Would you ever consider LOANING your horse out?

I loaned my mare to a newly established riding school on the understanding they would find a home for her, not much chance as they told everyone I had swapped her for their 2 year old NF, which I took [at my expense] to break.
So I was shafted on both counts. She got pregnant [!] and I was told that I must remove her and her day old foal from their premises .
I was then presented with a BILL!
 
Sorry, but can I just butt in here, I have a ponio on loan, and have had him for 3 years, 21 years old and not sound at the moment, his mum can not have him back as she has nowhere to put him, as for vet's bill's I pay them, last one was just under £200, so we are not all bad, so I have a loan pony that can not be ridden. We keep in touch, and if he does not come sound we may need to go down the pts option. So people we are out here, and some of us care about the horse and treat him/her as if it is our own. Sorry my point was going to be, most other people would have given the pony back as unridable, but I am doing my best to get the old boy sound with out him suffering. Sorry for the waffle, and I'm not sure that any of the above actually makes any sense.:confused:
 
Yes, I don't see why not. I wouldn't ever sell Nitty, she doesn't really have any value and I'd worry where she'd end up, but if I couldn't have her for a while I might loan her out. I've had two horses on loan in my life and I looked after them as if they were my own. No, actually I looked after them better than if they were my own! :p
I can't be the only good (I think I was a good home anyway :o) loan home out there in the world.
 
i wouldnt, personally.

partly because i hate even when i sell my horses, i dont feel like they're ever looked after or ridden correctly. (they probably are, so dont kill me for saying that!:D)i wouldnt want to be given back a ruined pony.
also, when they get to old to sell, i wouldnt be able to give the retired horse a home for life because of personal reasons.
i wouldnt want to have the responsibility of vets bills that people refuse to pay and i also wouldnt want to see my horse neglected.

**please dont kill me for anything that ive just said, they're just my opinions!**

edited just to say, i have loaned a pony before and he was amazing! so they are out there. the special ones that nobody wants to sell
 
I have considered loaning my lad, when moneys been tight. And i just couldn't do it. He's a green 3yo and so would be snapped up immediately. But who's to say he wouldn't come back to me completely ruined?
If i go to uni next year he will be going on loan, but to my sister! She's a competent horsewoman and i know she'll look after him the way id want, why? Because i taught her everything she knows ;)
 
Barnsey said:
Sorry, but can I just butt in here, I have a ponio on loan, and have had him for 3 years, 21 years old and not sound at the moment, his mum can not have him back as she has nowhere to put him, as for vet's bill's I pay them, last one was just under £200, so we are not all bad, so I have a loan pony that can not be ridden. We keep in touch, and if he does not come sound we may need to go down the pts option. So people we are out here, and some of us care about the horse and treat him/her as if it is our own. Sorry my point was going to be, most other people would have given the pony back as unridable, but I am doing my best to get the old boy sound with out him suffering. Sorry for the waffle, and I'm not sure that any of the above actually makes any sense.:confused:
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if the owner can't have him back and you are willing to take all responsibility, I don't understand why you don't take on ownership [£1]
 
Toast said:
I have considered loaning my lad, when moneys been tight. And i just couldn't do it. He's a green 3yo and so would be snapped up immediately. But who's to say he wouldn't come back to me completely ruined?
If i go to uni next year he will be going on loan, but to my sister! She's a competent horsewoman and i know she'll look after him the way id want, why? Because i taught her everything she knows ;)
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I don't think a green three year old is the perfect loan horse,from any viewpoint.
 
Im thinking of 'possibly' loaning out my TB next year but he will only be kept on our yard (so someone local) as I'd still want to know exactly what was going on.

My friend loans her horse out 2/3 days a week and the ride pays £10 per day she comes - works really well as his manners are to die for and the lady mainly leads him around with her daughter on board :)
 
In the past I've "loaned" mine to an equestrian college, and he was there for 2 years. TBH this is the ONLY loan I'd ever consider again; I certainly wouldn't let my boy go out on a private arrangement ever again.

I loaned him out last Autumn, spent ages working out a proper loan agreement for him (using the BHS as a template) but also adding stuff relevant to him as he's got sweet itch and I wanted to make sure that he'd always be wearing his sweet-itch rug if turned out etc etc., also would need supplements and extra care in the "sweet itch season".

I loaned him to a girl who had arranged to keep him at a local riding stables, and having also spoken to the YM there, assumed that everything would be OK.

It wasn't!!! :( The first weekend he was there it was very hot and he was somehow put out without his rug (apparently "some kids did it not realising"); and he rubbed himself raw. I popped out to the yard to see how he'd settled in and found him in that state and asked the YO if he could make sure this didn't happen again: he then accused me of sending the horse up to the yard in that state and that he'd always been raw like that. So this was the first thing.

Secondly, only five weeks into the loan, the girl that had taken responsibility for him told me that she couldn't afford it any more and that she was giving up the loan; I then had the embarrassing situation where she'd paid diddly squat for his livery since he'd been there and I then had to fix something up very quickly coz the YO wanted an arm and a leg for livery; whereas I could keep him at home for nothing (tho' we had to fix up a temporary stable) - so that's what we did. But I still had the expense of transporting him.

So I'd NEVER loan him out again to someone I didn't know or to a yard I didn't know - only exception being to an equestrian college as I've said earlier. Or to a close friend or someone my trainer knew and could recommend........... maybe.

People grouse about not being able to find a loan horse but IMO they don't realise what a huge privilege it is, to basically have someone else's horse for nothing!!!! and there's also the issue of being trusted with what is probably someone else's most precious possession. I've got a friend's mare on loan to me at the moment; so know what its like from the other side too.
 
A fellow livery is having to give up her loan pony (arthritus related - pony not human) and is looking for something 15.1+ to loan - moving to the most fabulous yard EVER!! She is very competant and has myself and other knowledgeable owners around for any help she may need. Wanting to do a variety of disciplines and have some fun, so long term home would be best.

Does this exist these days? or are people too frightened to loan anymore?
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Yes.

I have loaned put many of my ponies.
1 went on loan locally & in the same PC, was a fantastic home, left them to it never had any problems.
Another went on loan to Cambridge from Bournemouth. Again, fab home, they got her to HOYS!
Another went 30miles away, again fab home.
My other pony always bounced back in local loan homes, but he's in Devon now and they love him to pieces.


I have also loaned horses locally who have always been fab and owners very supportive.

A watertight loan agreement is a MUST.

There are plenty of horses lacking riders. Putting wanted ad's up is a great idea, as well as word of mouth, sometimes people are hesitate to put adverts up for reasons mentioned...

:)

ETA:My NF has been in bad loan homes too...one was at a BHS riding school. He was beaten, bullied in the field. Put in a stable on straw (allergic!) and had a martingale put on (big no no for him!) He now has various scars all over him. I was shocked and horrified and then they accused him of being 'not the pony they picked up' I WONDER WHY?!
 
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Yes I would consider it - and in fact someone is considering having my darling TB on loan.

I have had 1 loan horse and 2 loan ponies in the past. I have made some wonderful friends with all 3 families.
All of them were very well looked after and cared for as if they were our own.
I have over 30 years experience and the 2 loan ponies were used for my daughter to progress on (she's 18 now and into boys).
They were treated like family, always given veterinary care when needed at my expense, and loved very much.
 
Hmm, interesting... majority opinion seems to be against it due to bad experiences.

However, it can work, and certainly did in my case with my TB gelding Lucky. However, as has been mentioned, it's crucial that the loan agreement is up to legal standard and covers a lot of seemingly obvious details. If you don't trust the loanee then there's no point, imo. I had to reject one potential loanee (politely) because my horse obviously didn't like her on their first meeting - Lucky had a say in the matter too! :)
 
Quite often horses come up for loan in august/sept time as that is when people are going to uni and cannot look after their horse. I know I am heart breakingly going to have to put my mare on full loan sept 2013 as that is when i go to uni. :( where abouts are you? why not put an ad in your local tack shop or something :rolleyes:
 
I have loaned out a horse twice, the first went brilliantly - the mare went to a lovely lady and 6 months later I sold her to the loaner.
The second time was my beloved cob and it was a disaster! Thank god the yard knew who I was or I could have lost him. I would be very strict about loaning him out again.
 
My boy has went to the other end of the country and is being spoiled rotten by his loaner.

Hes 21 and still full of beans but is giving her the confidence she needed but will have that little bit of spark for when she wants to do more :)
 
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