There are plenty of horses and ponies that need to be in a regular, well-managed program to stay amateur friendly, sounds like this pony is one of them.
It does have an effect on their value, or I should say, a pony of the same quality that stays ammy friendly while at a backyard barn or not in a program has a greater value.
But a large pony with jumping talent, a show record and changes has an established market value, even if it takes a bit of a pony jock to get it around.
It’s not your Pony. Owner would need to sign the boarding and training agreements, you can’t negotiate on price or sign the bill of sale when it sells either. Don’t understand why you are doing anything like this with a lease Pony? How long was the lease term for? Turning it out if they won’t take it back is going to be far cheaper for you then…what? 8-10k for a years board with vet, farrier etc, etc? There’s no incentive for trainer to sell the little money machine and, really, any commission on a 5-10k Pony…if it is one…is peanuts compared to the income it generates giving lessons.
Far as the deal offered, sometimes that can work out well but it is dependent on tne ethics and qualifications of the trainer. On top of that it doesn’t work well with lower priced, average or less animals that can be difficult. Doesn’t work with bratty Ponies of unknown official height either.
Does the Pony have an official measurement card? An inch can add or subtract a zero from the price.A little knowledge here can save you thousands of dollars.
But, again, don’t understand why here, Owner can’t force you to pay board to a trainer she chooses if it was not in your lease agreement. She CAN force you to keep the lease the full term but not make you move it to a location of her choosing. What is in your lease contract?
Please tell us there us a written contract…
Nothing on paper, but verbal discussion and texts agreeing to the terms. When I told owner it is not working out, they said they can’t take the pony back due to life changes and that I committed to buying him even though no money has changed hands yet. We are friends so I feel responsible rightly or wrongly. I’m never going to get the money I have spend in board, farrier and vet back, even if owner gives me a portion of the purchase price, but why would they, on paper they are the sole owners.
What should I do?
What are the terms agreed to? When were you supposed to pay? When would ownership change hands? Did you 100% say you would buy the pony after the lease period? I have never heard of a lease to buy you couldn’t give back if you decided the horse was not a fit.
I agreed to lease and payment arrangement by a certain date several months in the future. At the end of the payment term we would do a bill of sale and transfer registration. No payment has been made yet (according to agreement). Due to the owner being a friend, I feel responsible to help with the sale even though I’m not going to get any money from it and am still going deeper into the red on the pony each month.
Ok, no contract and no payment? SEND THE PONY BACK.
That is ridiculous, you can help with the sale, but why should you fund someone else’s pony?
Horses, never buy or lease from a friend…
You can’t afford to be " nice " and support this thing indefineatly until she accepts an offer and sells it. Trainer and owner can string you along for months in a market saturated with Pony prospects needing training but too small for adults to train up. And nothing sells this time of year so you are looking at thousands in board and expenses.
Dont get suckered.
The owner is not sounding like a friend if they are saying you have to deal with re-homing the pony now.
not going to get into this mess but without consideration in most cases the contract is not valid
let’s see you have a pony that your told maybe worth $10,000 if you put about $9,000 into boarding/training (six months at $1500) then pay a 20% sales commission … so my thoughts are just give some one $1,000 now to take the pony
What the owner wants her to do is financially support the Pony at this trainers barn until owner gets and accepts an offer and sells it. Since it would cost owner nothing with trainer using it in lessons and OP paying board, vet and farrier, there’s no real incentive to rush on selling. Pony isn’t that an attractive a purchase until it gets polished up and some show exposure…wonder who would pay for that…likewise if it gets hurt or sick and can’t be used in lessons, Pony’s value will drop and it will take even longer to get it sold.
Thinking it’s a good thing nothing got put in writing, nobody signed anything and no price has been set or money change hands. So far.
OP, I think you should probably plan on not keeping this friendship, no matter how things turn out (and I don’t see any positive way for this to end). Honestly, I don’t know what I would do in this situation. You can demand they take it back, but short of literally dropping it off on their doorstep, I don’t know how you would force compliance.
Would it be feasible for you to purchase the pony outright NOW and then sell it yourself? It would depend on the price you agreed to pay. But consider that you may end up paying that out anyway in board/fees if this pony sits in some trainer’s barn for 6+ months on your dime, waiting for an offer the owner will accept. Trainer gets a free pony to use for lessons, owner gets free training and full purchase price minus commission on pony without having to lift a finger (or a dime).
See what you need is to free lease the lil bugger to a fun sized adult!!! ssssssiiiiigggggghhhh I suppose I could volunteer out of the goodness of my heart…Seriously I would love to half lease a pony like this if it was local…maybe you could have some luck just finding a fun sized adult to lease?? Then kiddo still gets pony if all it needs is to be “warmed down” for them.
Wonder if owner would consent to OP sub leasing or sharing a half lease? Or force her to continue with OP paying and owner making all decisions despite no written contract? What a mess.
Unless you WANT to be paying for pony that isn’t yours, that your daughter can’t ride, that probably needs retraining before attracting any buyer… I’d say give the pony back. Or send to trainer of owner’s choosing and let them know they need to resume paying for pony.
What if after a few (or many) months of sinking $$ into pony’s board and training, owner changes their mind and wants pony back? is she stuck on 10k figure?
Seems a lot harder to sell or lease out the pony also, if any agreement has to go through you and then to owner. It may cause potential buyers to find it a strange or messy situation that they don’t want to be involved in. It might be one thing if she were offering you 50% of pony’s sale price; or trying to give you the pony, and you could choose to sell, lease out or give away pony.
It also seems like a gigantic and disproportionate favor or feeling of responsibility for friend who does not seem to reciprocate the concern.
Point out to friend that there is no benefit to you, not even enjoyment of riding the pony, to keep paying for pony, never mind paying even more to get it sold. She can come up with a deal with trainer herself. If it makes you feel better, I suppose you could offer to pay some sort of lease fee for the months you’ve already had the pony?
If owner needs to unload pony asap, and pony is decent-but-needs some training, she could probably find someone to take on pony for free. She can ask trainer(s) if they want a free/cheap pony for their lessons or to take on risk of resell themselves.
There’s some benefit to offsetting training fees with WS/lessons, but trainer and owner need a sense of urgency to sell also, or you’ll likely end up paying for pony for far longer and at greater cost than you would like. And, as mentioned above, it will end up cheaper, and maybe easier also, just to give away pony to someone else now. Heck, it might even be cheaper to pay owner to take back the pony (ie, pay some of the lease fee).
Give it back!! A real friend would realize they are asking you for too much.
Gosh I wish you existed in my neck of the woods! I’ve posted him for lease but have not had any takers. Everyone wants to ride a big warmblood over here 
Been trying to find a sub lease for months without any luck.
After gaining courage here from you folks, I had a chat with owner. They are on board and told me to give 30 days notice to end board. They are coming with a trainer to assess the pony, etc.
by any chance is the pony named “Bamboozle”?
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