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[RC] Contract Terms with Trainers - k s swigartFrom: <geckogal85@xxxxxxxxx> Maybe I should have put Only trail purposes. God, you guys take things so literal on ridecamp. Lighten up and actually read the post don't read into it! You are asking for advice on how to write a legally binding contract. You had better be prepared for people to take what is written literally (which, incidentally, is completely the opposite of "reading into it"). And I can guarantee you, if it comes down to needing the written contract to settle a dispute between the parties of a contract (which is the only reason for having one), that NOBODY will have any sympathy with your position if you tell them (when they try to interpret your written contract) that they need to "lighten up" because that isn't what you meant and perhaps you should have written it differently. If you don't trust this person to buy equipment for your horse that your horse doesn't need and stick you with the price of it as well as getting to keep the equipment, then you shouldn't be trusting the person with your horse (just as, if you don't trust this person to train your trail horse on the trail without your consent you shouldn't be trusting her with your horse either). Everything you have asked here on Ridecamp in relation to your dealings with this trainer suggest that you have absolutely no faith in him/her. Detailed written contracts with multitudes of terms to cover every eventuality are for parties that don't have any trust in each other. Parties that have no trust in each other have no business entering into agreements over the care and handling of horses. I write plenty of training agreements (mostly for liability reasons to do with third parties) with my clients, and to protect both parties to the agreement, the thing that I make the biggest point of including is to have an easy way to get out of it if it doesn't go as hoped such that both parties will feel as though they have done their best but that it didn't work out, through nobody's "fault" (probably because the horse didn't totally cooperate with the people's expectations). The contract that you are suggesting has no such easy exit clause. It is way too much of an all or nothing deal. There are SOME horses that no matter how much training they have by whom will never be "completely saddle trained and safe to ride." What are you going to do if one but not the other of you comes to this conclusion about this horse?????? What if both of you come to this conclusion about this horse after the trainer has spent three years trying to achieve it???? WHO gets to decide that the contract is over even if it hasn't been completed? You can take back your horse (or not transfer it over until the training is "done") but the trainer can't take back any of the training. Consequently, if you are not happy with how the training is going, will you be allowed to say "don't keep training my horse, and since you haven't finished the job I don't have to pay you anything." Or will the trainer be able to say "No, you have to let me keep trying my ineffectual methods because the contract says that I am to work on the horse until the training is done no matter how much time it takes after which you will have to give me my payment." Exit clauses before the contract is complete is one of the most important things to put in a contract (especially one as insanely open-ended as this one). And almost all of them contain methods of "partial payment" along the way so that neither party feels completely stiffed if the contract ends before completion. There is no way to do a "partial payment" when the payment is a horse. So, what you need to put in this contract to make it equitable is something that allows the trainer to get paid something (if not the horse itself) if the terms of "completely saddle trained and safe to ride" are not met to everybody's satisfaction but you want to terminate the contract anyway. And after you write it and sign your name to it, you can be damned sure that if you ever need it, that the people reading it are going to take what you have written literally but will also "read into it" if you have left monstrous gaping holes like including the terms "completely saddle trained and safe to ride." If you don't ever need it, it doesn't matter what it says; it could be written in Greek. In essence, the question that was asked was "how do I write a good contract with a trainer, I have no experience with this." And the answer you are getting is "don't include the terms 'completely saddle trained and safe to ride.'" No good contract would contain these terms. The problem with your proposed contract is not the terms you haven't included. It is the terms that you have included. If you want to enter into a contract with poorly stated terms no matter what the advice you are getting to the contrary, go right ahead. Just don't count on this contract protecting anybody in the transaction. It won't. But, if you are determined to proceed anyway, then the additional terms that you need to include to make it even mildly palatable (and easier to ajudicate for anybody who will have to if you and your trainer cannot agree) are some other conditions that allow one or the other of you to get out of the contract before it is complete. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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