Loaning Advice, not sure what to do.

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navaho

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Ill keep this as short as possible for you...i have a bad tendency to waffle :)
Im helping my partners mum loan out her 4yr old coloured cob gelding, he recently went on loan to a girl, who, due to the ice/snow etc, didnt try him out, well, 6 days after having him she text to say he was greener than expected & could we take him back. Which we did, however we now have had another lady come to view him & as it was quite icy today she didnt feel she should ride him, which is fair enough, i didnt want to either lol. She has asked if she can take him without trying him, ive told her im not happy with this due to what happened on the last loan & i dont think its fair to let him go incase in a weeks time she rings up & says shes bringing him home, as its not fair on him to keep getting shunted from one place to another. Ive asked her to come back & try him but shes not keen as shes over an hour away, i understand where shes coming from, but i also appreciate that not everyone gets on with every horse they sit on, also i would have liked to see her ride & tack up etc for my own peace of mind, after all, so many people say they can ride when they cant! I feel if we ask her to come back she will walk away & it does sound a nice home (obviously we havnt been down to vet her yard yet, but will do as soon as we decide what to do), but then again would we be better loosing her & waiting for someone who is prepared to come back & try him properly, hes only a young chap & we dont really want him getting screwed up.
 
If she that intrested in the horse she would come back to try him as i would, I drove over 3 hours to try old horse and i happily drove back few days later to re try him.


Tell her you would like her to come back and ride him or he wont be going on loan.

better to be safe then sorry
 
If she cares about the horse she'll come back and try him, an hour's drive isn't so bad. I certainly wouldn't let a horse go on loan to someone who hadn't ridden it; I'm rather surprised you let him go the first time.

If the woman walks, fine, someone else will come along.
 
I can't believe anybody would want to have a horse on loan without trying it first!

Could you make videos of him being ridden and email them to her so she can make judgement whether the horse would be suitable? As he's only 4 its expected for him to be green so surely she should know what she's agreeing to and what to expect? Perhaps you could 'vet' the yard he's going to be kept at first, and if all is ok maybe try and insist on her riding him briefly at home when she collects him?

Just a few suggestions, hope it helps :)
 
Personally I wouldn't allow anyone to take a horse on loan without seeing them on the horse before. This is as much for the horse as for the rider. I loaned my lad out to a fellow HHOer a year ago, she was about 4 hours drive away and she had just had a knee operation the week before, although she was having trouble with pain and he was unfit, I could see straight away that they gelled and things would only get better. Due to the distance I didn't expect her to come back for a second viewing so the next time she came to the yard it was with the whole family and transport.

The loan before she had him had gone horribly wrong so I had to make sure that they fitted correctly this time - year later, he's hers and they are having the best ever time!
 
No way in hell would i let my horse go to somebody who isnt willing to drive an hour to come and try him!!!

Im looking for a loan horse at the minute and i live in the south of england. I would travel happily to the north of scotland as many times as i could if i found a horse that was right for me!!! There arent many loan horses out there at the minute, trust me here, ive been looking for months, you do have the upper hand!!!!! If you had an advert up online, in the right places, im pretty sure that you would get so many replies, especially at this time of year with a young horse!!!

I think the fact that she wont come an hour suggests shes not that bothered about your horse at all, and if she is, then shes not the sort of person i would give my darling horse too, as theres obviously no passion or want there at all!!! Think of it as her loss, not yours, and that the right person will come along soon!!

The other option would be for her to try him out when she comes to collect him, you could make that a condition that she rides him etc before taking him, though that would leave you in a sticky situation if you didnt like what you saw.

Please leave this lady looking for another horse, IMHO, she has no idea what shes doing with loaning a horse and id be worried about anybody who would be willing to take that sort of risk!!!
 
Slightly Foxed said:
I'm rather surprised you let him go the first time.
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So am i...hindsight is a wonderful thing, the girl seemed lovely & sounded like she knew what she was talking about. At the end of the day it wasnt my decision to make & at the time it seemed the right thing for him, as he was in 24/7 & not even getting out to stretch his legs.

I'll talk to the lady tonight & see what she says, i think for peace of mind she needs to come back doesnt she & if she wont then so be it.
 
yeah, she needs to come back and try the horsie!

An hours drive is not really that far given that this is a horse for loan and there aren't that many about!
 
I'm another that would insist she comes and rides him before I make a decision about whether she is suitable for him or not (and that is how I would put it to her, that she is proving herself good enough rather than the other way around), if she walks away then it wasn't meant to be. As someone who has loaned in the past, I would have walked over broken glass to prove to the owner that I was good enough to take care of their precious horse, don't see it as she is doing you a favour by taking him. I am quite surprised at the attitude of some loaners with the horse owner.
 
Its weird really, the more i think about it the more amazed i am, i remember years ago when i was looking for a horse to loan for myself, the loaner used to let everyone come & try the horse & then they loaned to what they felt was the best home, it just seems these days people come & look at your horse & automatically assume they are having them & you have no say in it....strange how times change.
I think she'll walk from him, but to be honest if she does then like you all say shes obviously not the one for him is she, hes such a lovely boy & so honest, he just wants to please & give you his best i just hope the right person is out there for him somewhere :)
 
Whatever you do (even if you have seen the yard) ensure that the horse is freezemarked on it's shoulder before leaving your yard. Also ask to see the original copy of the passport, driving licence and rates bill of the person loaning the horse. Sadly a number of horses have dissapeared while on loan.
 
There are plenty of people out there at the mo looking for a loan horse and I would travel an hour def to try a horse out I am too looking for a loan horse but I am struggling.

If you have him advertised about I am certain someone willing to try him out before saying yes please and not to say I'll take him without trying him.

You wouldn't buy a car you haven't test driven would you or buy a house not seeing it 1st so why is it any different to a horse?... crazy
 
I am actually surprised any person would want to take a horse on loan they haven't even sat on! Seems madness to me. In my mind it's no different to buying a horse really as I certainly wouldn't want to be giving the horse back after a week! Honestly, people are weird aren't they. Maybe because it is a loan as opposed to a sale they feel that they can just give it back if they don't like it!
 
If she isn't committed enough to travel 1 hour to try the horse then she isn't committed enough to loan him. Very simple in my view!
 
Well we've come to a compromise...i think? Ive explained the situation to her & that were not happy for her to take him without trying him out, so she has agreed to ride him the day they collect him. Obviously it is at her own risk to bring her trailer, because if he doesn't suit her or we're not happy with anything then he will be staying put. We're going down to check her place out later this week, so fingers crossed its all ok. Does this all sound ok?? I guess its not much difference to her coming to try him & then coming back to collect him? If he does come back from this loan then i think we'll forget it & he'll stay put, hes only going on loan because his owner is having a knee operation & will be out of action for at least a year & it seems a shame to just leave him sitting there doing nothing.
 
I drove an hour (60 miles) to work everyday for 3 months so really that isn't an excuse. I now only drive to work 2 days a week but it really isn't far and that's before and after a long days work.

I wouldn't be happy letting the horse go without even seeing how they gel and if the person can actually tack up a horse. It's different if they were buying but with loaning it is still your horse at the end of the day.
 
Difficult one...
- I travel around an hour to my share horse each time I ride, assuming potential loanee has her own car I'd expect her to think two trips worth the bother
- having said that I *don't* always try a potential share horse in all situations before agreeing to a (trial) share because it takes any partnership time to gel and, especially if it is only recently backed, she might want to start very slowly
- I would expect to see the horse do (most) of what I'd been told it could with another rider though
- hmmm, difficult!

Hope it works out well for all concerned!
 
OWLIE185 said:
Whatever you do (even if you have seen the yard) ensure that the horse is freezemarked on it's shoulder before leaving your yard. Also ask to see the original copy of the passport, driving licence and rates bill of the person loaning the horse. Sadly a number of horses have dissapeared while on loan.
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So true, there are "professionals" out there who loan horses, let the owner come and see "their premises" and then sell the horse within one week of it being there, then when they check the name and address its ficticious, its just a word of warning to anyone loaning a horse.
 
navaho said:
Well we've come to a compromise...i think? Ive explained the situation to her & that were not happy for her to take him without trying him out, so she has agreed to ride him the day they collect him. Obviously it is at her own risk to bring her trailer, because if he doesn't suit her or we're not happy with anything then he will be staying put.
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Sounds like a sensible way forward. You can still say no even if she likes him if you are not happy with how she handles him, rides him etc. And very sensible and essential advice from MHOL there about security precautions to take.
 
MHOL said:
So true, there are "professionals" out there who loan horses, let the owner come and see "their premises" and then sell the horse within one week of it being there, then when they check the name and address its ficticious, its just a word of warning to anyone loaning a horse.
Click to expand...

One step ahead, ive already googled her name, phone numbers & addresses, nothing on the numbers but the address is genuine & belongs to her....well thats assuming she is who she says she is, but she has offered me lots of references etc. We will just have to see how it goes when we view her place & then see how she gets on with him.

Big thanks to everyone for all the advice offered on here :)
 
Just wanted to put a little update, weve been to visit the loaners place & to be honest he wont be going anywhere! I was quite shocked when we were shown 2 small paddocks/gardens that they were intending on keeping him in, albeit only temporarily, one even had a washing line in it! Then we were shown another small field that wasnt even fenced....im gob smacked to say the least! This evening i had an answer phone message from the lady who wants him to say we had been shown the wrong grazing (her partner showed us round) & that she has permanent decent grazing up the road....alarm bells ringing big time, not a chance in hell is he going there. So back to the drawing board, anyone know any nice normal people in Wales looking to loan a nice friendly chap?
 
Oh dear well at least you checked it out 1st before she came to ride and then take him....
There are some lovely genuine people out there that have 'proper' facilities and grazing.

Pity your so far away really..:(

Best of luck in trying to find the 'right' person
 
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