I started leasing a nice older horse a few months ago with some known soundness issues to gain confidence after time off due to soundness issues (if you read my past threads I had multiple horses go permanently unsound this year, to no fault of my own). I am not a brave rider but I am looking for my next horse to purchase to hopefully get scores for the bronze with, had previously evented through BN. Said horse had experience through 2nd/3rd level recognized but is now limited to walk/trot and limited cantering (could probably do an intro level test at a schooling show on a good day, not sound for recognized shows). Recently in my
lessons and practice rides, the horse has become more unsound and canter work is becoming more limited than prior, also noticeably more spooky. I am concerned that the horse’s soundness issues will get worse in winter (I live in the Midwest) to the point where it is not usable for my purposes of schooling basic WTC dressage. Is this a good enough reason to consider ending the lease?
Yes. I’d be concerned that he hurts more than you realize. Pain can cause spooking.
The horse was recently restarted on Equioxx and the increased spooking has mostly gone away, but the horse is noticeably stiffer than when I started leasing even with the Equioxx on board.
This is the great thing about leasing. If the situation is not fitting your needs at the time you just end the lease as specified in the contract.
Now there may be times when someone is happy to just walk trot or there is no other option. But in this situation I would end the lease unless there’s a big medical solution very soon.
I have the opportunity to exercise ride horses as a volunteer for therapeutic riding for individuals with disabilities at the walk and trot, so anything I lease needs to be solid at the canter and be able to go to a schooling show at training level, safely and comfortably.
The hard part about ending this lease would be that it took 3-4 months to find this horse - I had tried a few others which did not go particularly well. I had exhausted virtually all of my trainer’s local connections before I found this horse for a partial lease. If I end the lease, I would probably have to post in local Facebook groups looking for a lease, where the horse may or may not be as advertised, and most people were advertising their green horse for lease with 90 days training.
At the end of the day, I really just want to do the right thing for myself and the horse
Finding a good lease is almost as hard as finding a good horse to buy.
By and large, people lease out horses they don’t have immediate use for, but want to keep tabs on. So it’s common to find older horses stepping down from competition who the owner wants to keep active as long as possible. But an older horse, like an older person, will lose capacity year over year, sometimes subtly sometimes dramatically.
If you want to canter and rev up to doing dressage tests, this horse at this time does not sound like he will meet your needs. He would be better suited to someone who only wants to walk and trot. It doesn’t matter how good his education, if he’s physically got limitations that prevent him using it (like some 75 year old former prima ballerina with advanced arthritis — it’s sad, it’s even a tragedy, but it also is what it is).
Very often horses, like aging humans, get stiffer in cold weather too
What are the terms of the lease? Is this a full lease? If you have control over vet care I would have the horse looked at before making any decisions, if the situation was otherwise working for you. There could be a relatively easy solution to get back to his previous level of soundness. If the horse isn’t a good fit though and the terms of your lease allow for early termination then you should consider ending it if that’s going to be a better fit for your goals.
It’s not clear from your post if you knew the horse’s cantering was limited before you agreed to the lease. I could see the owner being annoyed with you for backing out over something that was clearly communicated up front (not that you shouldn’t end it, but just something to keep in mind). If you agreed to lease a horse that was sound at all gaits and now he isn’t I would end that lease yesterday.
This crossed my mind as well, and the spooking could be weather-related too depending on where OP lives. We’ve had some fresh days lately at my barn as the temps have started dropping.
This is a month-to-month partial lease. I do not have control over vet care.
Before leasing this horse, I knew that this horse could canter, but limited in how much it was able to do (not able to show recognized), but that it could do a training level test at a local schooling show. When I first started cantering it at the start of the lease, I did not notice as much of the stiffness as I do now. Her canter was limited but there weren’t clear refusals of upward transitions.
The horse as of now essentially can’t canter more than a 20 m circle going to the right, and counter bends to the outside to refuse transitions upward (transitions have been much more difficult), among other behavioral cues that this is too much. The horse can currently do limited canter work to the left, maybe a few 20 m circles. When I started leasing, the horse was essentially out of work other than up down WT kid lessons.
The owner rode the horse for me and agreed that the hard spooking was absolutely pain related.
The horse remains relatively stiff at the trot even after a week of Equioxx. Overall soundness has declined since the beginning of the lease. I am concerned that this horse will not hold up to what I want (basic training level dressage) given its decline since the start of the lease since being put back to work and that we are approaching winter where soundness issues tend to get worse.
Given this information, would I be “stepping on toes” with the owner to consider ending the lease?
I have about 8 years of experience with various lease situations, often on older horses, so I can definitely understand your struggle of the challenges of finding a new lease horse, balancing being considerate of the owner, and wanting the best for the horse while not being fully in control of vet care.
Depending on how much you have already discussed the horse’s maintenance with the owner, maybe ask specifically if she has had maintenance in the past such as joint injections. I have leased horses who are drastically more comfortable after just injections. However, something to keep in mind is that horses who are older and have experienced gradual declines in soundness in my personal experience are often relatively stoic in how they present lameness, where they are sound for day to day work then have a strong reaction to flexions. Considering the level of discomfort you are describing, the current horse might just no longer be up for the job that you want.
I would evaluate if you think that you have gotten enough confidence back at W/T to the point that its time to look for a horse who you can do cantering dressage with. Ending a lease is always hard, but I think that if you tell the owner that you feel like you are ready to find a horse that you can start doing more with and that you have gotten what you wanted to out of this lease and frame it with the horse’s comfort in mind, they will hopefully understand.
I had leased this horse with the intent of getting confidence back with cantering but her soundness has noticeably declined. I volunteer with therapy horses where I can walk trot to keep them in shape (they generally are not sound for canter work). My confidence and balance has gotten a lot better even at the canter in the time that I have been leasing but I have concerns that this horse is just not up to the job I am looking for in a lease especially with winter coming (consistent canter work, local showing at training level).
If things don’t get substantially better in the next two weeks after talking with my trainer, I am planning on expressing my gratitude to the owner for the opportunity, but that I am looking for a horse that can do more as this horse’s condition has declined, I only want the best for this horse’s comfort, and hopefully they will understand. The owner is friends with my trainer so hopefully there isn’t any issue there.
What does "stepping on toes with the owner " mean? You took a chance on a semi retired horse, and it’s not as sound as you or the owner had hoped. Let her go back to semi retirement and kiddie lessons. Shes in too much pain to do what you want. A good minded well schooled kind older horse refusing easy cues for things they used to know very well is pain pain pain. She’s not confused, she’s not evading, she’s not disobeying or lazy. She’s trying so hard to do what you ask but she can’t because it hurts too much. A good horse like this deserves a retirement where she is not being asked to try things that hurt.
and That is the problem, personally I would move on to another horse or just set it out for a while
You want a horse that can help you regain confidence at the canter. What you have is a horse that can barely canter at all. Time to end the lease. You are basically only able to WT anyway, so do that on the therapeutic horses and save your lease $ for something that can do what you need.
Totally appropriate to end the lease.
If the owner or trainer have issues with your empathy, then you are well ride of this situation
No, with this extra information it seems clear that you’re no longer getting what you thought you were when you started the lease. This is totally understandable. Plus a month-to-month half lease is much lower stakes anyway IMO, people end those all the time for all kinds of reasons.
I agree with others. I know you said it took a long time to find this horse, but really, you didn’t find what you were looking for, you settled for an iffy horse hoping that it would work for what you needed. It seems like the horse is not what you’re needing now, so I would give him a good hug and horse cookies, and continue your search. Nothing wrong with that. Riding is expensive, so save your money on the lease that’s not working and search for another. I wish you the best of luck. I know this is hard.
This lease is not going to get you to your goal.
Owner needs to find a W/T Only situation for the horse.
Stick with your rides for the theraputic center.
The one local to me has horses who are perfectly capable of canter, but never use that gait working with students.
You should be able to canter those horses to keep/improve your skills, while looking for a suitable lease.
I haven’t read all the comments, but from what I did you’ve received excellent advice.
It’s easy to lose trust in your gut after a series of lameness, don’t. If you feel something is not quite right, it’s generally because it’s not quite right.
