questions about loaning

[LuckyDimond]

Forgive typos, I'm on my phone.
So my nan gave me £1000 for my eighteenth birthday and I want to put some of it towards part loaning a horse. I'm trying to get an idea of the costs to see how long I'll need to save up for. I can't find out anything about who would pay if tack needed replacing or if the horse got sick or injured? What would happen if my horse died but I'd paid to loan for another month or something (money wise)?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Morgan123]

You don't really need to save up necessarily.

A part loan means you just ride someone else's horse for a few days a week, at their yard. It is usually low cost, so some people would charge you a percentage of their livery, for example. I'd say an average might be about £125 per month or something to ride a few times a week, but could even be free or you ride in exchange for doing yard duties or somethign. You have to go by their rules - e.g. you ride on set days, and the horse belongs to them - you're jsut allowed to ride it. It's a great way to get into horse owning without the financial implications being too bad. You use their tack and everything, so no big outlay. You can usually stop the loan at any time, or they can, e.g. within a month's notice. It's a good idea to have a contract in place.

if tack needed replacing, it's really the owner's responsibility (unless you broke it!), but if the loan was going well you might feel like chipping in the odd item . However you wouldn't usually be expected to buy, e.g., a new saddle.

A full loan means you look after the horse as if it's yours, either at their yard or at your own yard. Usually full loans come with tack, but not always. you take on all the costs of keeping the horse, but it remains their property. This is obviously higher cost and more repsonsibility.

As it sounds like you're new to horse owning, i'd go with option 1 if i were you for now. Have a look on local equestrian facebook groups, preloved, etc, and send emails to potentials desxcriving your riding experience and what you're looking for.

I wouldn't ask the question about money if the horse dies when you email them initially . I think a months' livery or payment would be the least of anyone's worries if the horse drops down dead, so it sounds slightly callous - no offence. Your outlay is not very big so this isn't a major factor, but you could add something in the loan agreement if need be.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

As Morgan123 says you will normally pay a set day, week or month fee to have the horse on an agreed number of days. Depending on the agreement you will usually be responsible for the horse on these days so grooming, mucking out/poo picking, feeding and riding. I would expect you to have your own rider insurance (about £6 per month) but other than that the owner should still be responsible for vet bills and general upkeep of the horse.

It's best to have a contract in place so it's clear exactly who is responsible for what and the owners expectations of what you do with their horse on your days (the BHS have a great contract on their website). This would also cover what would happen in the event of the horse getting injured or dying, though personally I'm not sure I could or would ask the owner for a refund if their horse had just been PTS.

 

[LuckyDimond]

The death thing is mostly out of curiosity. I'm hoping to never have to find out for certain. I've been watching a TV show about court cases and that's shown me I should get everything in writing in case of legal problems (again I'm hoping to never deal with that). I expected riding insurance to be way more expensive than that.

 

[Morgan123]

Well, yes you should get everything in writing, but also you have to remember the degree of risk involved. It would be different if you were paying thousands of pounds a month, but it's very unlikely you'll end up paying more than about £120 per month, which is obviously not something anyone wants to lose but on the other hand, if the horse died, £120 seems like very little!

I'd probably focus on getting the right horse and the details will follow.

 

[fliffkins]

Hi,
I part loan one of my horses out and charge 25 per week, this covers everything but I know some will charge a set amount plus costs towards shoeing or feed.
With regards to tack, if the horse needs it, I buy it, if the part loaner damages it then they replace, luckily this has never happened to me.
With vet bills, again I cover all cost but if something happened that was caused through neglect of the part loaner then I would expect them to pay towards the excess.
If my horse died I would find it highly insensitive of someone to ask for their money back, the most you would be looking at is 100, more than likely in time once I'd grieved I would offer them the money back, but I would also like to think that they cared for the horse and would be upset so money would also be the furthest thing from their mind.