private sale trial period

Fewer people are willing to let their horses go on trial for obvious reasons, but I know of one at the moment, because the person was known to the seller,and that's for 1-2 months, but I've heard some horror stories of horses going on loan, and then failing a vets exam for something that it didn't have before it went on trial, and it coming back after 3 months.
 
most people won't do it, unfortunately. perhaps if the buyer were to agree to fully insure the horse for the trial (1 month, perhaps) it might be more acceptable?
i always give a trial period, but that's because i hate selling my horses and want to be positive that they've gone to the right people!
 
I would only give a trial period if horse stayed with me and they got insurance that covered everything in that time,very risky,alot of people will not allow this anymore...due to having lame horses returned,timewasters etc
frown.gif
it is very sad but there are far to many dishonest people out there these days!
 
I got a week's trial period with one of ours where he came to stay with us. It was just that bit to far to go and see him everyday if he had stayed with his owner and fit in the school runs as well. He was covered to stay with us under his insurance with the NFU. Enough time just to get an idea of what he was like and whether he might be suitable.

Picked him up on the Sunday, vetted on the Friday, paid for him following Sunday. Never looked back!
 
We trialed one form a private buyer recently as he was older and we were looking for OH first horse. the owner was hesitant - understandably as they didn't know us form adam but agreed if we paid a deposit. If we bought the horse it was agreed that the deposit would be deducted from the price. We had them put in wirting that they had recieved a deposit, the amount and that it was fully refundable. As it turned out we had horse vetted and he failed so we returned him and got the deposit back. I also gave them full details of where the horse would be, details and contact numbers of the yard owner etc. I would never buy a horse without a trial but have only ever asked for a week trial.

It is a big deal though as I know of a friend of mine that allowed a trial and they horse came back after a month in a terrible state. She looked like she had not been fed for a month and was skin and bone.
 
I would never allow a horse I was selling to be taken away on trial for even a very limited period. An awful lot of damage can be done both physically & mentally to the animal in a short period of time. I would allow a prospective buyer to come several times to try the horse though as I could keep a watching brief on what was happening.
 
We gave a trial period when we sold our last pony - they were a great family but we wanted to be 100% sure she would be spoiled rotten before we parted with her. It is always worth asking - the worst the seller can do is refuse I suppose
 
Most sellers wont agree to this and in all fairness, if i was selling a horse, I wouldnt either.

I was very fortunate when we bought mine that we did get a 4 week trial with him. However, we paid a deposit, took over all livery fees and other ongoing costs and he was liveried with our mutual trainer.

I think the best you can hope for is for the seller to let you go a few times to really get a feel for whether he / she is for you. I dont think its really fair to expect a trial.. so many things can go wrong leaving the seller out of pocket
 
I recently sold a pony and the buyer asked to have him on a week's trial which I refused. However, they didn't live far away and came to see him 5 times, including out hunting and tooking XC. They also had him vetted. They bought him and after a week I had a phone call to say he was being naughty etc. So if I had let them have him on one week trial they probably would have sent him back because he didn't settle. After week 2 they rang to say he had settled and was great.
 
We took a gelding on a months trial before buying him, at the end of last year. But to be fair, the owner knew my OH by reputation and our field is walking distance from her home. We did have a written agreement and he was insured by the owner as he had been out on a six month loan just prior to coming to us.

He's a great little chap and at the end of the months trial we bought him.

His owner still pops by to see him from time to time.
 
Hi, I would never let a horse go anywhere on a trial, about 10 years ago I did and the horse's mouth was ruined and he developed some nasty habits that were previously not there. The sent back to us in a terrible state, such a shame.

However, I may consider (if I was ever selling again) to allow someone to 'share' the horse at my place, for a period of time.

Just as there are some dodgey sellers out there, equally there are some weird buyers!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top