your loaning experiences, good, bad or disaster!!

[newforest]

have you ever put horse out on loan
have you done loan view to buy, was it ok, or a disaster and you'd never do it again?

have you had horse on loan, was it ok or would you not do it again, or do it differently, maybe now you'd only ever buy.


my first pony was a winter loan from local stables. it worked out ok as i shared her, had set days to ride etc. though pony was very hard to catch and often i didn't ride. she'd worked all season in the stables, this to her was a holiday rest period.

 

[shandy84]

I had a pony on loan when I was a youngster unfortunatly I shared the loan with an older girl and she hogged all the riding so it wasn't great, then told tales on me to get me kicked out of the share (was only about 12yrs old)

Since then I have loaned various companions for my horses, I haven't been keen basically because the owners have been dishonest or the horse has proven unsuitable in the end.

However i'm no looking at sharing my own pony and hope by being honest with them it will work better, a lot of the trouble with loans/shares are lack of communication.

 

[chev]

I have Dolly on loan from ambatt, and it's been great. She is exactly what ambatt said she is, and I love her to bits. Am now in the process of buying her, so that gives you an idea of how well it worked out!

 

[lolahutt]

I have had horses on loan from someone who was at the yard with her other horses...that was not a good situation.
I have had horses on loan from someone who was not at the yard and that worked.
I am currently loaning out my Dartmoor to a girl nearby and it works really well.
I have known two seperate people who loaned horses to try and sell them on!!! One did succeed and was taken to court by the owner, The other did not succeed but the horse got taken back by its owners some time later for other reasons, which is lucky really!
The main thing about loaning is that for it to be succesful their must be a really clear loan agreement, that both parties agree to. It is when their is confusion over the loan (or dishonest people involved) that things go wrong. I think if I was loaning a horse to someone I did not know (I know the girl who has Diva) then I would want to see references...lots of them!

 

[Morganna]

I had a loan on a horse at our riding school/livery yard before buying my own and it worked out well. I rode twice a week and just pretty much hacked out plus I would use her for lessons as I was used to riding her and she was a lovely horse - her owner was really nice too but I rarely saw her. Then I bought my first horse who I took on full loan with a view to buying for 3 months before deciding to buy him. That also worked out well as I never saw the girl who I bought him from until it was time to hand over the money for him.

I am currently in the process of finding a loaner for my horse and it's not been easy. Quiite a few people have arranged to come and see him then backed out at the last minute and when someone did turn up he was lame as he had an over reach injury on his front heel bulb which we discovered 10 minutes before she turned up so she couldn't ride him. Then someone else called about him and she came up to visit him while he was on box rest and now they both want to come back and try riding him to see how they get on. Loaners are like buses......cant get one then two come along at once

 

[jumpingmad]

I had my mare on perminant loan with view to buy for almost a year..i seriously could not of asked for a better owner to loan off!! she came to live with me and my gelding (horse not the owner lol!) and her owner let me get on with things. We phoned every now and then to let her know how she was doing and to ask if she wanted to come visit..i think she visited her about 4 times before i bought her on mothers day this year (best present ever!!) and she completely trusted me i am so greatfull to her =] And when i went to see her for the first time, the owner didnt lie to me. She explained what was wrong with her, what vices she had and what her past was like..and she was completely truthfull with me ^_^ why cant all owners be like her?

I have also had an extremely BAD experience loaning a pony..so i guess its the owners you've got to test more than the horse!

 

[BBCRYSTAL]

I put a pony out on loan when I had my little boy and would never do it again! She was only gone for four weeks but when she came back she wouldn't pick her feet up without trampling all over me! They told me they had had a vet out and that she had a serious back problem and would need to go to Liverpool for treatment, which I obviously got checked out straight away only to find that she had probably pulled a muscle in the field and after one session of physiotherapy she was absolutely fine. I have since sold the mare and she is now in a very loving permanent home.

 

[LeftBrainer]

Difficult one. I'd never put a horse on loan or take one without water tight paper work. The two occasions I've loaned horses with a view to sell have worked out brilliantly (fix your price when the loan period starts and get it in the paperwork).
I too have known someone who was thoroughly dishonest and disreputable when it came trying to sell a horse that she claimed was her's. Devon is a small county when it comes to horse owners though and word soon got around!!

 

[Aimee-x]

ive had loan horses and my last one was a disaster.I had Pete my tb on loan and he was emaciated and sick when i got him,then i got him looking stunning and going really well and his owner turned around and said she wanted to sell him
id still do it again as im only 16 and cant really afford to buy atm and i hate being horseless lol,but id have to make sure a loan contract was written up,im not going to go through all that again,was heartbreaking having to give my boy back.

 

[Harlequin32]

I have had 3 experiences with loaning...
1. I put my old gelding on loan to a fantastic home where he stayed happily for about 5 years until they got too busy he got too old and his health started to deteriorate so i had him back
2. After such a good experience first time i put my other horse on loan when i had a baby and the loanee wanted to buy him, i said no then he "died" and i was never able to contact them again, this is horrible it was several years ago now but still really bothers me
3. we have just taken on loan a pony and its great, i didnt want to buy as apart from financial reasons a child quickly outgrows a pony and being a sap i could never sell a horse! we loan her from friends and so far so good
I would therfore reccommend loaning either way as long as you are very careful and take all precautions.

 

[StormyJ]

My first pony was on loan to me, she was gorgeous and her owner was brilliant, she just left us to it. We emailed her with updates and new photos and she was always on hand if we wanted her help but she was always telling us to "treat her as your own" which is so important. Unfortunately Phoebe had to go back a few months early but she gave us the full month's notice and was really understanding. She has sold her now and I haven't seen her since we gave her back, but I know she wouldn't sell her to the wrong home. She was perfect for me, I wouldn't be nearly so good on the ground with bargy, bolshy horses as I am now if it wasn't for her! She came to us wearing a 64" girth (bigger than they make them!) and left in a 50" so she was quite a project (at 14hh she was morbidly obese when we got her).
The day she arrived:

Later on, at Pony Club, I think we'd had her about 6 months at this point:

The day we took her home:

We also have our other mare out on loan 4 hours away in Dorset to a nervous lady rider. She is a lovely mare who would do it all but was feeling her age (she's an old 17) and at the same time I needed to give Phi to my mum and get something new for myself, so it seemed like the best option. We don't get to see her much (we visited in April, she went in January) but we're pretty sure she's ok. The loaner is very nice and lets us come whenever we want and loves her very much. She could send more updates but then she has 3 small children and a full time job so does what she can!

Sorry, that was very long!

 

[scoobylover]

I had a rubbish experience of loaning when I was a teenager. Had a 4 year old anglo arab mare. Very thin and nervous when we collected her, had awful feet, had only just been backed, she had no ridden experience. We had to do a 60 mile round trip to pick the owner up every week for 3 months, then every 2 weeks for a couple of months, then once a month, so she could check on her.
After 18 months, Shebi was a stunning, well schooled, well behaved little horse, who could turn her hoof to anything. When she saw how lovely Shebi was, she decided to have her back. Nothing we could do and I was absolutely heartbroken.
Fagen, I had on loan 13 years ago, and I have heard just ONCE from his owner, and that was in the first few weeks that I had him! He is now going on loan, from me, to a lovely girl who wants a pony just for the summer holidays. She has been coming over to ride him a couple of times a week for the last couple of weeks. Going to see her yard tomorrow, and all being well, he will be leaving me on Friday However, I have no qualms about his well being, and he will only be about 7 miles away.
We also have Ziggy on loan, will be 2 years this August. His owner has been to see him a few times, but she lets us get on with it, she trusts me

 

[vieshot]

I have loaned but wouldnt loan again. Only because some things eg- if the horse really injured a leg and had t be box rested for 8months or whatever then i would rather have it put down but the owner would probably say 'no, i want him box rested' and then id have to pay out loads of money on something i wouldnt feel was right if that makes sense, id hate to come into a disagreement like that

 

[chev]

I have loaned but wouldnt loan again. Only because some things eg- if the horse really injured a leg and had t be box rested for 8months or whatever then i would rather have it put down but the owner would probably say 'no, i want him box rested' and then id have to pay out loads of money on something i wouldnt feel was right if that makes sense, id hate to come into a disagreement like that

And yet on the older horse thread you are basically condemning anyone who sells rather than loans?

 

[laceyfreckle]

loans and loaning hmmmmmmmm

my first owned pony came to me as a loan with view to buy. i paid for her in installments. everything went well. in fact when i became pregnant with my first child and couldn't afford to keep the pony as well her original owner brought her back from me. she was a 3yr old unbroken NF xTB called India though.

i had a pony on loan a 13.2hh called Woody from my best friend in 2000 and that didn't work well basically she put him on loan to me as she was frightened off him and when i had him schooling well the livery yard i was at which was also a riding school offered to buy him of his owner and she agreed so basically he was sold from under me
i also had a 12.2hh welsh sec A pony on loan at the same time as Woody and that went VERY well. pony was a sweetheart as was his owners. unfortunately when i fell out with the RS who bought Woody from under me (i wasn't very happy about it) they made it very difficult for Blue the little welsh. he had COPD and they tried to do things such as moving his stable next to a hay barn! i couldn't find alternative affordable stabling so he had to go back to his owner.

I had PJ on loan last year, a 14hh connemara x arab and to be honest the loan went well, i didn't get to ride him much in the end as not long after i had him he had a problem with his suspensory ligament and had to slow down. his owner and i mutually agreed she would want to have him back as he was looking at a years rest some paddock, some box. we paid the insurance excess 50% each and as i had him treated on the insurance i had taken out for him (part of my loan agreement was that they wanted him insured including vet bills) had he been sound it would have been a great permanent type loan. his owner was lovely and we kept in touch about once a month.

i put lacey on loan at the beginning of this year (loan with view to buy) and it was awful. in a 2 week period my suitable 'first/second pony' went to a nervous spooky wreck. she had nicks on her where she had been clipped without clipper guards on the clippers. she had also lost a lot of weight and looked down trodden, barely recognisable. she also had a sore back. she went on loan as a childs first pony and ended up being used as a PC competition pony ridden by a child and a rather heavy adult as well as being overjumped. i brought her home after a situation which involved the police being called. not long after being home she came down with what is thought to be stress induced laminitis and 4 months on she is still slightly unsound and has never really got back to her old self although she is getting there slowly. putting her on loan cost me a lot emotionally and financially. if i was to loan out again i would be far more cautious and do far more checks.

so basically i have had issues with loaning out but most of the loans i have had have gone well.

 

[Sammii]

Ahhh dear, NF you're asking for trouble here.

 

[pedilia]

I put my two out on loan together when I was pregnant with my daughter, to cut a long story short, Storm was sold to a dealer by the loanee, I eventually got him back a nervous wreck.He will never be the same horse that went out on loan Case went to court and loanee got a conditional discharge

My shetland went out on loan to a lovely lady via this website, she had to come back through no fault of her own but was very well looked after.

 

[punxmafia]

My pony Ted is on loan to a girl at the yard I have my horse at, so I can keep an eye on him. No she is fantastic! She absolutly loves him and he can be a grumpy bum at times. She is fairly new to keeping a horse so is very willing to accept advice and ask for it off me or the YO. Ted is a fantstic jumper so he is teaching her to jump this summer. He also has sweet itch so she is learning really well to cope with that. She rided him everyday on super long hack which he loves and were all going to a show this weekend so it will be a real fun time. Its a great sitution, she can look after Tilly of im away and ill happily look after him.

 

[vieshot]

And yet on the older horse thread you are basically condemning anyone who sells rather than loans?

What? This has nothing to do with that. I personally wouldnt loan again but at the same time i wouldnt buy an older horse either. Whats that got to do with this thread?

 

[montys helper]

i have had a couple of girls at my yard who have had horses on loan, one thought she was to good and knew everything but she didnt look after the horses she had on loan and she never rode them as she was to scared lol the other was just patheticly pathetic, she tried to do the talk but she deffo couldnt do the walk, she got a horse on loan and didnt even try it out b4 she got it. she would go and catch it but as soon as it turn it head she would let it go, it was agony to watch. i finally got her to ride it but i had to keep the lead rain on omg, why do people do it, why get a horse you know you wont be able to cope with.she only rode it the once, she had only been around horses for a year and had a 14,2 pony but i dont think she rode it as she was way to tall and big for a 14'2. im glad to say she is no longer on my yard and the horse is safe away from her.