RC: Leases

[Janet Estes <zestes@sd69.bc.ca>]

Around here (BC, Canada) we call it "trialing" a horse. It's very common
and assuming the trialer is a responsible and conscientious person, can be
a win-win situation for both parties.

So far I have only purchased 2 horses, but we're shopping for another right
now. With both horses that we bought we were able to trial each of them for
2 weeks. This was an excellent way for us AND the owners to determine
whether or not we were a "match".

We had one horse on trial for 2 weeks that the owner insisted was
"bombproof" and he ended up being completely highstrung and unpredictable
on the trails. This didn't come out until he'd spent 5 days with us. He
went back to his owners on Day 6!

My daughter just sold her horse and we allowed his (then) prospective
owners to trial him for 2 weeks. It gave them the time to make sure he
would meet their needs and gave us the time to stay in contact with them,
check up on him and make sure we were comfortable selling him to them.

Some trials require full payment upfront (with a guaranteed full refund if
the horse is not purchased and returned in good health) and others don't
require money upfront. It depends on the owners. When we sent my daughter's
horse out on trial, we insisted on a deposit of half the money upfront and
we also included in the contract that we could retrieve our horse at any
time (no questions asked) before the trial period was up. I wanted that
clause there, in case we had second thoughts about the quality of home they
would provide. Of course, if we exercised that option we would have
returned their deposit. If he became ill/injured during is stay with them,
meidcal/vet bills would be deducted from the deposit.

We're currently horse shopping and the owners of both the horses we're
interested in have offered us trials, before we've even mentioned it.

You have to go with your gut. I'm pretty good at reading people and can
easily assess who I'd be comfortable trialing a horse to. And for that
matter, anyone I wouldn't be comfortable offering a trial to... I wouldn't
be comfortable selling a horse to!

Janet
zestes@sd69.bc.ca