What contract do you all use when you are leasing your horse out? This would be a free lease. My guy is a BN/N with quirks. He is possibly being looked at by someone at my eventing trainers farm and would be in a program. I want to do month to month in case it doesn’t work out for one reason or another. I want full disclosure with them that he can buck (crow hop) on the back side of a stadium jump and can be a dick in warm up with other horses. What liability does one have when someone else is leasing your horse?
My horse is out on a free lease right now. I found a sample lease agreement online and modified/added to it based on the specific circumstances and the things I felt most strongly about. Either party can cancel with 7 days notice, but my lessee knows I’m not going to suddenly want my horse back unless there are significant problems. I wanted her to know that she can return her to me at any time for any reason. There is standard liability language in the lease I used, basically making it clear that I am all liability falls on the lessee, not me (the owner). I gave full disclosure about all kinds of things associated with my horse (especially medical records, since they were pertinent), but most of that isn’t in the lease. The lease is the legal contract and doesn’t include every piece of info I gave the lessee because I don’t think that is the place for it.
Make sure you have a major medical insurance policy on him (and have leasee pay it pro-rated). Maybe start month-to-month, then go for a six month term with your option to take him back if necessary (but not letting leasee off the hook in case he gets injured and they decide to dump him… kind of what happened to me).
In short, write down everything and anything you can think of in the contract so it’s in writing - because no matter how much you may trust the person who takes him, you want a contract to fall back on in case things go south.
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With a horse who only does BN/N and is a jerk after fences and in the warmup, I’m not sure the month to month is for you - it’s for them so they can back out at will. :lol:
I wouldn’t spell those tendencies out verbatim in the contract, if that’s what you were thinking.
Even if you start with a free contract you find online as an example, it is worth having a lawyer with experience go over it and write up the one you will finally use.
Horse ownership in general is a huge liability. Letting someone else ride your horse multiplies that. How important that is to you depends on what you have to lose… if you’re just out of school in your first apartment trying to cover costs on your horse that is quite different from someone with equity in a house and savings built up.
When I free leased my horse, the lawyer asked a lot of questions and the contract described the horse and his training, the rider’s experience and pony club rating, that her mother and instructor had evaluated the horse and deemed it suitable for her, and on and on. This was absolutely there to cover me in the event she got hurt and someone tried to say the horse was dangerous and I hadn’t told them.
So yes, if the horse has a bad habit that might get someone hurt, I would disclose it in the signed contract. Then they can’t say they did not know.
If there is an injury, even if the rider would never, ever sue you… their health insurance company well might sue to recover damages. The first thing that happens after an accident is that you get a questionnaire and subrogation form. You HAVE to cooperate because they will not pay claims until they get the information about what happened and who else might have been at fault.
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By all means start with a random form you get from a friend or the interwebz, but I can’t emphasize enough to have it reviewed by a lawyer before finalizing it. You don’t want to find out after the fact that you have no recourse if the person leasing the horse permanently breaks him through her negligence or bad management. Or she stopped paying board and now you can’t take your horse home until you pay the stableman’s lien. Maybe she moves the horse to a barn or a trainer you don’t approve of. Maybe she lets a friend ride the horse (is she allowed to do that? Spell it out) and the friend gets dumped and hurt.
Spell everything out - especially what happens if things go very wrong - now while you’re on the same page. Not only does it give you a reference when something happens - and hopefully it won’t, but horses - but it forces you and the person leasing to discuss the details.
