We have a potential buyer for a horse priced in mid twenties. We live in an area that has limited vets that specialize in equine. They can do a physical exam and x rays but would not be lameness experts by any means. Buyer wants to do a PPE at a facility that is a 3 hours away. We have other obligations and just can’t free up a whole day to travel that far. Is there a reasonable solution? Would love suggestions on how to handle the problem of long distance PPE’s.
I had a similar problem and paid the seller for their mileage and time to bring a horse up to a different state for a PPE. It was probably a 2 hour trip.
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I once did a short trial and then PPE where I had the horse hauled to me via professional transport, some 8 hours or so. Paid for by me (potential buyer), and with a contract and I had the horse insured for the 2 week or whatever it was period. I was grateful the seller was accommodating.
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Either you, vet, buyer find a friends barn halfway between and meet there.
Get a deposit and have the potential buyer arrange for commercial shipping to and from the father location.
Have a local vet do the whole thing and video it all for the other vet to review. Other vet can also be sent radiographs to review. This happens more often than you May think. I’ve participated in multiple vettings where the whole things was videoed for vets/trainers/whatever on another coast or in another country. Even more common with COVID.
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Potential buyer hires a commercial shipper and pays at her own expense to have the horse trailered back/forth to the clinic for the PPE.
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As far as seller is willing to haul.
If you’re not willing to haul the three hours and back, that’s perfectly reasonable. The buyer can pay for a professional shipper to do it.
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Who’s responsible for the horse while it is on the truck?
Whoever owns it unless the seller/buyer agree otherwise in which case, as the seller, I’d consider it a brief “trial period” and require the buyer take out insurance.
This is always my issue on doing something for a potential buyer without the buyer actually owning the horse. So many possibilities for disaster.
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It’s a seller’s market right now, so if the seller wants to tell this potential buyer to walk she can-- but it’ll probably mean losing this sale. Up to her how she feels about that.
At the end of the day, everything with horses is a risk. Someone could come do a trial ride at your barn and crash the horse into a jump ending its career. Or it could step in a divot in the pasture and break a leg and have to be euthanized. That’s why, if you’re concerned, you as the owner insure the horse to a degree you’re comfortable with.
For the average horse, I think trailering is an average activity with minimal risk. We haul them hours and back on a single day just to show. I don’t personally find hauling a couple hours to a vet clinic to be a particularly high risk activity. Of course something could happen but, as noted above, something could happen at home too. I suppose my answer would differ if OP revealed she was in the Himalayan mountains or something (or that the horse is blind in both eyes and claustrophobic and never been trailered) but assuming she’s in a geographic area where the haul to the clinic is a reasonable drive and this horse is a normal traveler-- I personally wouldn’t have a problem allowing it. If it didn’t fit into my schedule to do the hauling I would expect the potential buyer to pay for a professional commercial hauler (not some random in a tuna can on wheels). I would rather do it myself, personally, but I would not have an issue with an insured commercial hauler taking the horse to a veterinary clinic.
Having been on the buying end, it sucks when the seller is in armpit-middle-of-nowhere and you can’t get a vet you’re happy with to do the PPE. I had a seller refuse to let me take a sale horse to the clinic and I had to settle for a not-entirely great field PPE with not entirely great films. My vet reviewed the films as best as he could but did note they were limited. I regret having compromised this way (I regret a couple things about that transaction) and now, if I can’t get the vet I want for a PPE-- I’m walking. If that means I lose a purchase, oh well.
Up to the seller what s/he is comfortable with. Depending on where she lives, she might not have a lot of choices.
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I’d consider asking the seller to have payment and pickup available at the PPE sight anticipating nothing egregious will be found. Agree it’s a sellers market and this splits the risk/annoyance of the time.
As a seller, I’ve always been willing to haul within an hour or so, one way. In my area, that distance opens up multiple possibilities, therefore, I don’t feel that I need to offer to go farther (I don’t charge to take the horse for the PPE).
A true lameness specialist is roughly 1.5 hours, depending upon traffic; I might be persuaded to take a horse there, if necessary, but that would be my absolute limit.
To get to the vet school would be about three hours (one way) with a trailer; to me, that would be an unreasonable ask.
Are you going to be able to sell this horse (to anyone) without shipping the horse 3 hours? Is the buyer’s preferred facility the nearest option for a good PPE/lameness vet? (Or at least the nearest option that isn’t your own vet)
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My suggestion would be that you tell the seller that they’re responsible for the shipping fees and that if it results in a sale, that you’ll either factor it into the final selling price or split the difference. That way, if they’re tirekicking or looking for a reason to get a cheaper price, you have a lobbying tool, but you’re not left on the hook for the whole amount. I would imagine unless shippers are wildly expensive in your area, that you’re not looking for more than a few hundred for round trip. If there’s an overnight, probably another $50-100 or so. You need to figure out if $500 is worth walking away from 25kish? I’d say it’s a nominal fee and if you can agree that it’s factored into the final price, then it’s fair for both parties. Also, make sure that horse is insured before it steps foot on that trailer.
Thanks for the suggestions. We really hate to lose the sale as it is a very good fit for human and horse. The problem is we don’t actually have the time to spend a whole day (drive to, wait while they PPE, and drive back again.) It would take the better part of a day and we have other employment obligations. We are not licensed or insured to haul for others and so we could not legally charge to bring the horse to the vet even if time were not an issue. It’s not only the cost of hauling, but the cost of losing a day of work ( which taking a day off at this point is not an option). Would having the seller write a check for the horse work? They could come and get him and if they decided not to buy him return the check? Pros and cons?
You wouldn’t have sufficient time to deposit the check and confirm it clears with that plan. They could bounce the check. If it were me I’d rather retain ownership until the PPE is done and the money is deposited.
If you want to do this plan, make them wire the money/do a bank transfer and confirm it’s cleared your account before they take the horse. Then you can refund through another wire/transfer if they return the horse post PPE. I would have an airtight contract if you decide to go this route.
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So with this info, I don’t think the question is what is “fair” (to which my answer would be: whatever both parties agree upon). Regardless of fairness, you understandably can’t take a day off to haul the horse so that option is out.
I think if you want to sell and believe any buyer would have similar issues, you need to consider engaging a reputable commercial hauler. Don’t let the seller choose—there are some super sketchy haulers out there. Decide with the buyer in advance who will pay for that under what circumstances, and put that in a contract signed by both parties before the horse sets foot on the trailer.
Then there is the question of insurance and risk-management. As we all know, insurance can cover some bills but won’t really make you whole if the horse does get injured. I do think the odds of injury on a 3-hour trailer ride are pretty low in most circumstances but that’s my personal risk assessment and you have to make your own. Best of luck!
Last month I tried to schedule a pre-purchase in a somewhat remote area and one of the vets was not available for five weeks (!!) so I don’t think that part of the story is total nonsense.
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Given the new details that were shared, and your time constraint, why don’t you offer them a month lease to own trial? Let them vet it near them during that timeframe. Tell them that you’ll do a care lease, so they’ll be on the hook for hauling him there and back if it doesn’t work out and for their board and expenses. I’d also ask that they paid a small fee for his insurance too, should something happen. Put it all in writing and explain that if they vet the horse and decide to buy it, you’ll immediately send them a bill of sale and can transition to full ownership. If it’s a great fit, then you’re doing right by buyer and horse.
The chances of them truly screwing up your horse or completely crippling it in a month is slim… and hell, if you blow the sale, we all know that murphy’s law says it will step in a hole tomorrow. Give it a shot. If they’re good people, they’ll appreciate the flexibility and honesty.
Can you schedule the vetting for a Monday and haul the horse to that vet clinic on a Sunday night/ afternoon and pick it up that Monday night if the horse does not vet to the buyer’s standards? If the horse passes then it is the buyer’s horse and they pick it up and haul it to its new home. This assumes the vet has a clinic that will board the horse overnight. Buyer pays all boarding costs no matter what the verdict on the vetting is.
If they didn’t take the horse, that would require 2 round trips taking 6 hours instead of just 1. I’m not sure if there is any opportunity to board overnight either. And we don’t always have weekends off.
