Is this a fair half lease arrangement?

[DawgLady]

Thinking of half leasing my horse to a nice young lady in my barn whose horse won’t stay sound. She would ride my horse 2x/week, but sometimes 3x/week when I’m traveling for work. She would have the option to show him several times a year.

They aren’t a wealthy family, so I want to be sensitive to that fact. At the same time, it’s a relatively nice/easy/safe horse in his prime. Here’s what I was thinking:

Month-to-month, she’d just pay half his board. But if she chooses to show him, I’d like a per diem for that because it’s additional wear and tear (plus it’s over and above the negotiated ride days). Has anyone ever approached a half lease this way? If so, what is a fair per diem at shows?

P.S. I’m doing this because my work/family schedule is preventing me from getting to the barn on weekdays. This kid is homeschooled, so she’s happy to ride on weekdays. It’s really a great arrangement.

[trubandloki]

I do not know anyone who has done it this way, but it seems like a fair way of doing things if you are happy with just half the board every month for the lease part.

A lease can work however the two parties agree on.

Include the horse show price in the written lease so there is not problems if that topic comes up.

[2bayboys]

I think she should pay half for shoeing and any maintenance he may require as well as half board. I also suggest that you spell out very specifically what she is allowed to do in her rides, ie jump height, only jump in a lesson, etc.

[trubandloki]

Well, with only two rides per week, instead of three rides, I think that offsets not paying for half of everything, just half the board.

[dmveventer]

This sounds like a great arrangement for both sides. The per diem seems like a good thing to have spelled out up front for when she picks up extra days and/or goes to shows. It’s hard to name a price without knowing how much things cost in your area, but for one of my past leases we just divided my monthly payment by the number of days I rode in a month and set that as the “per diem” when I picked up extra rides. If a show fell on one of my usual riding days I didn’t have to pay extra though, so I would make sure to clarify with the rider if the per diem applies to extra days or to all shows regardless of whether she’d be riding that day.

Another thing worth clarifying is whether the lease will continue if a horse is temporarily lame. It’s one of those things that seems obvious to horse people but isn’t always intuitive to kids or (more importantly) to non-horsey parents. During my first half-lease as a teenager my parents were pretty surprised that there were no concessions made the first time the horse was off for a week or so with a minor injury. The contract should clearly state the conditions that would end the lease, typically a notice period of 30-90 days.

And lastly (totally unrelated to your question) consider how involved you want the leaser to be in your horse’s care. My current half-lease’s owner is pretty much AWOL so I wind up handling a lot of the day-to-day maintenance (minor injuries, clipping, sheath cleaning, etc) myself based on my own judgment, with input from trainer/BM as needed. I’ve also leased from an owner who wanted me to alert them to even the smallest of cuts and scrapes so someone else could take a look at it. There’s really no wrong answer here, but it helps to clarify expectations up front so there’s no confusion. FWIW, the owner of the first horse I half-leased was amazing about letting me be involved with all aspects of his care, and I still have really fond memories of tagging along to vet/dentist appointments, helping manage injuries, and generally learning so much about horse care during that lease. I got a ton of experience out of it and the owner also wound up with a leaser trained to care for her horse exactly the way she wanted; I ended up riding that horse for several years so the extra time up front definitely paid off on her end.

[2bayboys]

To clarify, I wouldn’t charge a per diem for showing as the OP is suggesting, just half of everything and include showing in that. Another way to skin the cat.

[trubandloki]

@2bayboys

To clarify, I wouldn’t charge a per diem for showing as the OP is suggesting, just half of everything and include showing in that. Another way to skin the cat.

That is how I did it when I leased my horse.

I think the OP is trying to find an economical way for this person to ride a little more.
So lower monthly fee and if they have the funds adding in a show will cost extra.

[chestnutmarebeware]

Agreed. I was going to say that 2 days a week is about one-third of the available riding time, not half, so if your primary goal is to keep the horse in work and not just to have cash coming in to help pay your expenses, then half the board sounds a little high unless you guarantee her 3 days weekly instead.

[blondewithchrome]

I’ve seen this done. Since you’re basically offering a 1/3 lease not a true half lease, it would make sense to not charge half of EVERYTHING. Instead, you could charge a fixed “show lease” rate that if she takes him to shows, it’s $X for a weeks lease (I assume the 2-4 days she’s riding at the show are on top of the 2 days she already gets, so this gets it to more of a half or 3/4 lease) PLUS all show expenses, including meds or maintenance costs needed from showing (body work, Legend/Adequan, etc).

[ZuzusPetals]

I’ve had to continue to pay in times of lameness or quarantine and for a young person that’s a very good life lesson. If the parents are hesitant you can sweeten the deal by offering ground education to the kid, if you’re inclined, when the horse can’t be ridden: sheath cleaning, anatomy, worming, wrapping, first aid, nutrition.

[luvmyhackney]

Unless she’s riding in lessons, I would add how many times she can jump, at what heights, and what is considered reasonable wear and tear.

I think half of board is reasonable if horse is ready for shows as stated. Most people (my area at least) charge a flat fee at the beginning of the lease just for the privilege of leasing a made horse. I wouldn’t charge an additional show fee but have kid cover whatever is needed to show.

[findeight]

I have done straight 50% of all routine board, vet and farrier expenses, leaser pays all show expenses if they show alone, 50% if shared with me at same show. I go month to month on part leases so either side can back out.

Just me but if people part lease due to very limited finances, especially for a young person? Think expecting the family continuing to pay for a part lease and the young person giving up riding completely due to illness/injury to the horse is a life lesson they can skip experiencing personally.

Each situation is different, of course but month to month seems to work best with part leasing.

[Bristol_Bay]

I have a 1/3 leaser. She pays 1/3 of everything except vet bills, but the annual hock injections are factored in. That all works out to $100 per day that she rides, and that is the show lease fee also if she takes him to a show. I encourage that because I don’t show, and his previous owner only did county shows, so it helps maintain his value that he has recent scores on his USEF record.

I also stipulate that she pays for pro rides if she can’t ride so that I can plan my life. I think that’s an important requirement. If a leaser has days X and Y, it’s also her responsibility to make sure he gets out on those days.

[Scribbler]

Cannot keep her own horse sound is a potential red flag.

I knew one nice teen with nice parents who went through 3 older lease horses at our barn and basically crippled them all, two retired completely. She then bought her own younger horse and he was fine. Noone besides me saw a pattern, and obviously they were older horses, but they had been aging nicely until then.

[beowulf]

Agreed. Be wary of people with chronically unsound horses when you are leasing out your own. Some people have genuinely poor luck. Other people ride their horses into the ground. I once leased out a nice young horse to a nice young rider who seemingly had bad luck with her own horses. She was in a great program and seemed pretty responsible for a teen. I found out that she lunged the snot out of my horse before each ride (30-45m), which she did when no one was around so it wasn’t caught until the trainer saw it one day. Unfortunately for my horse he ended up with the same stifle injury the young rider’s other horse got. Huh. Wonder why.

Anyway, that experience made me look at things a little differently and now if I lease at all I’d be very strict on what work was permissible and for how long.

In my area at a nice barn the going rate to lease is half board and half shoes at least. I don’t see many half do half vet expenses but it’s certainly not unheard of either.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

When I half-leased, I rode 3x a week and paid a flat fee. One ride was required to be a lesson. He was an older 15h horse, off-breed (Morgan), Intro/Training level dressage, and at a dressage barn, so we didn’t jump. I only showed him once, and the show counted as one of my “rides” that week.

Twice a week isn’t a whole heck of a lot; unless the horse is a schoolmaster, I think just determining a monthly fee might be easier, based upon her monthly versus weekly riding.

[Madison]

Since it is basically a 1/3 lease, a good check would be to total up your horse’s monthly bills including board, shoeing, supplements/meds, etc . . . . and see what 1/3 of that would be and whether it is close to half your board. I found on in barn half leases it was much easier to just have a flat monthly fee than to calculate up fractions of individual costs. And as far as showing, I’d just have a flat “show lease” fee for any time she wants to go to a show. I think at my barn it is maybe $100-150 to take a lesson horse to the show? And it is always good to spell out any limitations, although if you have the same trainer that makes it a lot easier to manage.

[Natalie]

I think your arrangement sounds reasonable. Since your horse is show quality, the only thing I would suggest is adding up your own monthly expenses and then decide if just half of board each month feels “worth it” to put additional wear and tear on your horse, potentially teach bad habits, etc given that he’s sound, safe, and nice, per your description.

If half of board feels like enough compensation for that, then go for it! I think it’s kind of you to consider their financial situation. I was always “that kid” and in some ways am still that adult (I mean, most of us are, right, in this sport with no true financial ceiling for participation?) so I’ve always resented seeing fees piled on as though money should be no object. I have two horses so I know how much they cost just to keep alive, basically, but when I start seeing parents be told that they should expect to spend upwards of $1k a month for their 10 year old to have the opportunity to show a lesson horse (at a non-fancy barn that doesn’t show rated) in mini-stirrup at some very local schooling shows I just

And as others have noted, I would also spell out what is and isn’t acceptable for lease rides, if you require lessons on the horse, etc.

[DawgLady]

Thanks, all! I will definitely take the advice of putting the agreement in writing, including what she is/isn’t allowed to do. She is in my barn and we share the same program/trainer, which makes this much easier. In our program, you cannot jump outside lessons. So this arrangement would be one jump lesson per week and one flat ride.

Point taken about riders who have chronic lameness issues with their horses. In this case, they bought an inexpensive quarter horse from the western pleasure world and taught him to jump. He’s a cute little horse, but he just won’t stay sound for this job. She doesn’t overuse him, she doesn’t over-prep him, she doesn’t overjump him…it’s just bad luck IMO. And who knows how much pounding he took before he got to her.

[WildGooseChase]

Half leases around here are always 3 rides a week. So maybe give her two rides a week and option to show, if she pays half the lease, shoeing/trimming, maintenance etc…

The wear and tear factor is valid, but I don’t know many who would go for an agreement like that unless the horse is a lesson horse/earns income/in a professional program etc. Instead, factor it into the agreement without charging for it.

I would also be sure she knows exactly what she is allowed to do with him, what tack she is required to use, if she is a minor that she must have an knowledgeable adult with her, if she shows she/her parents/guardians are liable for ALL costs incurred, and care for the horse at the show to your standards. The parent/guardians MUST sign this agreement. Do not ever sign an agreement with a minor, the parents must sign on their behalf, or the agreement is null and void. Any violation of the contract is an immediate termination period. Make your boundaries and stick to them. If she really wants to ride, she will abide by the contract. Make sure they signs a hold harmless agreement with your name and your barn’s name on it as well.

I always cya’d myself too, and any vet bill incurred due to negligence or ignorance, on the lessee’s part for any reason, they are liable for all vet care that you think is necessary.