I’m at a loss. Multiple parties wanting a paid trial for a leased equine what do you consider or how do you come up with amount and how long do you limit trial to? I want horse to end up in right hands but don’t want to miss opportunities due to sending horse on trial for too long. Help!
IME, the paid trial fee is often based on what a lease fee would be. So, for the sake of easy math, if the yearly lease is $24,000, the six month lease might be something like $18,000 (typically a higher monthly fee is charged for a shorter lease). So, maybe $3500 for a one month trial (aka lease), $1000 for a week.
I’ll note, however, that it varies wildly, as does everything else in this industry. While selling a 1.20m jumper for an acquaintance, I had two parties ask for two weeks and a month trial, several hours away, for FREE. And they were aghast that I/owner said no. 
Literally never, what a huge risk. I mean, it’s a huge risk even getting paid, allowing an off-site trial or lease, but wow.
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Don’t recall ever having a trial for a leased horse… just for a sale.
I have offered lease with the option to buy where price was negotiated before lease started.
I’ve allowed a free week trial to some for vetting purposes, but the understanding was that by that friday, horse would be vetted and sold/leased or coming back to me.
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I agree that it varies widely. Lease fee is typically based off of resale value. Also agree that what you can ask/get will depend on the horse and its demand/potential/rideability/market value. Generally, though, the shorter the time period, the higher the monthly cost… the higher the risk (ie the higher the horse’s value), the same. Some won’t let a horse go on trial at all. “You try you buy”… or lease. I have tried horses (mostly for buy, mostly ages ago) that it was one and done. I have tried two recently where it was one trial ride then lease, (and for one, then purchase). There isn’t one set rule.
Since you have multiple interested parties, you are in a great position. If it were me, I would consider the lessor’s trainer/program and riding ability in terms of triaging offers/interest. I would also be assessing my risk in terms of pricing said trial. Trials can, and do, go south. Horse and human not a match, horse comes up unsound, disaster strikes… what is your risk if it isn’t successful? Price accordingly.
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This is my experience, too. But I have never straight leased, and I do believe I have friends who have had paid trial leases. Unpaid is sheer lunacy (especially if off property) IMO.
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I’ve seen $1000 be asked for as a fairly common paid-trial amount for leases and sales. I don’t think I’d vary what I charged for a trial by whether it was for a lease or a sale - it’s for the risk you are taking in that time period, and you can always apply it to the lease or sale amount if the deal goes through. Typically the trial is a week or less, 5 days is fairly common - enough for the horse to get there, be ridden a few times to be sure it’s a match, and to be vetted at the end if they are going to vet it.
Just shipped a horse from several states away for a 1 week trial. Horse priced over six figures. Trial was no cost other than shipping to us and back if we didn’t want him. We did add him to our insurance policy for the time. The trainers had a friend in common, but didn’t work together before. Worked fine, we leased for a year.
Horse before that we wanted to try for a little longer because we weren’t sure. We had flown to try the horse over a weekend previous to asking for the trial. Offered $2000 for the month plus shipping up and back. They declined due to risk.
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I’ve read of so many trials that went south on this forum that I would be hesitant to even consider an off-site trial.
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I have known people who structured a trial as a 1 week lease so that the potential buyer had some skin in the game. In case of purchase, the lease fee was deducted from the price. In addition to the trial fee, the horse also had to be insured.
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