition looking better.

The Owner then decided they were going to visit the horse after they had not seen it for 6 months and sprung a vist! DESPITE the fact they were informed of the condition and the acction that had been taken and kept up to dat EVERY step of the way, they flew off the handel and have taken the horse from me saying i have neglected it and starved the horse, they are now wanting to have me charged with animal crulety!!!
Yet if they had taken the time to come and see the horse inbetween when the issue was frist raised it would never have come to this.
I am well aware there are saddly people out there who do not care for horses they have on loan as they are there own but i am not one of these people, i have spent hours a day and £££ to keep this horse as it should be and unfortunatly as you must all be aware there are horses who fair better in the winter than others.
When you put your horse on loan PLEASE be honest about the horse, if there sre special requirments or problems you horse has it is in the best intrest of the horse for you to pass this information on.
since the horse has been taken from me and i have been tretend with charges of neglect i have NOW found out that the horse did not do well over the winter and was quick to form a strong bond with other horses and braking this bond caused the horse to drop in weight, all this is information that should have been given to me WELL before the horse moved to my yard.

Now i am in a possition with the owner seeing the horse leaving there yard in a rather plump and good condition to them removing it being rather under weight and NOT seeing it inbetween,
EVERYTHING i have done has been in the horses best intrests and i am STILL being accused of being a NASTY person, who no one seems to beleve.

When this person came to collect her horse (WITH NO WARNING) they also took a selection of 7 rugs, the police are not interested as her accusations are stronger than mine and i am now being askd to pay for the rug which came with the horse that i have also been accused of stealing!
The proof is there that they took the rugs but because they do not have them in there possesion now (dumpd somewher probably).
I have spent £££ on trying to keep the horse in good health £££ more than you would with a good doer, i have lost £££s in rugs that have been taken and i now have to pay over £100 for the rug which came with the horse and have the tret of neglect charges looming over me!

I will NEVER loan a horse again.

IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR HORSE YOU WILL ALWAYS TELL THE PERSON WHO IS TAKING IT ON THE FULL STORY OF THE HORSE AND IF YOU ARE INFORMED OF A PROBLEM NO MATTER HOW SMALL YOU SHOULD ALWAY BE AVALIBAL TO HELP THE PERSON AND THE HORSE OTHER WISE YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS CRULE AND IN MY EYES YOU HAVE NEGLECTED YOUR HORSE BY FAILING TO ENSURE ITS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS ARE CATERD FOR.

IF YOU DONT TELL PEOPLE THEY DONT KNOW, AND IF YOUR NOT THERE YOU DONT CARE.

WHAT THE F**K AM I MENT TO DO NOW WITH ALL THIS LOOMING OVER MY HEAD?????

 

[LBaker]

I loaned my gelding out in February this year to a guy in Warickshire. The horse has always been a good doer to the point where getting weight off has been hard! He has had a life of competing at dressage and has wintered out while in my care many times and always did very well. He wintered out last year and came in very well indeed, he then went on loan as a companion horse. I had a contract which we agreed over email (should have signed) but the evidence of agreement is still there that he was to take care of all my horses needs which would of course include basic feeding. the guy kept in contact via email although sometimes he didn't respond for a while but never once said anything about my horse loosing weight until he gave notice and said he didn't have enough grass to keep him. This was all fine and none the wiser I arranged a new companion home for him. I didn't visit the horse although a couple of times I had planned to and emailed and asked if it would be OK but had no response. I really wish I had.
My horse is now at home with me as he could not stay in his newley arranged home due to being severly underweight so much so that he was walking sideways from being so weak behind! I had the vet out stright away and after some rest and bute he was fine after abotu 5 days. Now I am just feeding him back up to the weight he was when I loaned him in Feb.
What gets me is that the guy REALLY didn't see it!! he admitted that he didn't think the horse was that bad! I don't think he deliberately neglected him but had no idea, who knows maybe I am being to nice.. however I have had 400 pounds worth of vets bills and asked him to pay them, he said no so I am taking him for the full cost it will be to get my horse back up to the condition he was in when I loaned him.
I have vets reports and photos to back it all up. The horse is now putting on weight and has no medical condition that would mean he would drop weight that quickly or severly. It's purly neglect, he is not a stressy horse and he had a huge amount of worms.
This whole episode has and will cost me in the region of £1500 by the time my horse can live out again.
I will NEVER loan my horse again unless it's to someone local or someone I know very well. It would have been more costs affective to keep him in the first place. I am not lucky enough to have my own land or I would never have loaned him out in the first place. when you loan a horse it's a fine line between being that nightmare owner who does not leave the poor person alone to being not interested. I really didn't think that looking after a horse that eats for a living would be so difficult!

 

[chestnut cob]

As someone else said, I think you have to trust your gut instinct when you loan a horse out. My Welshy (who i've just sold) went on loan twice. The first time they *seemed* perfect on the surface but there was something I couldn't quite put my finger on that didn't seem right. It was enough for me to want to follow them to his new yard so I could see him settle in (I had a loan contract, took up references, had copies of driving licences, had visited yard and house). I worried about him for the first week and he eventually came back to me within a fortnight. I sent away a lovely, well behaved all rounder who had placed at Nov dressage, though not the easiest horse in the world, and I got back a skittish, nervy and supposedly dangerous horse (they insisted he had bucked them off everytime they got on him and had attacked someone on the yard

). I wish I'd gone with my gut instinct in the first place as I've no idea what went on there. They dumped him at my yard along with saddle and a rug, then drove off. Went I went through the stuff they left later on I found that they hadn't returned lots of his stuff and I couldn't get any of it back from them, despite the threat of legal action.

If the pony hadn't been freezemarked then I doubt I would have got him back either

The second time he went out on loan I went with my gut instinct. He was on loan to that family for nearly 2 years and they have just bought him.