Neglect/Abuse Clause In Sale Contract

[Elfe]

Has anybody sold a horse with a clause that would allow the seller to repossess the horse if the horse was neglected/abused/starved/etc.
How did you word it ?
Was there some provision in case the horse was later re-sold ?

I have had a very bad experience a couple of years ago, when I sold a horse I had bred. He ended up basically starved, back to back colic surgery (thankfully he was still covered by insurance !) with no aftercare, ridden while skin and bones with ill fitting tack with ensuing sores, bad hind leg injury, fetlock sores due to no bedding, etc.

I was able to get him back with a lot of effort and some luck. When he came back he was between a 1 and 2 on the Henneke scale. He had always been an easy keeper !
I am trying to figure out a way that this does not ever happen again to a horse I sell.
Thanks for your input !

[silverbirch]

Years ago I was trying to lease or sale my mare and after a previous bad experience, I ended up working with an equine lawyer. One thing that she pretty much instilled in my head was that I could put ANYTHING in the sales contract that I wanted BUT the reality would be trying to enforce it. In other words, I could put “first right of refusal” or getting back my mare if the care was not adequate but that would require a lengthy legal process and at the end of the day - the horse is still sold, abused, etc.

So when I heard that I decided I would never under any circumstance sell my mare and would only do a lease with a pretty strict lease that if not withheld I could easily get out of it and get back possession.

[Highflyer]

While I understand where you’re coming from, I doubt very strongly that you could write a contract that would be legally enforceable, and that if you did, anyone would agree to it. I wouldn’t buy a horse on those terms, even though I have no intention of mistreating or neglecting one.

[Where_sMyWhite]

I’d agree. If you want to put this in a contract, work with an attorney versed in equine law to get the wording correct.

You can put what you want in the contract but enforcing it is something else. Sometimes, what is in the contract isn’t even enforceable.

[DressageFancy]

Like it or not horses are considered (by law) to be property. Once you have sold the horse it is someone else’s property to do with as they please (just as it was your’s to do with as you please before you sold it). This is why contracts (first right of refusal, ect.) don’t hold up. The best you can do is vet the prospective purchaser by getting references. Or just don’t sell to begin with.

[Simkie]

I certainly appreciate the sentiment with this idea, but how do you even define neglect/abuse?

Totally agree with the posters above that a contract with a clause like this would be difficult to write and impossible to enforce.

[maunder]

Unfortunately I believe as others have said that there is no way to enforce this contract. I learned first hand that people will sign contracts without having any intention of honoring them.

Case in point: I have a mini mare that was given to me six years ago. I was told she was a victim of neglect and was rescued and brought to the man who gave her to me. She was clearly starved.

The truth: The mare had been given to the man as a therapy animal with instructions as to how to properly feed her (she has a bad mouth). There was a contract involved. The man didn’t follow the instructions, starved the mini, made up the fake story and gave her to me.

She recovered and I love her dearly. The Internet has a way of revealing truths and I found out that the breeder had been told she was dead. The poor woman was horrified that the so-called responsible man had done this to her mare.

It would have been very simple for the man to return the mare to her breeder if he found he couldn’t care for her properly. Instead he created a very elaborate tale that blamed everyone but himself. The contract didn’t help this mare, or the three others the woman had given this man. We’ve been able to find one more but the other two are lost.

[Countrywood]

Perhaps instead of that, slow things down in a sale and research the buyers first. Ask for vet and farrier references. If you are within driving distance, ask to see their farm. If they are not okay with that, dont’ sell to them. See if you have any instinct about who people are. Looking back, was there any “signs” about who those people were (their character, ), or any funny feelings you had that you brushed away?

[saje]

As a buyer that’s not a contract I would sign unless the abuse/neglect were outlined EXTREMELY specifically. One person’s neglect is another’s casual horsekeeping, and I’ve seen eventing/racing fit horses described as starved by someone used to the AQHA circuit.

If you sell me your horse you sell it to me unconditionally. I do want to know if you want first refusal if I should ever sell the horse, and I will absolutely honor that, but I’m not going to sign something that leaves the door open for you to look over my shoulder and into my barn and pastures for the rest of that horse’s life.