I am currently trying to sell my OTTB, and through one of the sites I have him on a woman contacted me about donating him to a college in Dillon, MT for the ISHA to use for their Open/Advanced riders. I was wondering if she has ever contacted anyone else and if it’s a good idea? I’ve never actually had a big tax write off, as I am a college student myself. I have really low-ball listed because my horse herd has aquired to be too large, but he is pretty highly valued with his training and everything. I just don’t know if anyone has ever donated to them and if it’s a good idea! I also have no idea how tax-write off’s work. I don’t know if I could get my money back out of him eventually.
For starters you have to have income to offset the write off. Not sure if that would be an issue with you being a student. Anything over $5000 would have to be professionally appraised. I am not familiar with that particular program but in general I personally would never donate to a school as it generally doesn’t end well for the horse. I would donate to a terminal study at a vet school before I would do that. At least I would know the horse would die humanely and not in a slaughterhouse.
I also work full time, so I have the income. I just don’t know about anything else with the write off.
I know of a great person who takes donated horses, trains them and rehomes them as part of a charity (her services, the horse and the purchase price for the new owners are donated to a real charity). You can write it off as a donation. PM me if you would like her contact information. She can give you all of the tax details.
A big no to college donations. Unless you really don’t care what happens to the horse.
What LauraKy said.
A Trakehner stallion was donated to a school and then essentially rescued by a Canadian breeder. I saw a video of the stallion at the school. The student handler looked to have a chain through his mouth, which they kept jerking, then they made this obviously lame stallion free jump for a good 10 minutes. It was heartbreaking to watch.
http://americantrakehner.com/Stallions/Inactive/Schwalbenherbst.asp
German stallion, with royal bloodlines - grandson of Gunnar and Impuls - treated like hell by a college punk.
Donating to a college all depends on the college… I’ve seen some schools where it doesn’t end so well, but others that treat their horses like gold! We have all donated horses down here at SCAD, and I’m pretty sure all of our horses live better than I do. If you are going the donate route, just do some research.
Please don’t let the colleges who’ve handled their donations badly scare you off. Some colleges treat their horses extremely well.
Totally agree. I would NEVER donate my horse to a college. Never :no:. In fact one of my TB’s was a lesson horse and I took him when he retired. He thinks he died and went to heaven now that he’s with me. His life was miserable when he was a lesson horse and he was for 11 long years.
You can deduct “in kind” donations of property. The donor sets the initial value of an item. If the value is over $250 (I think that’s the “flooor”) you must have a letter from the donee accepting the donation and noting the value of the gift. If you set a “low ball” sale price on a public sale site you’ll be hard pressed to claim a higher number unless there is a significant change of circumstances. And if the donee notes a higher price they can be in trouble, too.
As to giving to colleges, there’s good programs and bad ones. Do you “due dilligence” before you make a decision.
Saying that “all college programs are bad” is just as foolish as saying “all college programs are good.”
G.
I do not think that all college programs are bad at all. I am sure that they vary depending on the school.
However
I do think that you have to be aware that the mission statement of a college is allows to enhance educational opportunities for students.
Ultimately, I think that the people in charge at some schools are better to the horses than the people in charge at other schools . . . but there is a lot of turnover. The school is also supposed to make all decisions with its mission statement in mind. What that means to me is that if a horse becomes unusable for the students, the horse (and the expense of upkeep) has got to go. Is it ethical for the college (which accepts donations for advancement of student education) to use some of that money to put down a lame horse and pay for disposal when the college could instead actually make a few hundred dollars by sending the horse to auction? My guess is that some of their donors are going to say that the latter is in the best interests of the students. The best interest of the horse, or the ethics of the situation, are very different at an institutional level.
I have donated two higher end horses with positive experiences both times, not to colleges, but to private schools with riding programs.
I received a letter from each school, acknowledging the donation and I needed to have a certified equine appraiser come out to evaluate each horse’s worth. They ask you what your ballpark figure is and then based on similarly trained, aged, and valued horses in the market, decide on the exact appraisal price. That gets submitted to the school and they send you back a tax form that needs to be filed.
Once accepted past the two week trail period to assure the horses did fit into the program, they are required to keep the horse for two years and then they do have the option to sell. However, it was written into my contract with each horse, that I had first right of refusal if that time came or when each horse was no longer useful to the school program.
Both horses were/are well cared for are very happy in their jobs and the girls fight over who gets to ride them. I’m very glad I made the decision to donate them rather than deal with the tire kickers buyers. I am easily within visiting distance to see them and it has been enthusiastically encouraged to do so.
Donating to any program (college, therapeutic program, etc.) can be good and bad. You just have to check out each program individually and also ask what happens to the horse if they don’t work out, need to be retired, or the program ceases to exist, living conditions, exact use, etc.
At the therapeutic riding program in where I volunteered up until its director retired, horses that were donated to the program were returned to the owners when the horses had reached retirement age or just lived out the rest of their lives on the director’s farm.
However, there is another therapeutic center that takes donated horses, and if they don’t work out they are sold because “how else is a nonprofit supposed to make money?” (Exact words from the director. Guess how long I stuck around that program?)
There is someone on this board that goes to school there, I send her a message about this thread. Maybe she can give you some feedback.
You really, really need to have a CPA or lawyer review any contract you will be using to substantiate a donation for a tax write off.
Programs differ but, in most, the school has to keep the horse a certain amount of time for your deduction to stay effective. If they sell it before then, and they can and do sell them to keep the program going? You lose that deduction which can be a byatch if you spent it.
Donating is not a universally bad thing but it’s not a cut and dried win-win on both sides either. You have to UNDERSTAND exactly what is in the contract you are signing and most of us need some help with the legal language to really understand it.
Programs differ, make SURE you know what you are doing. Ask the school to send you a copy of the contract and review it before making any decisions.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;6261480]
A big no to college donations. Unless you really don’t care what happens to the horse.[/QUOTE]
THIS for sure. Many colleges use them for experiments of various kinds- some very unpleasant, I would think from the horse’s pov.
Some euthanize perfectly healthy horses so the vet students can dissect them.
Some send them to low-end auctions when they are through with them.
Keep in mind that if you are a college student, you probably don’t have a big enough income to make the charitable donation worthwhile. I get lots of these kind of donation requests from therapeutic riding centers because I own Fjords. I am very clear that I am selling the horse as another large charitable tax deduction is not something I need.
On rereading this, have to say, never heard of colleges contacting owners of horses advertised for sale looking for donations.
Maybe it is legit, new program or something, but most colleges are knee deep in offers to donate and turn most of them down.
Comparing most of them to SCAD and other top programs is not indicative to what is the actual norm…and I wonder what even SCAD will do 8 or 10 years down the road when their donated horses can no longer work at the level they need them to.
What happens if and when they are no longer useable in the program? That could be sooner then later.
[QUOTE=findeight;6266556]
On rereading this, have to say, never heard of colleges contacting owners of horses advertised for sale looking for donations.
Maybe it is legit, new program or something, but most colleges are knee deep in offers to donate and turn most of them down.
Comparing most of them to SCAD and other top programs is not indicative to what is the actual norm…and I wonder what even SCAD will do 8 or 10 years down the road when their donated horses can no longer work at the level they need them to.
What happens if and when they are no longer useable in the program? That could be sooner then later.[/QUOTE]
I was actually contacted by a new riding program manager or something at my local University (where I had recently graduated from and was actually part of the riding team for) who had seen the ad for my mare on dreamhorse. It was quite rediculous… the ad was for a hot, green, uber talented mare in the low/mid 5 figures that clearly stated she was for a pro or very experienced ammy rider. She was asking me to consider donating her to the team.
The email made the riding program sound all peachy, talked about how great the care was, how much the team would appreciate and love her… which was absolutely rediculous, considering that the main reason why I quit the team was because I couldn’t stand how poorly the horses in the program were treated- lame horses forced to jump, ridden in way too many lessons, sent to auction when they didn’t work out, didn’t receive proper medical care or acceptable daily care. I wrote an email explaining all of this to her… It really bothered me that unsuspecting people in the area with horses for sale would receive these sugary-sweet emails from her and may actually donate their horses, not knowing what kind of program they were condemning them to 
JSjumper…you are absolutely right. For every good college program (good to the horses) there are 10 or 20 bad ones.
As a matter of fact, the horse I just had to put down was a college reject. He was headed to the auction because he was too big for polo, didn’t know how to neck rein (ex-chaser) and had a huge buck. It’s amazing he made it through his first winter with them. One of the worst winters on record, they were turned out in a field with a stream and one round bale for the entire winter. His feet were a mess…didn’t look like they had been touched in 6 months. His mane was a knotted, matted mess and he obviously hadn’t been wormed in a very long time. He was covered in bites and scars from the fighting in turnout.
We bought him for $1 and gave him, probably, the best years of his life. Unless you can lease your horse to the college program or you personally know of a college program that takes excellent care of their horses…don’t do it.
[QUOTE=bayou_bengal;6266238]
THIS for sure. Many colleges use them for experiments of various kinds- some very unpleasant, I would think from the horse’s pov.
Some euthanize perfectly healthy horses so the vet students can dissect them.
Some send them to low-end auctions when they are through with them.[/QUOTE]
Holy Cow what college ARE you talking about?
I went to William Woods University in Missouri. All of their horses are donated, and treated like treasures. A horse has never been auctioned, sold for meat, or euthanized for no reason.
A WWU horse would have to put their entire life’s effort into dying there, because the school seems to have endless amounts of money in the ‘vetting’ budget.
If the horse doesn’t ‘fit in’ so to say, they are either offered back to their owners, or leased out to a graduated professional. They keep tabs on all their horses ‘off campus’.
I’m just amazed at the negatively on here for donating!? I’ve never thought of it as a negative option I guess…
