LauraWinter
Well-Known Member
Hmmm I am in a bit of a dilemma..... my finances have taken a bit of a hit lately and I am in some hot water, hence having to sell my beautiful filly come October when she is weaned and I am now considering putting my mare (her dam) out on loan. I have loaned out my ponies in the past as they have been outgrown and never had a particularly bad experience, but I keep reading all the horror stories on here! Basically, she would only be loaned as a companion, as she has not been ridden for 18 months and is quite happy that way I do not want other people trying to restart her or see the point in doing it at all really as I have no need to ride her myself anymore- she has really been enjoying life as a field ornament/mummy and I am happy to indulge her as she is such a lovely mare and has done me a huge service over the years. She is not particularly old- 12 this year and is very easy to do, never had laminitis and can live out all year round with a good rug or equally happy to be part stabled. She has excellent manners and has never kicked out or bitten at anybody in her life. My long term plan is to move to a house with land for my horses at home and have her as a companion or start riding her again myself once this is achieved which is realistically in the next 3-5 years. At the moment she is obviously with her foal, who will be weaned in October and I was quite happy to just continue to keep her on grass livery after that and although that is not expensive my financial situation has led me to consider that I could save some pennies by loaning her to someone else- long or short term- as a companion to their horses. I would be very, very fussy about what home she went to and would probably only consider letting her go very locally so that I could still see her. Although I would never interfere once someone had her- and have never done in the past with loan homes/sharers (obviously unless there were drastic circumstances!) I would expect to be allowed to visit her once a week. Do you think I am being realistic/doing the right thing? Its not a bank breaker so if I could not fulfil all of these requirements I would never let her go and certainly wont be rushed into doing so anyway, I just think that it is one way of dealing with my situation which might not affect her happiness in any way at all and could make a use of her for someone else. Obviously there will be contracts etc and I will continue to pay for her insurance although I would expect the loan home to pay for everything else.
Thanks everybody for reading- I can offer coffee and muffins this morning to all those who got this far
Thanks everybody for reading- I can offer coffee and muffins this morning to all those who got this far
