One of my horses is out on lease with an option to purchase at the end of the term. I have ended the relationship with the trainer who put the sale/lease together. Not the most pleasant ending. I would like the Leasee and her trainer to end contact with my old trainer. They already touch base with me about 1/month. I plan to honor our agreement and pay the commission if the horse sells, I just don’t want her involved with any of my horses going forward. Anyone else had this situation? What did you do? What do you suggest?
I don’t know that you can ask they not deal with or have contact with your former trainer, certainly not socially, and not professionally unless particular trainers were specifically included or excluded in your lease agreement.
With a horse they haven’t committed to purchasing yet, I don’t know that you want to go disclosing the reason for your separation from this trainer as it may a) impact their decision to ultimately purchase the horse, or worse, b) lead to “someone” actively undermining the sale.
I pretty much hate all people but sometimes we just have to bite our tongues when it comes to business arrangements.
I don’t think you can tell another person who they can or cannot contact either in a business relationship or personally.
What you can and should do is have a sit down talk with leasee’s trainer personally. Not thru lessee. Just tell her your relationship with former trainer has ended. No need to go into details, just share you are not on good terms. Trainers deal with all sorts of drama between clients and former trainers all the time, she can decide how best to handle the situation and keep the peace.
Do be sure to tell her you are honoring any and all agreed to commission agreements with former trainer. And remember NEVER burn any bridges in the horse world. You never know, for all you know your horse may be displaced by fire, flood or other catastrophe and need a place to live on very short notice. Or you find yourself broke down on a dark road and depend on another horse person to offer to help. You don’t have to ever use or recommend them but you might need help someday. Don’t create an enemy.
OP is the owner of the horse, therefore, they can exclude the former trainer in any business dealings - though they have agreed to honor the terms of the lease agreement. Frankly I don’t know why the OP needs to steptoe around the lessee and have this discussion w/ their trainer. OP can discuss whatever they want w/ the lessee in regards to “their” horse. I would suggest to the OP that they discuss the situation w/ the lessee and their trainer, that they (OP) are no longer a client of that trainer and if they wish to purchase the horse it will conducted directly w/ the OP. OP doesn’t need to go into any details about their relationship w/ the former trainer.
Actually, if this is a formal written lease, the OP cannot go back and retroactively add in conditions. She can certainly discuss whatever she’d like with the leasee, but they are under no obligation to listen or agree, and if it came down to an ultimatum they would likely have standing for breech of contract. If this is a professional issue, by all means share your concerns with the leasee; if it’s personal it’s probably best left alone.
Obviously, the OP cannot dictate who the lessee or her trainer do business with but she can make it known that any business regarding HER horse go directly to her and not her former trainer. If the former trainer is no longer involved with this horse or the lease/sale, the people who have the horse should know this, up front. Remember, that trainer (OP’s ex trainer) is a primary contact regarding medical care and specific uses of the horse. They need to know that the owner is the only contact.
If the lessee’s trainer has done business with the ex trainer, she may already have heard about the split. Be businesslike, don’t discuss the matter of your split but let her know that you will be handling the lease and potential sale from now on.
Thank you Linny! I am not talking about asking the lessee’s trainer to discontinue contact with my former trainer on a personal or professional basis, I guess I should have worded the question differently. I just want her to contact ME regarding MY HORSE and not my former trainer. I am not going to discuss the split or anything else. I just want any info about condition, soundness or the ultimate purchase to come to ME. Sheesh. Not that much drama. Just looking for a nice way to say “Hey, could you call me instead of trainer.” I don’t want drama, that was my reason for asking the question.
It should be fairly simple to send them an email saying “Just wanted to let you know I’ve moved to a different trainer, going forward, please contact me directly about any issues/updates/questions about Henry.”
I think it should be pretty easy to say. Just say, “Hi, Personleasingmyhorse, I just wanted to let you know that I’m no longer working with TrainerX, so she (or he) is no longer involved with the lease process for HorseY. So please contact/call me directly with anything in regards to HorseY or the lease. Here is all my contact info.” It’s best to be direct and very clear about the fact that you and TrainerX are no longer doing business, but I would recommend not going into detail as to why–that’s none of their business. If there is a commission on the lease fee that is supposed to go to the trainer or if a sale takes place where you will be giving a commission to the trainer then you may have to deal further with this trainer, but that should hopefully be a fairly minimal interaction.
Oh, and I definitely think it is reasonable to mention that you will be honoring previous commission agreements to reassure the other party that the split is not some attempt on your part to get out of paying a commission.
OP could write an addendum or amendment to her lease contract which would negate any contact w/ ex-trainer in regards to the OP’s horse. The business terms of that lease that would be between the OP and her ex-trainer don’t need to involve the lessee or the lessee’s trainer. Linny’s post was right on and my previous post attempted to say pretty much what Linny’s did but did not state as clearly and concisely and Linny.
You really can’t stop the new trainer/lessee from contacting your former trainer. They may want to know how he goes best and what you have tried before and trainers sometimes like to talk to trainers. The actual business part you can ask them to refrain from discussing with the old trainer. I agree with the others about not discussing your parting and keeping things friendly. You will not believe how many times I have seen people over react, move out only to move back in again. Smh
Just switch the terms to a finder’s fee instead of a broker fee and let the current owner know that terms have changed with ex-trainer… this is typical business stuff, just don’t try to cut the ex-trainer out of the fee and you’ll be kosher.
So, just to update you all. I informed the Leasee’s trainer that she is to have contact with ME regarding MY horse and that I no longer have a relationship with the trainer who contracted the lease. The Leasee’s trainer has flat out refused to deal with me as the owner. She says my previous trainer IS THE AGENT and she will only deal with the agent. I will make it work. Lease is up in 15 days and horse comes back to me and there is no money owed to anyone, BUT it was not as simple as saying TALK TO ME about MY HORSE. Leasee’s trainer won’t do it.
Weird. THanks for the update. Its really helpful in these kinds of threads when people get back to the thread with an explaination of how things went/how they are going.
Good thing the lease is up. The less said the better, but if much more was going on, I certainly wouldn’t want to draw out the time I was installed in all their (the trainers’) drahmas. Good luck with the horse. I just hope the other trainer isn’t going to try something fishy, such as negotiating with the former trainer to extend the lease or re lease or something. How sure are you that the horse is getting on a trailer and coming back to you in 15 days? I would probably be camped out in his stall the last week of the lease or something.
I would imagine that you, however, are perfectly able to communicate well with the lessee herself about any matters, including getting the horse back into your hands, no matter what.
[QUOTE=AlterEgoME;7690220]
So, just to update you all. I informed the Leasee’s trainer that she is to have contact with ME regarding MY horse and that I no longer have a relationship with the trainer who contracted the lease. The Leasee’s trainer has flat out refused to deal with me as the owner. She says my previous trainer IS THE AGENT and she will only deal with the agent. I will make it work. Lease is up in 15 days and horse comes back to me and there is no money owed to anyone, BUT it was not as simple as saying TALK TO ME about MY HORSE. Leasee’s trainer won’t do it.[/QUOTE]
this would really infuriate me and the only thing that wouldn’t send me over the edge is that there is only 15 days left of the lease.
of note - who were the parties that signed your lease agreement? Did your ex-trainer sign as an interested party or was it you, the owner. Did the lessee’s trainer sign on behalf of Lessee or did the Lessee sign themselves?
The signatures on the contract would dictate who the contact individuals are -unless you have a paragraph stating that (ex)trainer shall represent you and act on your behalf in regards to your horse.
If the lessee and you are the signatories on the lease contract and there is NO mention of (ex) trainer acting as your agent, I swear, just to be a pill, I’d whip up an addendum to the lease agreement stating that you as owner are to be the only and sole contact for the horse - have you and lessee sign and send a copy to their trainer. If their trainer is not listed on your contract, then really the communication should be between the 2 parties on the contract and no one else need be involved except for logistics of transporting the horse back to you.
the lessee’s trainer is not well informed on business policies or terms. Think about this way, if I was a movie star and fired my agent, once my contract w/that agent were fulfilled (ie payments) then they have no right to continue to represent me.
in this situation you are the owner, the trainer has no [ownership] interest in your horse therefore has no business being involved - and the ex-trainer should inform lessee trainer of that.
Since lessee’s trainer refuses to deal with you, I would be sure to send written notice to ex-trainer that they are not authorized to do anything in relation to Dobbin’s lease. No extending it, no agreeing to another lease, nothing. While it sucks to not have a sale at the end of the lease, at least when it is over your business relationship with ex-trainer will truly be over.
Fortunately the ex-trainer and I remain on good terms and given that she got paid as part of setting up the lease she has been willing to communicate with the Leasee’s trainer. It will change how I write lease contracts in the future. Owner (me), my ex-trainer (agent), Leasee and Leasee’s trainer (trainer) were all parties to the lease.
[QUOTE=AlterEgoME;7690269]
. It will change how I write lease contracts in the future.[/QUOTE]
A good lesson for everyone - you think you have all your bases covered and then a hitch comes along. Thanks for sharing your situation - good knowledge to share
Always fighting the last battle, unless you have a BB like this to tell you about the future.
[QUOTE=AlterEgoME;7690269]
Fortunately the ex-trainer and I remain on good terms and given that she got paid as part of setting up the lease she has been willing to communicate with the Leasee’s trainer. It will change how I write lease contracts in the future. Owner (me), my ex-trainer (agent), Leasee and Leasee’s trainer (trainer) were all parties to the lease.[/QUOTE]
That’s good to hear about ex-trainer. The original post did not necessarily read that you were on good terms with her. Though distinctly possible that I am just reading into a situation based on how “middle school mean girls” ending a relationship with a trainer tends to be in my area.
I just had visions of 15 days from now having you come back and telling us that you had to go to court to invalidate a contract that your ex-trainer signed as agent without your permission, Dobbin nowhere to be found.
I also thank you for continuing to share your cautionary tale in adventures in leasing.
