Selling or Leasing? **HELP NEEDED**

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jcwh

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I have to go to university next year and rather than wait til the last minute i decided to start thinking about my mare now.
uni will be for 4 years...
my mare is 6 now so next year she'll be 7 and if i take a gap she'll be 8.

at 8 its pretty much the prime of her life, i dont want to just leave her in the field for 4 years.
so i decided i would like to sell her, or put her on loan.

my mother said, however, if i did loan her out to someone and she came back after a number of years, she might be a changed horse, for better or worse. and if i take her back, will i be able to change her? i'm a competitor at heart, so having an average club like horse isn't what i need.
currently she's a super star, but if i end up loaning her to a riding club or a once-a-week fun rider (no offence to you leisure riders out there) then she'll no longer be a comp horse at the level i need her to be.
the benefit is that i get to remain her owner, and if she turns out for the better, i can just enjoy it.

selling is the opposite. i lose my darling baby, but i get to start anew with another, and hopefully she'll be the darling of someone else, preferably a little girl with a big heart and many hugs and kisses.

i dont need to sell her as a comp horse as she also is a VERY safe hacker (she's safer in a forest than in the riding arena) and she'll make a lovely hacker. the thing is i paid quite a sum for her (as a comp horse) so if i sold her as a hacker i would lose more than i can afford.

what would you do? i cant take her to uni with me because i cant afford it.
 
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From my personal experience, I'd sell her on. If she's got a decent competition record, then as a 'competition' horse. If not, sell her on for less as a hack with 'competition potential'. You need to be content that she's found the right home.

Four years at university is a long time. You'll be busy and your life will have changed so much by the time you graduate. Then you'll be looking for work or to do further studies and it's very likely you'll need to be free to make the right choices for yourself and your future career. You will do this better without worrying about your mare. I know it's tough, but if you find her the right home you'll be able to go on to university with a clear conscience and no worries ahead of you.

x
 
Spyda has written everything I wanted to put! I totally agree.

Loans can often go wrong, or the horse may come back in the middle of winter, and you would have to find some way (and money) of looking after her. Even if you took the horse back aged 12, you'd have missed her prime anyway. I'd sell her to a great home, then concentrate on enjoying your prime! These years at uni and when you just start work are the most fun and carefree years you will have! Enjoy them as you should. Once you've graduated and sorted out where you want to be, get yourself another younger horse to start competing at the level you would like to.
 
I'd never loan a horse out if i intended to get it back as it would never be the same horse that came back. Like you said, if you sell, you're giving another person the chance to love your horse as theirs and you get to start a fresh with a new horse after uni. If you old her you could always ask them to give you regular updates/pictures and you may even be able to go see her regularly.
 
Another thing to consider is what your financial/general position will be when you graduate. If you wish to live at home and your parents are happy carrying on paying (as, presumably they do) for your horse's upkeep indefinitely that is one thing. If you are starting out in a new job, in a new place, struggling with rent and bills and relationships then you may feel differently about a very expensive hobby.

Another thing to bear in mind is that most (not all, but most) of us end up leading very different lives to what we imagined when we went to uni (I'm assuming you're 18-ish).

Having shared a horse belonging to someone trying to move away from parental financing I can say it isn't easy...

Have a lovely time at uni!
 
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