Want info. on leasing a horse for fair project.

[Jeanne in MN]

My dd is in Horseless Horse for 4-H this year and for her project is gathering information on what owning, boarding, and leasing a horse entails. She has contacted horse owners and a person that boards a horse, but she has no info. on leasing a horse.

 

Would anyone be willing to share info. on what that entails? She's interested in information on leasing just for fair time AND leasing long-term. Any information you would be willing to share would be most appreciated. She's looking at cost, responsibilities and anything she may not be aware of that might be involved.

 

If you can help, please let us know what part of the country you are from since we are from MN and costs from the coasts may be different than from those of the Midwest.

 

Thank you so much!

[regentrude]

We are leasing a horse for DD long term.

We pay for board; this means the horse is fed, watered, housed, turned out, the stall is cleaned. Cost will vary depending on where in the country you are; we are in a poor area in rural MO and pay $225 per month. This is probably the lower end. We are responsible for any medical bills up to $200, worming, and the annual vaccines.

In turn, DD gets the exclusive right to ride the horse whenever she wants. She is the one to show the horse at horse shows.

She may not take the horse off the property without the owner's express permission, and she may not let other people ride the horse without the owner's consent.

 

Hope this helps.

[Brigitte]

We lease. We pay for the board (stall, feed, turn-in and out, no stall cleaning) and the farrier. The board runs about $350 a month and the farrier is $45 every other month. Cleaning our own stall saves about $75 a month. The owners of the horse don't have us paying a "lease fee." Basically they wanted to cover the monthly costs of their beloved pony. They pay the vet, unless we do something that would cause an injury or illness (negligence on our part). We can take her off property, but only with the permission of our trainer. The only place we take her is to away horse shows, but our trainer is always there (either he or the owners do the trailering).

 

In exchange for the above, we have exclusive use of this pony and dd can ride anytime. The barn is in north-east TN. They are a hunter-jumper facility, no western, which probably impacts the cost. Also, our trainer is known around the US, which must also have an impact on what we pay.

[Jeanne in MN]

Thank you so much for your responses, ladies!! Very helpful information-I wouldn't have guessed you pay board to lease a horse so that's good to know. Considering your locations I think costs and agreements would comparable. Thank you SO much for taking the time to respond and help out my dd. We sincerely appreciate it. :)

[creekland]

We often free lease our ponies (we own them, lease them out) for 4H and/or training/sale.

 

In both cases the person leasing pays for all expenses (feed, board if there is any, worming, farrier, vet costs if there are any - the pony leaves here with coggins and shots - and showing costs). They can take them to shows and use them in lessons (when the pony is ready). When/if they sell the pony at a price we both agree on, they get to keep 50% of the sales price.

 

The benefit to us is getting a pony trained under saddle, show and/or lesson miles, and possibly a sale.

 

The benefit to them is not needing the upfront cost for a nice pony, training experience, the pony can help pay for themselves by doing some lessons (once ready), and 50% of the sales price.

 

In the right situation it works well. The right situation has been 4H kids wanting a project (sometimes they use my yearlings - no riding - just showmanship) or trainers with groups of lesson kids at their own barn where they aren't really paying extra for board.

 

Some folks require insurance on leased animals. We don't, but it could be an extra expense pending who you were leasing from.

 

Around here, to lease an already trained equine there is usually a monthly fee. We leased one out for $300/month once, but almost always we sell our trained steeds. I never really understood wanting to lease a trained pony for a fee unless you really want something for a short period of time. Over time it's less expensive to buy IMO. If you could find one for a free lease, that would be different, but it surprises me if many owners would go for that except for certain situations.