Hi all, I thought I would share my experience of when I loaned my childhood pony out - with you. I had owned Jenny my 13hh Sec B, childhood pony ten years. Whilst my children were little, all three of them under three years old, I found it increasingly difficult to give Jen the quality time she needed. I reluctantly decided it would be in her best interest, to loan her out. I loaned her out to a 'so called friend' (SCF) on the yard where she was stabled at.
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| My lil Jen waiting for her new owners to pick her up aww |
Of course, in the old days, ok, not so old days lol, a persons' word was good enough! Not like these days where everything is paper work and no one trusts anyone! I agreed to let my 'SCF' have Jenny on loan. Firstly it was on a three/four month trial. I allowed them to gel the first couple of weeks by not going down to visit and enjoyed the time at home with my babies. Two weeks after Jenny was under the responsibility of my SCF, I decided to do a random visit, I was missing her so much. I went to the yard and no one at all was there. I said hello to Jen, she had plenty of hay in her haynet and her bed of straw was lovely and deep, she looked very happy. I left with a lovely smile on my face thinking I made the right decision. I did this surprise visit one more time, Jenny was turned out and her stable was lovely and ready for being brought it, I just thought they were doing a lovely job, again, I was happy to leave them to it.
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| Jenny the early years whilst on her strict diet, she was huge when we bought her |
I decided to leave them to it as they clearly looked after her, I got on with being a mum and enjoying the little ones thinking I have nothing to worry about in that other side of my life, the horse mad one! I left them to it for around 12 weeks, I didn't interfere, I spoke to them a few times by phone and everything sounded great. Around the twelth week, I got a visit from the yard owner who posted a note through our letterbox (they some how couldn't get me by phone, which to this day I still don't believe!!!) . The note said "quickly, get to the yard, Jenny has gone down in the field, she can't get up and the vet is trying to save her life" !!!! As you can imagine, I was in a sheer horrific state. I didn't really take in what was written on the note, I can't actually remember how I got to the yard either! I was really mad that there was a note and not a phone call, how long had the note been there!? I quickly drove to the yard, Jenny was in her stable, standing!! A massive relief!! The SCF was no where to be seen. Everyone that was on the yard was looking at me sheepish! The yard owner then came over and said "they had been riding Jenny lame for ages"!! This made me outraged!! They can phone me to make sure hay/straw payments are there for deliveries each week, but they can't phone me to say Jenny is being ridden crippled?! They couldn't even phone me to say Jenny is virtually on deaths door in the field!! I was, of course, fuming. The vet told me she was crippled with laminitis and it was touch and go. (When I say 'they' I mean the horse owners AND the yard owners!).
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| Jen in the stable where she was on loan, waiting to go to the showground |
I saw my SCF about a week after, due to us being at the yard various times, I had spoken to her by phone. I didn't go to town with them as really, they were quite naive and weren't too experienced (they owned a 2yr old on the same yard so didnt have a ridden horses knowledge to date so probably wouldn't be able to tell if a horse was lame). I was more mad with the poeple on the yard who all had my numbers, as well as the yard owner, to actually watch Jenny being ridden crippled on a number of occasions and not say anything, they too, knew this family who had Jenny wasn't that experienced. Of course, I learned a big lesson here and what the vet at the time clearly said to me, "no matter what, the pony is yours so it is YOUR responsibility" got me thinking how correct he was. Saying this though you do think, if your SCF was originally doing a good job, you would think all is ok? I visited twice in a couple of months,phoning each week, plus with being on a yard with many other yard owners that you got on really well with, did lots of horsey activities with, shows, hacks out etc etc, you would have thought they would have let you know? I just felt confident and happy with the people and the place that Jen would be in good safe hands.
It did teach me a valuable lesson, NEVER EVER loan a horse out again. Years and years later, due to one thing or another, you may decide to, which I did, with my cruel lesson with Jenny I made stringent contracts to be signed and witnessed on behalf of both parties. This was done for all kinds of loans. Three contracts I have used to date are: Loaning my ponies out on my yard to young riders who can do anything with them for a weekly contribution towards my insurances etc : I have loaned horses out going to other yards within our town : I have loaned horses out moving to yards outside our town : I have had horses on loan myself and adjusted each contract to suit.
If you are considering certain types of loaning I will quite glady send you a copy of a loan contract, email me at dfstudservices@yahoo.co.uk .
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| Jenny babe |
Getting Jenny back the way I did, in utter panic stationsgave me a second chance with her. I had to put her on an extremely regimed diet and exercise plan to bring her back to health. She had one handful of hay twice a day! Yep, that's all she had on vets orders for around a month. I walked her out daily, when she could walk ok, to eventually to get her fit and trimmer. (They had allowed her to pile lots of weight on and her feet to get a bit longer than they usually are).
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| Me and Jen bombing it around |
I loved this pony so much. Sadly as time went on, I decided to put Jenny up for sale as the original problem was still the same, I was finding it hard at home with twins aged 2 1/2 yrs and a baby boy. Three or four months later, with a broken heart I put an advert in the Farmers Guardian. I couldn't put her on loan again as my broken heart wouldn't be able to take getting her back in a troubled state again.
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| Waiting for her new owners to arrive |
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| The first week in her new home, their house was like the Emmerdale one , lovely |
I vetted each phone call and person that visited and could tell straight away if I wanted that person to have her. I turned a good few away! Then a lovely phone call came from a lovely woman who sounded ideal. It all went well. I sold her to them. They kept in touch with me by letter the first couple of weeks, then gave me bad news.
Jenny had got into their feed room and ate a load of unsoaked sugarbeet pellets, the vet came and gave her an injection as she was struggling, she then had a reaction to the injection and wasn't recovering well. The vet said to them if there are no changes in a couple of days it would be best to have her put down. She didn't recover and they had her humanely killed. I will always hate the end of her life, always, she deserved so much better and it was all to give her the life she deserved. Her new owners were heart broken, they bought her as she was ideal for the church children to be around, pet, brush and ride. They adored her for them short few weeks and wrote to be at least three times in such a short space of time. I was in my element until that last letter had a different tone in the middle, they offered to give me all her stuff back but there was no way I wanted it. I believe Jenny was heartbroken leaving me, we understood one another clearly, she taught me so much about the way horses are, something you don't get to learn slaving away at a livery yard or riding school, she gave me a deeper insight to the way horses think. She taught me lots of patience and taught me to grow up. She needed me a lot her first few years, to show her the world outside that field, to give her that new chance in life, to have fun, to trust humans. I still get upset now. I should never have loaned or sold her but you don't know how it is going to turn out and that's the beauty of life, every hurdle is an experience to learn from. Five months after selling Jenny, I met my husband, I just wish we would have met that five months earlier so she could be kept and be enjoyed by the new extended family where the pressure of looking after her could have been shared. Life eh!
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| Jenny Wrenny |
Over my teens onwards, I always had little riders for Jen, this was after the gruelling work of trying to mellow the headshyness out of her and her nervous nature, she was terrified of everything new, she jumped pavements she jumped high over yellow lines on the roads, she virtually did mini rears if you made a sudden movement or then collapsed to the ground on her knees, she wasn't what you would class as your ideal kids pony, but that's what I loved about her and I needed my parents to buy her.
I knew Jenny years before I bought her, she was a fat field pet with hardly any mane or tail, she was on her own which I thought was a bit cruel. I used to go and give her treats every weekend. When my mum finally let me have a pony of my own I went to the owners of Jenny, never seen them ever before in all the time I had known Jenny (didnt know her name at the time). I saw them and said "excuse me, do you know anyone selling any small ponies around here" he said I could buy Jenny if I wanted!!! OMG!! I ran across them fields as fast as my legs could take me, honestly, If I could have flown I would have lol. I just couldnt believe that the pony I had visited weekends for over a year was actually for sale!! I told my mum and she said she's too expensive. She was £400 which all them years ago was pretty pricey! I then ran back to the field to see the old man and said will you take any less? the old man said he would take £375, so I ran as fast as I could again and said to my mum how much he would take for her, my mum said, ok, you can have her but you need to get a weekend job! I was in heaven. At 15 it wasn't long before I could get a proper job. I went back with a relative and tried Jenny out, which in my case was, like usual, no saddle, just throw a bridle on her and off we trotted down the country lane. She tried her best to get me off as she hadn't been ridden for quite a number of years, she reared quite a few times but It was the fun side of things for me, obviously if my mum was with me she wouldn't have let me have her, but I told the relative that I still wanted her.It was hard actually getting a bridle on her because she lifted her head so high off the ground because she was so headshy, I didn't care. When I took her bridle off, again she threw herself in the air and nearly collapsed to her knees the old man took her off my hands then led her to her stable, he then wacked her back end. No wonder she was nervy! After a chat with the relative who didn't want me to have her, I said I must have her and then the deal was done, she was mine. That was the day I knew what dreams were made of. I had worked on and off for three years at the local riding school which showed my parents that I was dedicated to horses. They did want to buy me one a few years earlier but I said no because I knew how much they cost. I could go on and on writing about Jenny, she was my first very own first owned horse! I always worked with them and had them on loan so owning one was bliss. Of course, she was mainly for my little brothers at the time, my younger brother was three years old so she was always going to be too small for me, I was only 8stone at the time and in my adult height I reached 5ft 4 so I was always small enough and light enough to do the training. The owners also said she doesnt jump, well, what a load of bol***ks that was, Jen and I got many many rosettes over a few years jumping, she loved it!
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| Jen veteran class Thornton show |
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| Jen Fylde show |
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| Me as a teenager with Jenny Wren |
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| Me on Kara with little Jen in tow awww |
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| Me and Jen bombing around, she's blob on here, had no little un to ride her so had to get her fit myself aww for new rider |
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| Me aged 15 on Jenny getting her fit, she was a nervous wreck when we bought her |
Here is an example of a contract. This one is based on the pony I loan out at present, please see, Honeys move blog for further details, some info has been changed for privacy:
Loan Agreement Regarding Honey 13hh Chesnut Sabino Welsh Sec C Mare
This agreement is made between:
1/ The Owner ….
&
2/ The Guardian …………………………………………………………….(hereinafter known as the Guardian) of
Address: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Home Telephone Number , Mobile telephone Number and Email address: …………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
I, the owner, have agreed to loan the guardian the following equine named below:
Name: Sabino Honey aka Honey Colour: Chestnut Sabino (Chestnut and White, White Specs and body Splashes
Height: 13hh Breed / Type: Welsh Sec C
Age: Of today’s Date 15th August 2010 Honey is 15, Rising 16 years of age. At the turn of 2011 Honey will be 16 years of age.
Passport Ref: 8260************ Horse Passport Agency, PO Box 6578, Derby, DE74 2ZW
Two Stage Vet certificate No: V 740547 Dated: 28.10.09 Lanes Vet Group, Garstang, Preston, Lancs
Note: The flexible loan you have had over the past 12 months at Poulton –le-Fylde with Honey and where Honey lives, will now cease ;
From today this date: ………………………………………………………………………..
As agreed by both parties Honey’s new home is now : ……………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Where she will remain for the duration of the loan unless negotiated by both the Owner and the Guardian for any change.
The new loan agreement will now Commence from this date for a period of eight months:
…………………………………………………………………
The duration of this New Loan Arrangement is a period of eight months only. Until the end of April 2011, unless ended by either the Owner or Guardian.
From the date listed above; Honey is your sole responsibility ,where all her care needs are met on a day to day basis, where all financial commitments are met on a day to day basis, where her health is your sole responsibility on a day to day basis.
The loan is subject to the following conditions; as well as taking note of the tips the owner has listed to ensure Honey is cared for correctly and to what she is used to.
If you experience a change in circumstances, can not take on board the sole responsibility of Honey’s day to day needs, have any doubt in caring for her full time – PLEASE contact me immediately and I can arrange to collect her and bring her back home , the contract and loan will cease immediately and your commitment will be void. There is no pressure for you to pursue the loan for the said duration so please feel you can contact me at any time with any concerns.
1/ At the end of December 2010, Honey is due her Prevac – T, this is down to you and your new vet to arrange and at cost to yourself.
2/ Honey has good strong feet and can have the farrier every 10 – 12 weeks, she has strong healthy feet so has had no need for shoes, however, if the majority of her work load is hacking related, she may need front shoes put on, this is at your discretion with your chosen farrier and at your cost.
3/ At a cost to yourself, Honey will need to be insured for various activities, (as will be stated by your chosen insurance company), rider insurance, £2million public liability, vet fees for injury and illness . To keep costs low there is NO need to insure her tack and belongings and to have her insured for the value of £****.
4/ At costs to yourself, Honey’s, feed, bedding, hay/haylage, stabling fees, livery fees, farrier fees, veterinary fees, replacement tack/miscellaneous fees, worming fees, supplements, insurance fees, are your sole responsibility , no fees of any sort will be sought - off the Owner or Paid for by the Owner. Hereinafter Honey is your sole responsibility for the duration of the WHOLE eight months , unless pre arranged by the Owner or Guardian that the loan agreement is to cease.
5/ Please ensure you allow Honey plenty of time to settle in to her new environment and home.
Feeding
6/ Only change Honey’s feed if her work load dramatically increases (amount and / or feed type). As you know, Honey is the type that looks at food and puts weight on. She is very cheap to keep feed wise and does well on good hay/haylage. I always give her a little something to eat for breakfast and tea in her feed bucket as that’s the best part of her life lol and she will expect it, though it looks cruel due to the small amount given, a couple of handfuls is enough. Honey is used to the small amount in her buckets and it is usually humans that don’t get used to it, but Honey just loves getting her breakfast and tea and doesn’t care about the amount. Please do not give her lots of food because you feel sorry for her this could be a mistake that can cause her serious harm or even death, she has a little to keep her healthy and avoid problems. Honey has NEVER had laminitis as her feet will show, please keep an eye out on your turn out, exercise and feed regime to keep it all in check. Seek advice from them around you. They say approx. four hours of work a week is the start of work otherwise she would be classed as in the resting/light work category. The rule is to feed according to workload, if you think she needs more because she’s working hard then feed her more and vice versa, it’s up to you her feeding regime. This does not mean you starve her one day because you haven’t worked her it just means keep an eye on the amount you feed, if you haven’t worked her just give her one handful of something in her bucket, if you are bringing her in from grazing just put a sprinkle in a bucket, if you have worked her give her her normal feed etc its all to keep her in a normal routine. You know Honey, so will know by looking at her body score if she needs her feed increased or decreased. In general Honey is fed a pasture mix with alfa-a with salt / mineral supply in her stable (if in work in winter I add a teeny bit of sugar beet to keep the weight on and to provide extra fibre and calcium to her diet).If worked hard and sweated well, please add a teeny pinch of salt to her diet for electrolyte. Honey needs a mineral lick of sorts or a supplement unless her grazing is of good nutritional value. Please give a good ten-fifteen minutes rest after exercise before feeding or until her respiratory system has gone back to normal, the horses’ digestive and respiratory system is quite delicate and them two systems horses find hard to work together. Its little things to keep colic away, Honey has NEVER had colic. Please do not ride Honey after she has been fed unless at least an hour has gone by for digestion purposes and to prevent colic.
7/ Tack and Exercise, Please keep Honey’s bit a simple snaffle unless discussing a change with the Owner. Honey is simple to stop and work in a school or on open fields so should have no need for a bit change , HOWEVER, she may get fitter and fitter due to an increased work load so her tack/bit may need to be changed, please inform the owner if you feel this is the case. , she is quite easy when it comes to voice aids etc but this could change due to fitness. Though I might seem a touch petty in this area I would agree with any changes you feel necessary, if informed, to keep you safe. Please warm Honey’s muscles up in walk before commencing other gaits and also cool down the same before bringing her back in from work-avoids a build up of toxins and muscle cramps, though Honey has NEVER tied up/got cramps, I just do these things with all as a general rule, that’s the sports therapist in me too lol. For all jumping or lunging activities, please can you boot Honey up over reach boots and brushing boots or what boots you like. Honey tracks up well and expressively in lunge work so to avoid cuts it’s easier to just put boots on, when horses get cuts in them areas they act crippled for quite a while, even if it’s a tiny little cut. It’s preventative measures. For sweat; If Honey has sweated up please put her cooler on to avoid her getting a chill, if it is hot outside she will not need a cooler but could be lightly walked around to dry off or will dry in the sun. Honey can be clipped but she doesn’t like particular areas of her body clipped, we just give her a neck and belly if in med/hard work, but she can have a trace or blanket style to suit ourselves but it may take sometime to do and at times she will need to be distracted. If you do not choose to have her clipped and she is doing plenty of work you will need a cooler and fleece (provided by owner)alot for after work as well as making sure you brush any sweaty areas where her tack goes. Please check her tack regularly before use for loose stitching etc for your safety and so it does not irritate the pony.
8/ Honey is a little expert at her age, as you are aware, if Honey feels she can get away with things and run rings around her human, she will. Nip anything untoward in the bud, immediately or she could become dangerous, all the little things she has gotten away with will turn into bigger and bigger habits that can result in a dangerous ride eventually. YOU ARE THE BOSS. You have seen how she acts around others so there is no reason why she shouldn’t act the same around you. Honey is easy to discipline, all you need is a gruff voice and she will know that you mean business and will get worried, it’s the same under saddle, quick sharp reaction, you have to be ahead of her at all time, but you know that already!
9/ Honey goes in a horse box or trailer very easily, however, she is a nightmare traveller, she fidgits all the time and sweats up loads, stamps around. Don’t worry about this, this is her way.Don’t let it stop you taking her to pony club or shows etc it has never stopped us, if you travel her please put travel boots on her. In colder months she will need a cooler/fleece to travel in as she sweats so much. If in a horse box she would be best travelled away from a pony next to her by an empty stall perhaps? She will probably squeal and pull faces during travel and cow kick the stall walls. She is best travelled alone in a trailer or box unless there is a full partition.
10/ Please do not use any harsh brushes i.e. curry combs on Honey’s mane/tail as they will go very thin.
11/ The Owner and Guardian can terminate this agreement by giving one months written notice.
12/ The Owner if deciding to sell Honey, will give the guardian first refusal and two months notice.
13/ If at anytime during the loan duration the owner feels Honey is not being cared for accordingly, a written notice will be given.
14/ The Owner will supply an inventory of tack / miscellaneous/ Honey’s belongings that will be going with her for the duration of Honey’s loan. This will be listed on a separate sheet and need to be signed and items checked.
15/ I will need to be forwarded a copy of your new insurance policy/cover for my records immediately, preferably before she is taken to her new home.
If you would like the full contract to adapt for your own loan, do not hesitate to contact me.
*I have loads of photos and videos of her so will have to route them out of the loft, then again, who has a video recorder these days lol*
our yard
