[RC] trial period for sale of horse and Black Hills ride - Marlene Moss
Hello,
I have a mare for sale that is experienced at endurance and
a teenager is interested in buying her who wants to do endurance as well.
This mare could be very good for her because she takes care of herself very
well and is fun and safe to ride. I have her for sale for $3500 but the
girl has indicated that she will probably offer less if they decide to buy
her. She has also been advised to do a trial period, which I have no
problem with because I want the horse to be happy (she’s been one of my
favorites and I wouldn’t sell her if I didn’t have so many
horses).
But they want to take the horse to an endurance ride during
the trial period and I’m just not sure how comfortable I am with that. I
could put in the trial contract that the horse has to come back as she left or
else they have to pay (some, all?) but I would be annoyed to get a horse back
that I couldn’t sell or keep riding because of an injury even if it wasn’t
the riders fault.
Also, the horse has not been conditioned - she is 11 and
holds her heart and lung conditioning well, but will absolutely not over exert
herself on hills until she feels like she is ready to go. We’ve
just been doing flat rides this winter and not that much. So what can
people tell me about the Black Hills ride?
They’re planning on doing the 30. If I do end up agreeing to them
using her for the ride, or even if they decide to buy her before, I want to be
able to tell them what to expect from this horse before the ride. I know
her extremely well and can pretty much predict how fast/slow she’ll go
and what terrain she’ll complain at until she’s back in shape.
So my various questions are:
Any advice on a trial contract? What length is
reasonable?
If I talk to this girl’s mentor and decide to
risk letting them take her to a ride, how should that be addressed in the
contract?
What is the terrain like at Black Hills, how
much steep, is it constant rolling hills?
