Aragon56
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking about selling my horse who's out on loan to her loaner and would appreciate some advice/opinions.
She's been on loan for nearly 3 years now and with the contract and insurance coming up for renewal, now just seems like a good time to ask if she is interested in purchasing her. Also the horse just doesn't feel like mine any more, she has a great bond with the loaner and when I last rode her a couple of months ago, I just didn't get the same buzz from it that I used to.
I live abroad now as my husband is in the military and won't be back in the UK until 2019 (we still visit 1-2x a year), have another horse on retirement livery that is my main priority, and also a young baby so I can't see myself having the time or finances to properly invest into horse ownership for a few years to come sadly.
I could just leave things as they are and not rock the boat, but I'm conscious that my mare is 11 now, by the time I'm back in the UK her age could be against her if I wanted to sell at that point. I also worry that if the loaner decided to end our agreement at any point I'm in a tricky position as I'm in the USA for the foreseeable future, so it might be better to have a clean break. If the loan suddenly ended I do have the fallback option of putting her into my aunt's riding school for the short term and trying to sell her from there, but I wouldn't go down this route unless I really had to. Same if the horse became injured - that's how my other horse ended up in early retirement after coming out of a loan home with DDFT injuries. It was an unfortunate accident so nobodies fault but I don't think I could cope with two broken horses!
I am worried about the loaner not being interested in buying or it going completely wrong and her deciding to end the loan, so I need to handle this carefully. She has never mentioned buying her and I'm not sure if she has the money to to be honest. I would obviously offer her less than market value because she has put a lot of time and effort into her - we're not talking about a world beater but the horse is a nicely bred, well put together all rounder that you can stick a novice on.
I bought her for £3,800 back in 2009, and having had a quick look online there are similar horses going for around that mark, but I know that a horse is only worth as much as people are prepared to pay for it. If I was to put her on the market tomorrow I'd go for £3,500 or thereabouts expecting to get offers. How much would you offer her to the loaner, bearing in mind the 3 years of time/effort she's put into her? She would have a fantastic home there and that's the main priority but I also couldn't let her go for peanuts.
Feel a bit gutted even writing this as I didn't think I would ever sell her, but I feel like its the right thing to do
She's been on loan for nearly 3 years now and with the contract and insurance coming up for renewal, now just seems like a good time to ask if she is interested in purchasing her. Also the horse just doesn't feel like mine any more, she has a great bond with the loaner and when I last rode her a couple of months ago, I just didn't get the same buzz from it that I used to.
I live abroad now as my husband is in the military and won't be back in the UK until 2019 (we still visit 1-2x a year), have another horse on retirement livery that is my main priority, and also a young baby so I can't see myself having the time or finances to properly invest into horse ownership for a few years to come sadly.
I could just leave things as they are and not rock the boat, but I'm conscious that my mare is 11 now, by the time I'm back in the UK her age could be against her if I wanted to sell at that point. I also worry that if the loaner decided to end our agreement at any point I'm in a tricky position as I'm in the USA for the foreseeable future, so it might be better to have a clean break. If the loan suddenly ended I do have the fallback option of putting her into my aunt's riding school for the short term and trying to sell her from there, but I wouldn't go down this route unless I really had to. Same if the horse became injured - that's how my other horse ended up in early retirement after coming out of a loan home with DDFT injuries. It was an unfortunate accident so nobodies fault but I don't think I could cope with two broken horses!
I am worried about the loaner not being interested in buying or it going completely wrong and her deciding to end the loan, so I need to handle this carefully. She has never mentioned buying her and I'm not sure if she has the money to to be honest. I would obviously offer her less than market value because she has put a lot of time and effort into her - we're not talking about a world beater but the horse is a nicely bred, well put together all rounder that you can stick a novice on.
I bought her for £3,800 back in 2009, and having had a quick look online there are similar horses going for around that mark, but I know that a horse is only worth as much as people are prepared to pay for it. If I was to put her on the market tomorrow I'd go for £3,500 or thereabouts expecting to get offers. How much would you offer her to the loaner, bearing in mind the 3 years of time/effort she's put into her? She would have a fantastic home there and that's the main priority but I also couldn't let her go for peanuts.
Feel a bit gutted even writing this as I didn't think I would ever sell her, but I feel like its the right thing to do