WWYD

[Yetie]

I’m in a wonderful yet daunting situation. I part loan 2 ponies (17 and 19) 3 days a week. I love everything about it. The owner is an old lady and they live on her farm. she is not horsey, they were bought for her niece and she since grew up and moved away. I part loan with another girl, who doesn’t really have much experience but has self taught a lot over the past 18m. Her grandad has sadly passed away and she’s come into some money and just told me she’s buying a pony. She’s said she’s going to look for a replacement unless u want any extra days.
Im considering taking them on full time. I feel like I need to know the owners plans should anything happen to her but I don’t know how to approach it. My friend said well hopefully you’ll end up with them but the thing is I wouldn’t choose older ponies if I was in a position to own. But I also love the idea of having a real bond with them, I’ve been part loaning them for nearly a year and I’m finally getting somewhere with them. A lot of people have loaned them so I think it would be lovely for them to have some consistency. Or am I overthinking all this?

Long story short I'd say go for it, if you have the time and money, you clearly love the ponies. I do have a lot of questions though that might just be annoying or might help? Feel free to ignore if the former!

I assume by 'taking on full time' you mean full loaning rather than offering to buy them from her? It might be worth offering to buy them, or at least getting an agreement you'd get first refusal on any sale, if you are going to put a lot of work into them, just as even with older ponies, if/when owner realises how much they're worth there is a risk of them being sold out from under your feet and you getting nothing, I know no-one thinks their lovely amicable arrangement will ever turn sour with something like that happening to them but it does.

Do you have a loan agreement already, if not you must do one, if yes then make sure to amend it to reflect new arrangements.

Are the ponies ridden or non ridden? Will you definitely have time to ride/work with both regularly, would you want someone to hack out with for instance, perhaps you'd like to bring along a friend to ride, because if so you should agree boundaries around that with the owner especially with them being kept at her home. Ditto around taking them off site and bringing in instructors if that's something you'd want to do.

Definitely cover what the owner's intentions would be in the event of her death or also if she has to go into care. Also the horses themselves aren't spring chickens (sorry!), what will happen if one dies, will the owner be prepared to get a companion for the remaining one (she probably doesn't want to get into an endless horse cycle) or for you to move the remaining one to somewhere where they can have companionship?

Also for your own peace of mind you probably want to think through what you'd do in the event of a change of circumstances meaning you could no longer loan them - I can see that being a really tricky situation for the owner if you've been the only one with responsibility for some time, and the issue with them being at owners home as opposed to on a livery yard is it might be difficult finding someone nee to take them on especially a few years down the line - worth thinking through that contingency if so. I assume you already have holiday or sickness cover in place? Or did you and the other part loaner sort this between you? If so worth getting that sorted now.b

thanks for the lengthy reply! It’s certainly helped. Yes full time loaning. She would never sell them. But also she’s not in great health so I do need to ask her plans should she die/go into care etc. No loan agreement, and I don’t pay a penny (apart from treats and matchy saddle pads ;)).
one ridden and one not. I work part time so time not an issue. Both live out so pretty easy to do. I’ve never taken them off site (on wheels) I don’t even think the cob would load lol. But hacking for miles and we’re both happy plodding around the countryside.
now, I’ve thought about if one dies. My goal is for my own at 40 (3year away) so it could work out that I buy one and keep with them…but again land and what happens to that when she dies. I have a friend who covers me for holidays and there’s a girl in the village who loves them and her gran helps her when I’ve asked before. Thanks though, lots of food for thought. I will be saying yes 🙊

You have to assume that when the house & land is sold that you will have to leave.

What's the area like for livery options? Is it realistic that you will be able to find your own land to keep 3 horses on? Or will you need to then look for livery options - what will that cost? Is grass livery readily available locally or are you looking at DIY stabled visiting twice a day? How long can you afford to do that & can you afford the vet care on 2 ageing ponies?

You need to look at your local options as it varies so much. If you are say Surrey where land is virtually gone then you may well not find another field & have to pay £300 + per horse per month for grass livery alone but other parts of the country it's easy to find a cheap field for grazing.

Be very, very careful of offering to take on 2 older ponies.

I would just wait and see what happens - if you are going to look to buy in about 3 years then re assess the situation then as you may well feel differently.