What legal rights do you have as a private seller?

and like I said in this instance you could be leaving yourself wide open should the buyers decide to take action for "mis-selling"
 
showjumpingfilly said:
So sorry for you :-(

I would imagine even if they had insured her they wouldn't be able to claim that quickly - my policies have a 14 day period from when they are first taken out before you can make a claim
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Just to say the 14 day period is only for illness, not injury/accident.
I once sold a horse - new owners picked him up to ride him to new yard as only a few miles up the bridleway. He fell into a ditch and fractured his splint bone about 20 minutes after they left the yard. Their insurance was "happy" to cover surgery despite having been in effect only 20 minutes. Mind you, they did also visit both yards so obviously wanted to make sure it was all legit (it was).

To the OP what a terrible situation and I'm really sorry you're going through this :(
 
TPO said:
and like I said in this instance you could be leaving yourself wide open should the buyers decide to take action for "mis-selling"
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Even if the OP could be described as a business in these circumstances (and I doubt it as she is selling a 'personal' horse and her full time occupation and presumably her main income is as a student!) it still doesn't mean that she has done anything that she can be held liable for.

As a private seller you must be truthful both verbally and in print ie your ad/emails/conversations must be honest - if you say good in traffic/easy to catch/good with farrier/never been treated for lami you can be liable if this isn't the case and the buyer can prove it. As a professional you are also responsible that the horse is fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. Now this would mean that she may have to take the horse back if she went lame even if the lameness wasn't obvious at the time of sale or if she couldn't jump a course of a certain height when the buyer had said that they wanted a horse to go unaff jumping every weekend - these are just examples and as always, no vetting would weaken a buyers case. Going by the what the OP has said there is nothing that the buyers could hold her responsible for as the horse was in the buyers care when the accident happened, a vet has stated that the only possibly previous condition (the heart murmur) could have been caused by the accident which the OP cannot be held responsible for by any standards - the new owners made a choice with was now their horse to travel her in a trailer.

RIP Shan, sympathies both to OP and her new owners as I'm certain that they certainly didn't intend for this to happen.
 
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