Due to time and financial constraints, I’m considering shareboarding my mare instead of selling her. What should I consider in terms of liability? I would have an attorney prepare an ironclad agreement. Is there anything else I should consider? Would love to hear pros and cons to shareboarding your horse.
I haven’t shareboarded my horses since well before these litiginous days, so add a grain of salt to my experiences.
I only asked for half the cost of board & shoeing.
Vet expenses were mine alone unless treatment was for something incurred by boarder.
That never happened.
For inexperienced riders, I required a weekly lesson with my trainer.
Nobody who shared my horses was interested in showing.
I did let my horse be shown by others.
Once a friend whose own horse was injured when she was chasing YE points.
Once to a Junior who needed a Medals horse.
Another time to a Junior between horses.
No charge to these, they paid all show-related costs.
Pros for me were horse had a caretaker who knew him when I was on vacation.
Only Con was a AAA-type (practicing attorney who went back to Med school so she could practice Law as an MD) my trainer asked if she could shareboard my horse
She left sweatstains on him - word to trainer corrected that.
But in spite of her weekly lessons, I could tell when she’d ridden, horse suddenly had no right turn.
My ride following hers was spent reinstalling that 
Consider insuring the horse and splitting that cost in case there is an accident that occurs while the share-boarder is handling or using the horse that results in a serious injury to the horse.
List what the obligations of the share boarder are if the horse is temporarily lame or not rideable. Also, put in very specific language about how to end the agreement on short notice.
Be very specific about jump heights, if the share boarder can take the horse off the property/show/trail ride or whatever, tack that will be used, any expectations with regards to grooming or care, who may ride or handle the horse, etc. Make sure all expectations are explicitly stated.
Consider presenting the opportunity as a short term situation that has the potential to be extended. That way if you don’t like the situation for any reason that you are reluctant to discuss you can gracefully end the agreement without creating awkwardness.
1 Like
I have shareboarded and leased out my lower level mare a few times. I was always extremely specific about what costs are split and how, and how many days they can ride the horse. If they wanted a 1/3 share board, they paid 1/3 of everything (board, shoes, vet, supplements, sundries) and could ride two days a week, 1/2 share they paid half and could ride three days a week. I insisted they take a weekly lesson with my trainer (mainly to mitigate my horse’s “learning loss” with a less capable rider) and any showing they did was their expense. They had to use her saddle, this was non-negotiable.
The upside to this was my wallet could breathe a little easier and I had more time to devote to my young horse. The downside was that when I rode my mare I was essentially undoing everything the share boarder did: reinstalling half-halts, self-carriage, unlocking her jaw, insisting on correct bend. Our progression as a horse and rider team essentially stalled. I now know how my trainer feels when she rides my horse 
I half-leased a few different horses at different times before ultimately buying. My contracts always included language waiving liability if I got hurt by the horse, as well as holding me liable if I injured the horse through my negligence. One contract tried to hold me accountable for any injury to the horse on my riding days, whether I was involved or not, which I made them take out. In addition to the standard language on the leaser cancelling the lease (typically 1-2 months notice), also consider including language allowing you as the owner to end the lease faster in certain scenarios.
Everyone has already flagged that you need to consider what to do for a serious injury or other major problem, but I would also recommend having a conversation in general about how much communication you expect. Some owners want constant updates while others are very hands-off, and it can be awkward as a leaser to figure out where someone falls. Plus, horse people can be WEIRD so I never wanted to risk even the appearance that I missed something the owner might consider a big deal. Making it clear what the threshold is for contacting you can prevent confusion on both sides (also, if you do want your leaser to run everything by you then make sure you actually respond to your texts in a timely manner).
People on this board tend to be fairly negative about leasing, but there are good leasers out there too. There are plenty of competent riders that can’t afford or don’t want to own at the moment, dedicated juniors looking for a step up, etc. You just have to decide what your goals are for the situation (are you looking for someone to help advance/maintain the horse’s training, or just someone to contribute to the bills?) and vet your leaser to match. It can be a huge plus to have another set of eyes on your horse, another person who is familiar with what’s normal for him and what isn’t, and another person looking out for his well-being.
2 Likes
@dmveventer I agree that a part-lease or share board agreement should be thoughtful about what amount of financial responsibility a share boarder has for any accident / injury to the horse, that’s a great point. Accidents happen. Even conscientious people can have moments of negligence where they make errors in judgement or have momentary lapses in attention, or misread the signals a horse is sending that something is NQR.
But I think negligence or not, the number of share boarders who would ultimately be willing to cough up significant financial responsibility for a horse (large vet bills, paying the owner for part/all of the value of the horse) that they don’t own and are only part-leasing is very low. I recall a scenario where a share-boarder was momentarily careless in her handling and the horse put it’s head down, caught a foot in a loosened halter, panicked, fell, and sustained injuries that resulted in large vet bills and the end of the horse’s career as a riding horse. How much responsibility should a share boarder have in a scenario like that?
Well, yeah. That’s kind of the point of leasing, you don’t get any control but you also don’t have the responsibility. That’s why you have to have a contract laying these terms out in advance so everyone knows what they’re getting into.
Defining negligence can be a little tricky and collecting the payout may still be tough, that’s something to talk to your lawyer about. I don’t know that I’d consider the situation you describe as negligence unless the leaser did something really egregious - horses will do stupid things no matter how well you handle them. Ultimately the owner will always bear more risk in any lease situation.
2 Likes
I think the horse catching his hoof in a halter is an excellent example of how leases between even well-intentioned people can go sour. I can easily see this being one of those “shit could happen to anyone” moments. But of course, the owner is always going to be haunted by the idea that if it had been in her hands, the horse could never have done this.
I benefited from leasing for many years, not being able to afford my own, but truthfully situations like this–fortunately not on this scale–was why I kind of soured to it. As the person leasing the horse, you’re always going to be blamed and seem less sympathetic than the owner–and from the owner’s perspective, however, I also understand the fear of a loss of a control and permanently messing up a horse’s career.
In my experience, it usually worked best when the owner had two horses, and was leasing out the horse who was “stepping down,” and the owner was slightly less invested in the training progression of the horse, as long as the horse was healthy and happy.
obviously not referring to people who lease horses and violate the lease contract or don’t take care of the horse, which is inexcusable
My best lease situations were the ones where I either knew the owner really well (so we were both very comfortable with the other’s standard of care) or the ones where the owner just wasn’t around and I was able to manage the horse to my liking (but had to deal with the frustration of less experienced people leasing the other half). The horse I half-leased last before I bought had an absentee owner and frankly got much better care while I was leasing him than he did normally, plus it had been a while since he was ridden by anyone that knew what they were doing so I definitely added value. His basic needs were being met but there was no one paying attention to the little details. It was great for me because she deferred decisions to the barn staff, who trusted me, so I was able to get a lot done with him.
2 Likes
