Has anyone leased their horse before. I am not going to be running barrels this year and wanted to lease my horse out. What is everyone’s experience with this. Do you charge, what is a must in a contract. Those kind of things would be helpful. 

No, no,no,no.

I haven't, and I wouldn't ever consider it. At best if I knew I wouldn't be running for a yr I'd allow one of the very few close friends I'd let on my horse take her to a few races just to keep her sharp. 

Hopefully someone who's done it can chime in, I'd just be entirely too wary of the person leaving my horse riding poorly, not keeping up with maintenance, and a plethora of other whatifs.

My horse came back crippled, feet not done the whole time they had her, wasn't getting enough hay/water. NEVER AGAIN!! 

My friend’s horse came back with a broken splint bone and paid on the surgery for over a year. Didn’t have money to sue.....and didn’t get an apology or an explanation  

Then she let a friend lease another horse of hers, and he cane back starved after one month. 

I leased a friend's horse for a few months a few years ago. My horse was hurt and my friend was going through some stuff and needed a place to keep her horse, so it was a win/win. I took care of him exactly like she wanted, and she completely trusted me. We both paid for all of his upkeep (I paid for all feed and I think we split farrier costs) and I hauled him whenever I wanted. She also came and picked him up whenever she wanted and brought him back when she was done.

Thankfully there were no vet bills that needed to taken care of.

We did not have a written contract, but I would 100% recommend putting in writing who is responsible for what, and I'd probably require the other person to take out insurance on the horse.

I have a couple times, been successful but I have heard horrible stories for other people. Insurance is a must, realize that accidents happen and you better be ok with the potential of something happening to the horse that ends it's career or worse. Make a contract, have clear expectations of their and your responsibilities, have exact dates for return. 

The biggest thing is selecting the right people. I have been blessed both times to have found nice, respectable individuals that take pride in their reputation. That is becoming rare now days so do your homework!  

Leasing is super common in other disciplines.

I leased several horses as a youth - just because someone needs to lease a horse vs buy one doesn’t mean they are any more likely to mistreat or abuse the horse, and it doesn’t mean the horse is anymore likely to suffer a career ending injury than in its next run with you, or the next time you turn him out for that matter.  The ones I leased usually went back in better condition than they came in.

Ask for referrals, decide how far you are comfortable letting the horse go away from you based on your ability to check in on things.  Go see their set up, is it a clean and safe facility, a boarding barn, or a train wreck?  Discuss how you work the horse, how often you train on the pattern, and where you want the horse ran or don’t want the horse ran.  Discuss feeding programs and hay quality.  Finally, make it known they need to take out an insurance policy on the horse and provide proof if it along with a contract outlining expectations.

if at any point your gut says this isn’t right, I’m not okay with this barn or I don’t think this person is taking my expectations seriously, don’t do it.  

Just because you’re interesting in leasing him doesn’t mean you have to put him on the first trailer to the unknown that pulls in the driveway.

Thank you everyone for your input, I am for sure going to think on it a lot and get a good detailed contract typed up. Going with my gut on this one. 

I'm also not going to be running this summer & most of the fall, but no way am I willing to send one of my finished rodeo horses off to someone else all summer. The youth rider who has (on a free lease basically) my older gelding is going to try running my gray (the most forgiving of the 3, plus has LTE over $50K) a little bit, but my husband and/or I will haul him to an arena for her to ride him and to youth rodeos for her to run him. He's not going to go live there even though I know they take great care of my old man.

Ideally, she'll be able to qualify for Little Britches nationals again and take my gray down there instead of the 26 year old grouch LOL, but if that happens, I'll go down and make sure he's cared for appropriately all week. We're hoping she'll be able to handle my little horse too and run poles on him, but it will be a similar deal where we haul him to her events or they pick him up right before the weekend and return him Sunday night or Monday.

We've been very lucky to have a great experience letting her keep, run, and care for my old man like he's hers, but we spent a lot of time getting them acquainted,  and her parents have called me many a time to ask what to do with him when he won't eat, loses weight, etc. They have honestly earned my trust, but I'm cautious about ever having a similar arrangement with one of my more competitive rodeo horses. I'd definitely want things in writing if I sent one of the others off for a period of time.

Hope that you really think this threw because a contract dont mean squat and the horse still suffers if it all gos wrong.

I'm too much of a control freak for that, even if they do everything right....

Horses are a perishable item, like eggs.  Even in the best care and intentions you can break them.

AGREED ..... What you get with a breach of contract is a judgment .... THEN you are forced to find a way to actually "collect" the money owed. What you can end up with will be a useless horse and no money!

I, personally, would NOT lease a horse to anyone unless I kept the horse in my barn and they only rode it in MY presence.

Yep. I know someone who got screwed over once, not in a lease, but in a horse related deal, even with a signed notarized contract, and even though the judge ruled in her favor and the defendant had wages garnished. Said defendant simply makes sure she only takes cash jobs now. It's a mess.