When Should You Lease Your Horse Out And When Should You Sell?

When circumstances don’t favour horses, or a particular horse, in our lives, we are faced with the decision of what to do with the horse. Older or injured horses with no possibility of returning to working life are usually retired to live out their days, but how do we decide what to do with working or competing horses? If keeping a certain horse is no longer a possibility for a variety of personal reasons, we have to make the decision to sell on or lease out.

Can’t afford to keep the horse anymore

No horse owner can ignore the financial cost of keeping a horse. Competitive riders especially know that there is so much more that goes into maintaining an equine athlete than your livery bill. By the time we’ve added up stabling, lessons, insurance, shoeing, therapy sessions, show entries, transport and everything else in between, we’re paying a much higher figure than we initially thought. The average cost of keeping an amateur competition horse, attending shows on a monthly basis, is approximately R10,000 – certainly not an amount that all can afford comfortably. It’s important that before you make a commitment to even buy a horse, you are clear with yourself about your intentions for the horse and where you feel financially comfortable. Many only realise the true cost of keeping and riding a horse later down the line, and once the owner is in touch with reality, owning a horse doesn’t seem so convenient anymore and the horse is sadly sold on.

Sometimes, unexpected circumstances arise and we either need to save on our monthly expenses or need the money from the horse’s sale to pull us out of our financial rut. In these cases, it’s best to just sell on and not consider a lease. Owners still carry risk and some financial responsibility of the horse in a lease agreement, so if finances are posing as a long-term or permanent challenge, it’s better to sell.