Trying to Work Out a Deal to Lease a Horse

2752 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Kay Armstrong, Jul 12, 2015

mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · Jun 14, 2015

So my dad's friend owns a horse that he doesn't really want, he would willingly give me the horse for free but we just don't have the money to board him somewhere. Although he's a friend of my dads he doesn't really want me riding the horse for free because then the horse is basically mine and he's paying for (technically) my horse.

So I approached him with the idea of a free lease and he agreed, if I pay him $300 a month. That may seem like a good deal but we just don't have that money, plus I just want to work with the horse twice a week (that's as often as I can get there plus my regular riding lessons) and $300 dollars for riding 8 times a month is a little ridiculous because I would be riding for 30 minutes.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a nice amount to lease he horse for that I can ask him about? Any kind of deal that would work out?

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verona1016

· #2 · Jun 14, 2015

A free lease doesn't make sense in this situation- generally a free lease means you take over all the horse's expenses and pay the owner nothing (the "free" part of it).

What you want is a partial lease- usually a flat fee paid monthly to the owner that covers approximately half of the horse's upkeep. Since the cost of keeping a horse varies significantly by location, I can't say if $300 is a reasonable half lease in your area, but it would be on the high end in my area (eg a horse boarded in a nicer facility)

My guess is that he's pricing it as a full lease, since you're the only one riding the horse even if it's only twice a week. He's basically keeping the horse for you to ride, whether you take advantage of that daily or not. It sounds like the horse is at his property (?) which means he could likely cover the horse's hay/grain/bedding/etc costs for the month with $300 (assuming you're not in an overly expensive area).

You can try negotiating it lower, but he may or may not budge on the price. Perhaps you could offer to do some of the barn chores on the days you're there for a price break.
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Zexious

· #3 · Jun 14, 2015

Is this horse kept at this person's property, or boarded? Leases usually cover board, and half leases cover half. If this horse is kept on the owner's property, different arrangements can be made.

OffTopic--Sona

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LoriF

· #4 · Jun 14, 2015

I think that it's funny as to who pays for riding. Some people want their horses exercised and pay someone to ride them and some people want to ride so they pay for riding. You riding the horse for free doesn't mean that he's paying for your horse. It's still his horse but you are just riding it. If he gives you the horse, then yes, he would be paying for your horse. If he doesn't want the horse then he should sell it or give it away or whatever he wants. As a friend of your dads I would think that he would let you ride it until the horse is sold. You would be doing him a favor in getting the horse in better shape than it would be just standing around. See, it all depends on how you look at things without adding emotion into it. If you guys can't afford the money to keep a horse then you can't. You just look for another way to ride. I have three horses standing around doing nothing right now because I'm so busy at the moment. If I could find someone who is trust worthy and knowledgeable who wanted to ride I would let them.

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Saskia

· #5 · Jun 15, 2015

This guy sounds pretty nice. And its getting to the point where it sounds like its almost you taking advantage of him.

He offers your a free horse, you say no and propose a lease. He offers you what I imagine to be an arrangement where he pays all maintenance costs and you pay a fee. And $300 if it includes everything isn't a bad deal. Once you include board, feed, farrier, vet etc most owners pay more than that. You also have none of the responsibility. This is likely cheaper than a free lease.

Then you want less, paying a lower fee and still being the only one that works horse. He is getting no benefit out of this really. Many people don't care if their horse is in work or not.

Horses are expensive, and sometimes you simply can't afford them.

My last attempt would be too talk with your father about what you can afford, go to him and tell him that you really want to do it but you can't afford to. The most you can spare is x amount and you understand that's not enough to cover expenses. Then tell him if he is interested in the future you'd be happy to help out if needed, or even help him prepare the horse for sale, or care for it while he is away. Thank him and go, and maybe he will offer you some sort of deal.

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mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 17, 2015

Saskia said:
This guy sounds pretty nice. And its getting to the point where it sounds like its almost you taking advantage of him.

He offers your a free horse, you say no and propose a lease. He offers you what I imagine to be an arrangement where he pays all maintenance costs and you pay a fee. And $300 if it includes everything isn't a bad deal. Once you include board, feed, farrier, vet etc most owners pay more than that. You also have none of the responsibility. This is likely cheaper than a free lease.

Then you want less, paying a lower fee and still being the only one that works horse. He is getting no benefit out of this really. Many people don't care if their horse is in work or not.

Horses are expensive, and sometimes you simply can't afford them.

My last attempt would be too talk with your father about what you can afford, go to him and tell him that you really want to do it but you can't afford to. The most you can spare is x amount and you understand that's not enough to cover expenses. Then tell him if he is interested in the future you'd be happy to help out if needed, or even help him prepare the horse for sale, or care for it while he is away. Thank him and go, and maybe he will offer you some sort of deal.

Well $300 a month is what he pays for board, so paying what he pays for broad to ride 8 times a month doesn't seem fitting, but that's just how I view it

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mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 17, 2015

LoriF said:
I think that it's funny as to who pays for riding. Some people want their horses exercised and pay someone to ride them and some people want to ride so they pay for riding. You riding the horse for free doesn't mean that he's paying for your horse. It's still his horse but you are just riding it. If he gives you the horse, then yes, he would be paying for your horse. If he doesn't want the horse then he should sell it or give it away or whatever he wants. As a friend of your dads I would think that he would let you ride it until the horse is sold. You would be doing him a favor in getting the horse in better shape than it would be just standing around. See, it all depends on how you look at things without adding emotion into it. If you guys can't afford the money to keep a horse then you can't. You just look for another way to ride. I have three horses standing around doing nothing right now because I'm so busy at the moment. If I could find someone who is trust worthy and knowledgeable who wanted to ride I would let them.

Yeah he doesn't want the horse so I told my dad that I can help him sell the horse and get him in better shape. I saw him the other night and he's pretty chubby (nothing wrong with that

) and he doesn't even see humans that often, the owner of the barn just feeds him. He never gets ridden and he's weird around people because of his lack of interaction with them. Anyways, thank you for the advice!

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mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 17, 2015

Zexious said:
Is this horse kept at this person's property, or boarded? Leases usually cover board, and half leases cover half. If this horse is kept on the owner's property, different arrangements can be made.

OffTopic--Sona

!

It's boarded at (another) friend of my dads. They only have 2 horses and boarding is actually pretty cheap there for my area, I just can't afford to pay that.

--yes

for a long time I've wanted to own a horse and name her sons and make her show name "Maven of the Strings"

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mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 17, 2015

verona1016 said:
A free lease doesn't make sense in this situation- generally a free lease means you take over all the horse's expenses and pay the owner nothing (the "free" part of it).

What you want is a partial lease- usually a flat fee paid monthly to the owner that covers approximately half of the horse's upkeep. Since the cost of keeping a horse varies significantly by location, I can't say if $300 is a reasonable half lease in your area, but it would be on the high end in my area (eg a horse boarded in a nicer facility)

My guess is that he's pricing it as a full lease, since you're the only one riding the horse even if it's only twice a week. He's basically keeping the horse for you to ride, whether you take advantage of that daily or not. It sounds like the horse is at his property (?) which means he could likely cover the horse's hay/grain/bedding/etc costs for the month with $300 (assuming you're not in an overly expensive area).

You can try negotiating it lower, but he may or may not budge on the price. Perhaps you could offer to do some of the barn chores on the days you're there for a price break.
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Thank you for the help! And the horse is boarded at (another) friend of my dads. The board there is $300. And yeah tbh I wasn't positive on what a free lease was until I looked it up the other night, it's not fitting for this situation what so ever

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natisha

· #10 · Jun 17, 2015

mavenofthestrings said:
Well $300 a month is what he pays for board, so paying what he pays for broad to ride 8 times a month doesn't seem fitting, but that's just how I view it

Split the board or offer' so much' per ride.

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mavenofthestrings

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 21, 2015

natisha said:
Split the board or offer' so much' per ride.

Yeah I was thinking of $150 a month and I can pay half and then my parents can pay half, but I might end up buying the horse soon anyway if we get the house we're looking at that has a horse barn on the property. But thank you for the help!

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stevenson

· #12 · Jun 21, 2015

if you are paying the board $300.00 per month then that is called a Feed lease. not free.
free equals 0. and if paid the board bill, i would ride whenever i chose, not a set amount of time per month. If he is giving you the horse get a 'bill of sale' or a gift sale ..
the persons name, is giving to your name , a horse aged , approx or if reg the actual age, registered name, registry number.and description.. color and markings, and any scars or brands. the guys name agrees he relinquishes all rights to ownership of the horse .

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Glenormiston

· #13 · Jul 11, 2015

I have just started leasing a horse for a free lease. What you can do is if the place is Close to you feed the horse 4 times a week. You can give him $30 a week for his food in return for working with the horse. If doesn't agree with the lease you can say I'll feed and rug and groom if I can ride. And make it sound like you are doing everything for the horse

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Kay Armstrong

· #14 · Jul 12, 2015

What if you offered to do some work around the property in exchange for being allowed to ride?

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