What should I do - OH wants to sell horse!!

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barneyhunter

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Need some advice please. We spent a lot of money searching the country high and low for the perfect hunt horse for my OH, it took 5 months and cost a fortune as several failed vettings etc. We actually only got horse in Feb and he hasn't put a foot wrong.

Anyway by the time we found his horse, he had missed the hunting season and he finds hacking boring. On top of it all we want to buy a "buy-to-let" property so that one day when we are no longer in tied accomodation we have an investment to either live in or to sell and buy something more suitable. Now this is where the problem starts - the deposit. OH added up what the horses cost us (we do DIY to keep it low anyway) and nearly had heart failure, then the lorry needed a large sum spent on it.

Anyway he thinks we should sell, I think we should cut down on going out and save.

I thought we could look for a sharer for his horse (my horse is somewhat complicated so I rarely ever let anyone else ride him so I wouldn't share him), it would help with exercise (OH rarely rides during the week) and may help with the keep.

How much can you charge someone to share your horse? They could have unlimited weekday riding, one day at weekend, opportunity to compete (his dressage is coming along nicely), we have fantastic hacking in Surrey and a school on site. The horse is 17.3hd 6yr old so I wouldn't want a beginner or nervous rider, but he is very straightforward and not spooky. Do such people exist?

Or am I fighting a loosing battle and just accept a sale? OH is also whispering about selling lorry - but I've said no chance!

What should I do?

Thank you if you've managed to get this far
 
Your boyfriend is looking to the future while you are looking at the present. He is not suggesting you sell your horse, he is saying he no longer wants the horse that was bought for him to ride. So long as he accepts that later this year when hunting starts, he will have nothing to ride, then sell the horse. I had to make this decision many years ago when I hit 30 and realised that I was either going to have to give up horses for a while and buy my own house, or live with my parents forever.

Regards the lorry. Unless you use the lorry at minimum once a week, they are expensive toys to have sitting there. You could save yourself a lot of money by just renting one on the occasions you need transport.
 
You could get around £30 a week from a sharer. What is the reason you don't want to sell this horse though? Is it because you are attached to him or because you are hoping your OH will regain his enthusiasm? If it's the latter, then you may as well sell him to someone who will treasure him. If it's the former, then no way should you sell. It is awful to pass horses on so quickly and it can cause them insecurity problems and send them into a downwards spiral, especially if they are young.
 
You are right and one of my biggest fears is that come September/October OH will want to go horse shopping (or get depressed as he has suffered in the past) again for a hunter if we sell.

The horse is perfect and a delight to look after, most of those we looked at couldn't be handled by my mum (who helps us with chores if we are busy). If he wasn't so large I would contemplate keeping him for myself, and although he is perfect my little legs don't get the best out of him.

If we go down a sharer route - are there standard agreements available on-line? If we charged £30 per week, would they muck out too or just expect to ride?

Thanks
 
One on our yard has almost an identical set up, weekdays and gets to compete - she has started eventing him! She pays £20 a week for the 5 days and does jobs on her days. She does one end of the day, the wife brings in later on.

I can email you an agreement I made based on the BHS full loan contract for my sharers? :)
 
If he isn't bothered about riding until the autumn, I would look to loan for the summer rather than share then the expense of keep is off your hands but the horse will still be available in September. I've been hearing of several students who sold their own horses to go to university but are missing horse time and are looking for summer loans round me, or people who want something to play with for the summer or a ride while their own is off work, etc. so not everyone who is after a loan will be put off by it only being for a few months.
 
snowysadude - a copy of your agreement will be most helpful. Even £20 per week will keep him in hay and bedding.

thank you - i will pm you my details
 
As Bethie says a summer loan/sharer kept at your present yard would be perfect. When do a lot of people only want to ride? In the summer. Sounds like a brilliant solution
 
barneyhunter said:
Need some advice please. We spent a lot of money searching the country high and low for the perfect hunt horse for my OH, it took 5 months and cost a fortune as several failed vettings etc. We actually only got horse in Feb and he hasn't put a foot wrong.

Anyway by the time we found his horse, he had missed the hunting season and he finds hacking boring. On top of it all we want to buy a "buy-to-let" property so that one day when we are no longer in tied accomodation we have an investment to either live in or to sell and buy something more suitable. Now this is where the problem starts - the deposit. OH added up what the horses cost us (we do DIY to keep it low anyway) and nearly had heart failure, then the lorry needed a large sum spent on it.

Anyway he thinks we should sell, I think we should cut down on going out and save.

I thought we could look for a sharer for his horse (my horse is somewhat complicated so I rarely ever let anyone else ride him so I wouldn't share him), it would help with exercise (OH rarely rides during the week) and may help with the keep.

How much can you charge someone to share your horse? They could have unlimited weekday riding, one day at weekend, opportunity to compete (his dressage is coming along nicely), we have fantastic hacking in Surrey and a school on site. The horse is 17.3hd 6yr old so I wouldn't want a beginner or nervous rider, but he is very straightforward and not spooky. Do such people exist?

Or am I fighting a loosing battle and just accept a sale? OH is also whispering about selling lorry - but I've said no chance!

What should I do?

Thank you if you've managed to get this far
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Sell OH
 
^^^^^ definately sell OH, he wanted the horse didn't he? so after a couple of months he decides ...oh let's get rid of horse as he costs too much!!! I would be bloody livid that animals are for life not just for hunting season, get a sharer and remind OH that horses are not cars.
 
Well it is OH's horse and if he wants to sell, why shouldn't he? TBH, how on earth would you keep this horse hunting fit if OH doesn't ride it during the week???
 
I would look at the summer loan option. I can tell you that there are people out there (myself included!) who are on university terms so would love for something to have over the summer but then be able to give back come september/october. And you can do it in two ways a) keep it at your yard and you front the bulk of the fees and they pay a contribution or b) let him off the yard for the summer and they pay all the fees. The only thing with this situation is you have to be able to take the horse back come september/october.
 
Where in Surrey are you please? :)

I have a share in W Sussex, (17hh warmblood) and pay £50 pcm for 2 weekdays. When i am there i do poo pick, and or muckout not only my share horse but his owners two others aswell, and bring em in change rugs etc.
 
I would be tempted to look for a loan over the summer. Plenty of people want a horse for the nice months not when its in and rainy! Then you can have him back for the hunting season, if OH is still not interested in riding even when it is hunting season then the best thing would probably be to sell to someone who will treasure him all year.
 
lexiedhb said:
Where in Surrey are you please? :)

I have a share in W Sussex, (17hh warmblood) and pay £50 pcm for 2 weekdays. When i am there i do poo pick, and or muckout not only my share horse but his owners two others aswell, and bring em in change rugs etc.
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We are based in West Horsley which is just outside Guildford and 5mins from jct 10 of M25.

In answer to one of the other questions regarding keeping him fit during hunting season - OH has in the past been kicked out of house v v v early or muggins here rides 2 before work - something that I'm not that keen on. According to my Mum it must be love - coz riding one in the dark is bad enough but riding a giant and missing low branches in the half light is not much fun. Although I do go in the school once a week with him so that isn't quite so painful!!
 
jendie said:
Can you get sharers for OH ?
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Oh yes, of course! Just stick up a few cards pointing out his good bits (less said about the other bits the better!)
You will be inundated with offers- especially with summer on its way...all those lawns to cut etc etc

Meanwhile you will be free to ride as much as you want- saving money on household bills etc

Easy!
 
Just to put a different spin on things, me and OH have a property which we rent out, I bought it for a good price over two years ago and we've been renting it out for about 18 months.

It is not all it's cracked up to be, unless you can get a high enough rent then you won't get a mortgage for it, it is very difficult to find tenants, has taken us 3 months both times so in that time we've had second mortgage to pay, which sent me overdrawn both times.

On doing the tax return we've made a loss and will probably this year too.

If we keep it long enough (10+ years) we'll see a bit of a return but will be dependant on property prices and what mortgage we can get next.

If you are going to do this really check out your market and rent values, we were only able to get an interest only mortgage for it so we aren't even paying off the value currently.

To add, it's a lovely decorated 2 bed semi in quiet, nice neighborhood so you'd think would be easy to rent out!

I would suggest saving money and investing it in stock market, much better returns!
 
God, now you are asking. I'm not sure I dare ask the OH!!! I could advertise him for the amount we need for the deposit (£35K) but i'm not sure we will have any takers.

If you send me your email I can drop you a line if/when I lose the battle and he is for sale?
 
JVB said:
Just to put a different spin on things, me and OH have a property which we rent out, I bought it for a good price over two years ago and we've been renting it out for about 18 months.

It is not all it's cracked up to be, unless you can get a high enough rent then you won't get a mortgage for it, it is very difficult to find tenants, has taken us 3 months both times so in that time we've had second mortgage to pay, which sent me overdrawn both times.

On doing the tax return we've made a loss and will probably this year too.

If we keep it long enough (10+ years) we'll see a bit of a return but will be dependant on property prices and what mortgage we can get next.

If you are going to do this really check out your market and rent values, we were only able to get an interest only mortgage for it so we aren't even paying off the value currently.

To add, it's a lovely decorated 2 bed semi in quiet, nice neighborhood so you'd think would be easy to rent out!

I would suggest saving money and investing it in stock market, much better returns!
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Thank you JVB. It is good to hear another perspective, I'm trying to get OH to look at every option (including just sitting on the money in a bank!) before he makes any drastic changes.

I know that when I used to rent out a house I had years ago (I moved back to parents when I was made redundant) that things aren't always simple and lodgers aren't always easy to deal with and that gaps in rental happens. I hope you do well with your house, I suppose that part of my issue with selling the horse is that I'm not convinced over the success of being a landlord.
 
It's his horse, so if he wants to sell then I think you should let him. Do you use the lorry as well, for your own horse? To be honest, it sounds as if your OH doesn't have a lot of interest in horses per se, just in hunting, so I can't see the point in him carrying on.
 
Keep the horse. Sell the lorr., See if you can get someone to share both horses with you - why is yours unshareable? Try to find cheaper accommodation for your horses. Where do you keep them? Perhaps go downmarket a bit.
 
Rose Folly said:
Keep the horse. Sell the lorr., See if you can get someone to share both horses with you - why is yours unshareable? Try to find cheaper accommodation for your horses. Where do you keep them? Perhaps go downmarket a bit.
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Not sure that anyone would pay to go near my horse - he is a grumpy git, that is muffin the mule in the school and as he is a 9yr just learning to hack out he flits from muffin the mule out hacking, to racehorse plunging and cantering on the spot to reversing at high speed. There is only one other person that I have allowed to hack him out. Don't get me wrong he is getting much better, but I would worry and as he doesn't need to be ridden every day I would rather know that he is safely in his field/stable. I don't think we wold get much for him if we sold him and we do have an "understanding".

We already do them DIY at the cheepest place locally, we have a deal with the farrier and buy bedding in bulk (which is supplimented by free shredded paper from work), so I don't think we can do it much cheaper and still enjoy them. The lorry would be the easiest saving but mine wont go in a trailer and if I couldn't ever compete I would give up myself - hacking around the block is not what interests me.

Im working on the sharer front and will do some adverts this weekend, that way if no one suitable comes forward, I can at least say I've tried - or it may work out perfectly.
 
Bethie said:
If he isn't bothered about riding until the autumn, I would look to loan for the summer rather than share then the expense of keep is off your hands but the horse will still be available in September. I've been hearing of several students who sold their own horses to go to university but are missing horse time and are looking for summer loans round me, or people who want something to play with for the summer or a ride while their own is off work, etc. so not everyone who is after a loan will be put off by it only being for a few months.
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Would agree with this, I know a few student who sold their horses before uni and now are looking for something to ride over the summer.
 
You are VERY near me! so just to point out that a proven hunter fit and out is worth more money at the beginning of the season that one in the summer being let down. I have to say I think your OH is being sensible but that would need to balance against the fact that horse is probably worth more nearer the season. Is he looking at the actual value of the horse going against a deposit or reducing costs though?
 
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