Half Lease Horse

The most important part about agreeing to a half-lease is that the contract and details must be in writing and agreed upon by both horse owner and lessee. The agreement should include both time of lease, lessee’s schedule, payments, horse’s expenses, vet bills, horse’s use, stabling for the horse, restrictions, liability waivers, and legal fees in case problems arise. Every lease contract should include the start and end dates of the lease as well as the horse’s limitations during the lease. Lessees are often blindsided by the limitations of the horse as well as the expenses of the horse during the lease so it is incredibly important to discuss these limitations with the horse owner or trainer (if the trainer is playing middle man). Discussing the lessee’s scheduled rides or other times they can use the horse is very important because trainers or owners may want to have other people riding the horse or another rider half-leasing the horse. Horse owners and lessees must discuss when and to whom payments are made and what the payments are for: board, vet bills, shoeing, feed, etc. Vet bills need to be discussed in detail because owners may have lessees pay for supplements, but not major injuries or treatments. Emergency situations will call for either horse owner or lessee to make decisions and it is important to outline the circumstances in which either step in. Horse owners will sometimes add a late fee so it is crucial to make sure riders know when payments need to be made. Some states require Equine Activity Liability Act language and owners may want lessees to sign off on a Liability waiver and release with indemnification. Legal fees may also be discussed in case problems arise.