How do you go about handling the purchase money when you are trialing a horse? I had thought some kind of escrow account, but I could use some parameters on the subject!
I am looking at a nice enough, but quite green gelding and I’d like to take him on trial. Owner is fine with it IF we do some sort of something with the purchase price - such as an escrow account.
I’ve never done anything like this before so I could use some advice.
Thanks!
As a seller, I’ve just always taken a check for the full price of the horse, deposited into a savings account, and don’t touch it until the trial is over and buyer decides to keep horse.
If they seller really wants it to be an Escrow account, they need to go to a bank and set it up.
What I’ve done/seen done :
Vet check and insurance prior taking the horse.
Pay in full with a 30 days clause for reimbursement if :
Ex : buyer couldn’t bring the horse back only because it’s deemed too tall or the wrong color.
Ex. : buyer couldn’t bring the horse back on the last day stating it bucked everyday for the past 30 days.
I’ve seen that often with sellers who don’t want their horses to be injured or rough handled if something is going on.
It’s also to protect the seller from people who’d want a “free” horse for 30 days and bring it back…
A man at a barn I used to board had a horse for sale and a girl with her coach did a 30 days trial on site. So the girl had +10 lessons on the horse and a few free hacking sessions… It went really well but they never bought the horse… !!!
Horse on trial? Sounds like a bad idea, I would never sell a horse that way too much risk!
This is a rather unusual situation in that the seller is absolutely adamant that if this horse does not work out (or any of their horses) they will take it back and refund your purchase price. Of course I’d like that in writing and signed by witnesses…LOL… but ? The seller does OTTB’s. So they are at the farm, and if they don’t sell or aren’t saleable, they stay. I guess. That’s what she said, and there’s certainly enough horses of varying ages to support that statement.
Taken at face value what do I have to lose, right? but this is a horse…
I am just squirmy because I’m not an experienced horse shopper/buyer. Experienced horse person, yes, but that doesn’t equal buyer!
So far, the horse seems like a really good fit for me. IF he can pass a vet check.
I think it’s less disconcerting as the buyer. 
My TB was on a month trial, though I finished the purchase before the month was up. His previous owner insisted because she had other people ride him at times before that where he’d start to show his dislike of them after he made up his mind negatively about them. She wanted to make sure he didn’t have that kind of attitude toward me and that we’d be a fit, and I had specific goals I wanted to see how we did on before finishing the sale process, too, especially as he had been turned out for several months since the end of the previous competition year.
She had a contract which basically mentioned the things above. We didn’t put money in escrow, and it would have been reasonable for her to ask that, but the contract basically said “you broke him, you buy him” and otherwise that I had a month to make up my mind.
@netg So what constitutes ‘you broke him’? besides obvious like he broke a leg or some dumb thing. I mean I’ve known people who bought a horse and 2 weeks later it dropped dead in the pasture and that was NOBODY’s fault, but in today’s world, you just know somebody would make it someone’s fault.
I too am in a similar situation with this horse as you with yours - I have a specific need in mind and want some assurance; the seller also wants a certain situation and seems to be quite happy with how the horse responds to me.
I am just looking for a good education on this subject!
I have sold 2 horses with “trial periods”…typically lasting 1 week.
Horse #1, I trailered to my instructor’s place for a lesson. Her property was under contract for sale. The buyer, a H/J trainer admired my horse, and my trainer said “He’s for sale.” So we all talked and I left him at her place for the week for him and his students to ride. Of course, I knew my instructor was on the property and would take care of the hors. She had not yet moved. The horse sold.
Horse #2, I trailered for a clinic with one of the Cadre Noir instructors I speak of. Someone commented how much they liked my horse. I say, “He’s for sale.” It seems word got around the clinic auditors, because shortly I had someone who was interested in him come up to me. The clinic organizer and owner of the farm was well known and respected by me, so we agreed that the horse would stay at her place for the week. That horse returned home, but was eventually sold to another person who observed the horse while it was under the “trial” period.
Personally, contracts are great…but I prefer to “vet” the people. Legally enforcing a breach of contract is a very expensive undertaking. One that I prefer to avoid, by negotiating with reputable people. Contracts are only as good as the people signing them.
In both my cases, there was a third-party that I trusted in the middle that had care, custody and control of my horse. I did not just turn over the horse to the prospective buyer. I don’t know that I would turn over a horse to a buyer.
Through my own negligence/fault - it was under guidance of our mutual trainer, at the facility used by the previous owner when he was in training, so issues related to getting cast or colic or anything similar would not have been my responsibility.
As a seller, I’m not sure I would do it - as a buyer, it wasn’t nearly as high risk… Though if I were considering it I would have someone look at insuring the horse with me as the recipient of payout if selling a horse and putting it on trial.
Trials are so rarely available, I don’t see this much. When it does happen, buyer vets horse, signs contract, pays seller. Contract says that buyer may return horse within (7 - 14) days for a full refund so long as the horse is in the condition in which he left. i.e., all risk transfers to the buyer while he is in the buyers care.
I have done a one week trial, really for purposes of vetting when the horse was several hours away from where i lived. I wrote the check, don’t recall if it was cashed during the trial period. I don’t think the seller was entirely comfortable with the trial but she liked the “cut of our jib” I think.
I have to say it was very stressful as the BUYER, and not because of the money (this horse was under 10K, but not by much). The horse was young and green and the trial time was long enough that we needed to turn him out. Turnout on a new property and potentially a new herd mate is ASKING for something to happen, it’s just the way it is with horses. We were so careful with this horse! He was fine, but imagine an injury, even a small one. As a seller I’d be even more nervous.
I had a horse for sale last year and would not do a trial unless I knew the other party, and the barn situation, quite well. Too many variables.
I’ve done several 30 day trials and in each case I paid half the final price, with a 30 day return clause in a written agreement with the rest of the payment due at the end of the trial. In addition I was required to take out a 30 day insurance policy on the horse. Most insurance companies have offered a free 30 day trial for this circumstance but of course they assume that horse will be insured with them.
Yes I was thinking about insurance during the trial period. This is an inexpensive horse, but we all know the purchase price is just the beginning.
Turnout, he’d be alone. Other horses around, but individual paddock. With hot tape. In a stall at night. :eek::yes: best I could do for him short of 24/7 stall which I would not do.
The insurance during your trial is a really good idea, especially if the trial is longer than a week it protects you from having to pay the costs for an injured or sick horse .
This is pretty common in the HJ world. Usually you get a few days to a week with the horse on your property, including the vetting. Longer than that and it’s usually worded as a lease with an option to buy; the potential buyer pays a lease fee which may (or may not) be applied to the purchase price.
Insurance would probably be a good idea.
If I were a seller operating on my own without a trainer I would probably want some sort of a deposit, or held check.
Having said that I brought my current horse in on trial with no contract or exchange of money, but it was two trainers who trusted each other on both ends of the deal. I paid with a cashier’s check once I bought the horse, stuck it in an envelope with a note, and mailed it to the owner. I got a bill of sale a few weeks later with all his records, baby photos, and a nice letter. This was not a particularly inexpensive horse.
I think it is a little too “general” to say that trials in the H/J world are “common”. They do occur, but they tend to be available for lower priced horses or horses that are difficult to sell for one reason or another.
In a trial, the risk is inordinately skewed to the seller. Risk of loss insurance is expensive and usually not obtained by the potential buyer, therefore that risk remains with the owner/seller. The horse is in a new environment and being managed by people unfamiliar with the animal who may or may not follow the seller’s instructions for turnout or other areas of care. Many sellers refuse to assume the risk of a trial unless the horse is cheap, i.e. they can afford the loss should things go awry, or the horse is difficult to sell.
We are a small sales barn. Over the years, we have entertained very few trials. When we do allow a trial, it is always with a horse that is harder to sell for one reason or another. The trial is very short, usually three days long with a vetting scheduled on the second or third day and a return of the horse on the fourth day at the buyers expense, if a decision to purchase is not in place. If the potential buyer needs a longer period to evaluate the fit, it is called a lease. For the handful of trials we have offered, the horse is usually 25K or less. Our top horses are not available for trial. Too much risk.
All of this is great. Keep it coming. I like to know how the world actually operates outside my little bubble!
My current budget buys me a project. Even a year from now, that budget will STILL be a project. I cannot afford to buy the horse I actually would like to be sitting on.
So, pick my project. Since I don’t show, gaits need to be decent but not a ‘10’. I need a good brain, decent conformation, and hopefully ‘sound enough’. (I say it that way since I’m looking at a lot of OTTB’s).
Anyway, in a sellers viewpoint, a “cheap” horse = bring out the crazy buyers who waste your time in some fashion or another.
I may not have much budget but I am not crazy not wasting the sellers time but nor do I wish to be led down a rosy path just because horsey is ‘cheap’ … when we all know a lame horse costs as much (more) to feed than a sound one. So I am taking my time, trying to do my due diligence, protect my backside (and bottom line) as much as I can.
I hate horse shopping. It stinks.
Friday I go back to see him again. He’s too far away to see daily, otherwise I would. I really like him but I’d like to be able to spend a week working with him every single day, and I need to get him vetted. The seller is okay with this but we need to write up a contract that covers all of us.
Maybe it’s a geographical thing or I have a trainer that people especially trust, but in two years seven horses have been purchased or leased following a trial and five without but that includes two from Europe. Several came in for a trial and got sent back. Barn has sent several out on trial. Numbers may not be exact bc my memory isn’t perfect. Most of the trial horses were >$25K.
Obviously, from these posts trials do occur, payments can be arranged and insurance can be obtained. The horses I’ve had on trial were all dressage trained, from large sale barns and I did have a trainer working with me.
I bought an OTTB by half leasing two months then a full lease for a month then purchase. I did not buy but tried a young QH that had been arena spoiled. Most comfortable horse to sit on and smooth gaits. Her seller was all for it as I could get her to W/T/C in rather dubious circles in the arena and avoid running into arena walls and the gate. I was just too old to deal with that hardheaded a horse. At the end of thirty days she was better but we were both sore and I felt like a decrepit old crone. She had just passed flexion tests and I scheduled X-rays and as we limped out to ride I thought this isn’t working. Did not use a whip or spurs and used a snaffle. Just used legs, seat, and sometimes a LOT of arm strength. Beautiful mare. Like sitting on a comfortable sofa. The seller thanked me for making her better and I think it took two months for my back to feel better. I knew all the trainers over a long time. I have to try them several times. I can’t sell them. It’s a lifetime commitment. The one I have now I bought at my barn after climbing on OTTBs I had no business trying, the QH, a beautiful mare started by an incredible trainer that had vet check issues I couldn’t get around, and other wonderful horses. I looked at one that I loved but she was very narrow and I couldn’t get leg on her. Very uncomfortable. The barn owner then brought out a ton of horses for me to try that were all past my price range. We had quite a drive to get there so I said ok. We are here. Weird but fun trying them. It was an incredible experience. When I was a kid we bought good grade horses cheap because they had behavioral problems. Lots and lots of riding. Someday before I die I want a good classic seat and good hands. I have a lovely mare now. The barn imported her as a sales horse and my riding horse had to be put down unexpectedly. I’m looking everywhere and my old mare kept dragging me over to this mare. The old mare was right. She knew.
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