Selling horse/trials, etc

[eveadel]

Hi

If you was selling your horse would you offer a trial? I have heard of many a horror stories

[jor]

I have previously allowed horses and ponies to go on 2 or 3 months trial loans before purchases, all been big mistakes.
The one that most annoyed me was a girl who took one of the ponies on I get who would otherwise gone through market (a 14hh welshx) he had been unhandled before I got him, though was very sweet. i got him in the August and she took him in the January after he had been backed about 6 weeks though hadnt done a huge amoutn of ridden work.
I told her he needed a lot of groundwork before she started riding him, he needed to be lunged, longreined and led out in hand and iven plenty of time to settle down at the new yard.
When she came to get him she turned up with a trailer that was rear-unload only, first problem.
He loaded fine but wasnt so keen on getting off.
Second problem was that the stable she had tld me he was going in was occupied and he had to go into a tiny stable, but she and YO promised he would only be in it at night for less than a week (stable was approx 6ftx9ft for 14hh) I reluctantly agreed but said I wanted him out of the stable in 5 days and he was to be in there was as little time as possible.
He arrived with her on the Friday afternoon and on the Monday I got a phonecall saying he had 'bronced' her friend off.
Apart from the fact i had not agreed for anyone else to ride him she had already gone against what Id said about giving him time.
I went straight there and did a bit of work with him without tack then popped his tack back on. After speaking with them we came to the conclusion that his girth hadnt been done and as the rider had got on she had pulled his saddle over his spine then sat on it, resulting in the buck/ing.
I told her to only lunge him and I would be back at the weekend to help leg someone up onto him and ride him about quietly for 15 minutes.
On the Wednesday I went to the yard where he was kept and looked in the field for him, he wasnt there, I checked his stable, he wasnt there either. I spent half an hour on the yard waiting for someone. Eventually someone turned up and said he was in a different field (without my permission) they showed me the track it was off, I went down and the field was poorly fenced with droppy barbed wire all over, I immediately took him out of this field and put him in the menage with hay and water, leaving a note for him not to be returned to the badly fenced field.
I went up saturday, she apologised for moving him, legged her up onto him and walked them round calmly (no bucking) i said I would do the same the next day.
Turned up on Sunday at 11am, noone was there and the pony was in the tiny stable with NO hay and No water and a filthy bed, I was furious, tried to ring her but no answer on her phone. Left a note saying that she had a week to rectify the situation or I would remove him.
I went up again to try a saddle on him (I had said when the saddle slipped I would get a new saddle for him) he had no hay AGAIN and was inside in the middle of the day in the tiny stable STILL!
I went up again later to try and catch her with no luck, left a message saying I would collect him the next day at 12pm and all his tack, rugs and equipment should be ready for me.
I turned up the next day and all his things were locked away and he had been turned out in a PADLOCKED paddock. I left another note that he MUST be returned to me at her cost the next day or I would report her to the police.
She did turn up the next day WITHOUT my tack or his rug, I didnt even see her, she handed the pony to my friend who was there and fled (suprise)
The pony had lost weight and had become nervous of being tacked up and mounted, yet she had only had him two weeks.
I eventually got my tack back (four weeks later) but never saw the rug again.
Fortunately after another 8 weeks of hard work I got the pony right again and sold him to a PC home.

In future my answer to a trial would be NO or yes with a 20% deposit which is not refundable if I have ANY problem with the way the horse has been kept when he/she is returned to me.
I actually loan out quite a few horses and ponies on a permenant basis, who have come in as some form of rescue case, i am very careful about the type of person I choose but people are not always what they seem!

[belle1]

I am selling my cob at the moment and have had a number of people ask about trials or loan with view to buy. My answer has been no. People are welcome to come and try her out at our yard, and they are welcome to come and see her as many times as they want. I would even consider a trial based at our yard under my supervision. But I would not put her out on trial.

[eveadel]

Jo R

That is very interesting. I had someone who liked my horse but wanted him on a 1 - 2 week trial. I didnt not agree and she decided not to have him. I was just wondering whether I had worried to much about it? I was worried about him not settling in such a short period of time and also what would happen if he was kicked, etc.

[eveadel]

Belle 1 I totally agree, I would offer anybody who was interested they could come down and have a trial at my yard but not taken off the yard

[jor]

I think that is the best idea eveadel.
As with any pony/horse from me I would be happy for someone to come everyday to look after/ride as many times as they like but I would not let another pony go on trial. I would rather loan than sell via trial (and Ive had bad experiences with loans too!)

I dont quite see the point in a 1 or 2 week trial anyway, most horses take at least 2 weeks to settle into a new yard, in this time you may see things a horse wouldnt normally do, for example he may pull and get excited going to a field or he rmay be spooky when ridden or be unsettled in the stable, some horses become completely different for the first few weeks then settle down after a month...so anything less than an 8-12 weeks trial is completely pointless IMO.
Mind you if someone from here who I have 'known' for some time asked to have a pony of mine on trial before purchase I would most likely agree. I also wouldnt hesitate to offer a companion pony to some people on this board who I have 'known'
I am hoping come spring the 14.2hh I took on a couple of months ago (is it that long?!) who is with someone being schooled will find a permenant loan home through this board. Kermit (ex rescue fell pony who was bullying my old mare) is with someone from this board who I am very confident will do very well by him.
Its about finding people you trust and click with you and the pony. I have regularly been known to turn people away who have approached me for a horse/pony on loan as I just didnt like them for some reason, usually nothing that obvious, just a 'feeling'.

[pip]

Yes, I agree with that too. I wanted to sell my horse, and I said that the potential buyer could come and ride her in company/by herself/take her for a lesson/etc but not away from home.

I'm afraid that sometimes people just want a free horse for a bit and/or ruin it in a very short time.
When you advertise "for sale" and people ring up to ask "will you consider loaning" can mean they want to have it but not pay for it!

[eveadel]

Phew Im glad that it was not me being paronoid, this is a very hard decision for me anyway

[pensioner]

Would agree with Jo that having a pony on trial for a fortnight is pointless. Yes it might well do something sily in that fortnight, but also I've known people buy horses before that were as god as gold for almost a fortnight & then shown their true colours. One in particular springs to mind that after about ten days started to kick when you entered either his field or stable & yes he did take aim, not at all trustworthy & sold to a nervous rider as a suitable partner.

[annahindley]

It may not be completely pointless - I bought a pony once (admitedly I was only 13 at the time). I took my riding teacher with me for my second viewing - and he thought he was a great pony. I had him vetted, and he passed. I got him home and in 2-3 days he was a monster - the vet finally admitted he was a little suspicious about his pupil response and in retrospect the pony was sedated. We all missed it. I wish I'd had a trial! I later found out that, suprise suprise, he had been mistreated.
The risk of injury is great and it would be hard to know who is libel for vets bills - but you could have a contract for that I suppose.
I think it used to be more common - I remember friends having horses on trial alot - but I guess the litigious society has changed a lot of that.
Personally, I would rather a horse I had sold came back to me if it had problems, than got passed from pillar to post. A trial would help this, but there is a lot of risk involved.

[cubic]

eveadel said:

Belle 1 I totally agree, I would offer anybody who was interested they could come down and have a trial at my yard but not taken off the yard

I do the same, but if someone want's us to take the horse somewhere (at their expense) to try then that's fine too (such as a show to ride round, or XC schooling). Unless you know the person it seems very risky to send the horse on trial unless you have many safegaurds in place.

Having said that I had a horse on trial at the beginning of the year, he was with a friend who was selling him on behalf of someone, so she knew that we would look after him etc. Over teh 3 weeks we had him he became more twitchy and headshaking began to develop. Our friend hadn't noticed this because she had mainly ridden in the indoor school where he didn't headshake, and as it was spring and getting warmer it was causing his headshaking to worsen the more weeks we had him. If we'd just had him vetted at the yard he was at we might not have known about this problem. Obviously as a buyer you want the best 'trial' possible, but it's hard to strike a happy balence.

[eveadel]

I suppose it is half a dozen or one and half a dozen of another. I still feel better in the decision I have made, what is someone sold your horse aswell while it was on trial