Permanant loans - what do you expect?

[CanterTrot]

What do you expect from offering your horse out on a permanent loan? How long do you expect them to keep the horses etc? What happens if the person that has the horse decides they are no longer interested after a few months or a year etc?

 

[MagicMelon]

I'm offering one of mine on permanent loan, I don't expect but I do hope that whoever takes him will offer him a forever home. Permanent loan to me is basically giving away a free horse IMO. I would hate for someone to get the use out of him riding-wise and then once retirement was due return him to me, but hey I know realistically that'll probably happen and TBH I'm only offering him on permanent loan (rather than selling) because I want to ensure his future so if someone didn't want him well he'd come back to me as he's ultimately my responsibility. Certainly would expect a few years out of it, if someone gave the horse back after a few months, well thats just a normal loan isn't it. Permanent sort of means permanent.

 

[Polos Mum]

Honestly with any loan you have to expect that there is a possibility that they could come back at any time. Someone may have every intention of it being permanent but circumstances change (people get ill, loose jobs etc) and horses change (get ill/ lame)
If someone hasn't owned horses before it's quite likely that they find it all too much hard work, expecially coming into winter.
I have a horse on loan, I expect to get an elderly or lame horse back at some point - I hope I won't but that is what I expect.

 

[CanterTrot]

Yes, offering mine out on permanent loan but scared someone could have her and then say after a few months they do not want her/ cant keep her anymore, which is fine as would have her back ASAP - but I will be starting to work away from the country soon. I just wondered what people would do in this situation, if it was ever to arise. Thanks for replies

 

[ihatework]

Permenant and loan really don't mean much, whatever anyone says.
You can advertise a loan as permenant, you can make your intentions clears you are wanting to place the horse in a forever home, but at the end of the day you will still own the horse and the loaner can turn around and give you notice whenever they feel like it.

 

[Polos Mum]

If you aren't or can't be in a position to take a loan horse back at short notice then sadly you need to sell him.

You could look for someone to take him back at short notice on your behalf a friend/ of retirement livery type place but sorting this out from abroad could be tricky and expensive.

 

[rowan666]

Ive told my loaner that the original agreement of a year has now been extended to permanent (as she is perfect for him and loves him soooo much) so basically he is hers for as long as she wants him, i wont ever ask for him back but dont want him passed around, hence perm loan not sale, so if for some reason her circumstances should ever change then i will happily take him back and retire him

 

[Goya]

Water tight contract would have to be in place

 

[hnmisty]

If you aren't or can't be in a position to take a loan horse back at short notice then sadly you need to sell him.

I thought of offering Barry on permanent loan so I could keep some control, but I plan on getting another and wouldn't be able to afford to take him back if I had another. My only option then would be send him home to my parents, which wouldn't be fair on him or them. Therefore I've decided to sell.

 

[Honey08]

Its the same as any other full loan, just you hope that the timescale is longer. Its like selling but you have them back if the loaner ever decides they don't want them anymore. You still have to bear in mind that they could come back and are still ultimately your responsibility at the end of the day.

 

[pipsqueek]

You still own the horse and the loanee would be able to return the horse to you at any time, as with a lot of things in the horsey world, livery etc, written contracts are rarely given. I would be very wary of loaning out to some random person who is answering an ad, you hear all sorts of horror stories of them being sold on etc. I have one (retired sj) out on loan as a hack, however to a friend and she is still shod by my OH so I know she is safe. If her loanees decided they didn't want her she could be back with me within a week, even if we had a written contract! I would fetch her in an instant if I knew she wasn't wanted..

 

[Adopter]

If you are going to be out of the country as another poster has said, make a back up arrangement , then you will probably never need it. You also need to consider how you can manage check visits. When we loaned our mare we had a very clear contract, and we did make sure we had access to check on her at regular intervals.

Best advice is plan for the unexpected, don't assume all will be well, check that it is!

 

[pennyturner]

I have 2 on permanent loan. The owner of the little shetland phoned me 5 years in and asked if I was OK to 'own' him now, as she could no longer keep up the insurance. Lol. I had no idea he was insured!

The other, a NF, still belongs to someone else. My expectation is that should I ever need to move him on, although I would contact the owner, the chances of her being in a position to take him back are next to nil. He's nearly 20, so will almost certainly be with me to the end. He came to me as a problem (suspected KS). We re-backed and broke to drive. He's done >10 years of hacking, PC, driving etc, so this has been a good arrangement for everyone.

Although she has asked after him a couple of times, chances are the only contact I will have with the owner in the next 10 years will be to let her know when the time comes.

 

[benson21]

I had benson on long term loan from his owners, but with the understanding that when I felt he had had enough and retired him, he would go back to their care. 6 months before he died, thats what happened. I spoke to them and said I think he needs to retire, and they told me as soon as I was ready they would take over his care, so once we bought Charlie, benson stayed at the yard but his owners took his care. Worked really well for all round I think.

 

[pippixox]

definitely need a back up plan, as they probably would only need to give 1 months notice (unless you manage to do contract that says longer), so it would be tricky while abroad to find livery or new home on only 4 weeks. do you know anyone who has land and could take them in if the loan gets cancelled?

 

[Frosty89]

My retired boy is out on permanent loan where he will hopefully spend the rest of his days. The loaner has 20 acres of their own land for my boy and a couple rescue ponies.

With the previous loaner (stayed on my yard) I just had a feeling it wouldn't last from the start, and I was right. I didn't get that feeling from his current loaner who's now had him over 2 years. I think the fact they have their own land eases my mind a little as they don't have livery bills to pay for. That still doesn't mean they can't terminate the loan, and if they did he would just come back to me and be kept at grass.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I put my traddie cob out on "permanent loan" two years ago: only FIVE weeks into the loan the stupid numpty girl that I'd mistakenly let have him, decided she "couldn't afford the livery" anymore. It turned out that she hadn't payed a single PENNY for his livery or any other yard expenses since the day he arrived!!!

I'd had a lot of interest in him when I'd advertised him for loan, and I was wild, absolutely vapourised!!

In the end I decided to have him home again (have my own yard) - we had to build him another "pen" in the big barn, but the YO at the place where he was liveried was asking an arm and a leg; so after paying him for a month whilst the "stable" was built, we brought him home.

Um, it goes without saying that you should ALWAYS have a loan agreement in place, BUT on this occasion even though I'd taken great care to have it signed and witnessed, it meant nothing to the stupid numpty girl

 

[Abacus]

I don't honestly think that there is such a thing. If it is a loan, there is the possibility that the horse will be returned or that the owner will take it back. The only truly permanent arrangement is selling or giving the horse away. I think what everyone is talking about is a situation where there is a rolling contract with no end date, but there is still a notice period on either side.

In theory you could ask for a longer notice period to give you some more time to sort the horse out if the loaner wants to return it. But if it were my horse and someone wanted to return him, I'd want to get him more quickly as I would assume that they might lose interest if they had to keep him, say, for 3 months.

 

[TGM]

To me, permanent loan means indefinite loan ie there is no fixed period for the loan (whereas sometime people arrange to loan for a set period such as a year). That does mean that the loaner can still send the horse back whenever they want, and the owner can reclaim the horse if they want, although there should be a clear notice period in the contract.