Re: Buying a horse-general issues--long reply

[Rhonda K Levinson <levinson1@juno.com>]

On Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:44:58 EDT SandyDSA@aol.com writes:
>You know, vet check or no, without a deposit, a horse just isn't 
>considered 
>sold. 

Sorry, this just ISN'T RIGHT!!  There CAN be a valid sales contract
WITHOUT a deposit.  If, in your mind as the seller, you need money before
you're going to consider it a valid contract, you must SAY SO explicitly
to the buyer.  If you're a seller and you persist in thinking the horse
isn't sold until money changes hands without making that clear to the
buyer, you can find yourself in legal difficulties down the road.  When
in doubt ASK an attorney.  

Also, I think that Dawna makes some good points.  A lot of nastiness
would have been avoided if everyone were a lot clearer on the telephone. 
I purchased an Appaloosa filly sight unseen based upon the breeder's
reputation.  I said I wanted the horse, but needed to get a final answer
from my husband, so please call before you sell it to anyone else.  The
seller was nice enough to call me long distance and tell me that there
was a local person wanting to buy the horse.  I said I really wanted the
horse, the check is being sent express mail and if you don't have it in
two days, please call.  Unless the seller tells me, the horse is yours
and I'm holding it for you, I know that I'm still competing against other
buyers.  

I routinely do sales contracts for some local horse people.  I make them
a standard contract for holding the horse pending the vet check, what
happens with various results on the vet check and what happens if the
money is not received with a certain number of days.  Also, be aware
sellers that holding a horse's registration papers is not always the best
way to get paid for the horse.  If the buyer sells your horse to someone
else as a grade animal, you will have a hard time getting the horse back
-- a bona fide purchaser without notice of your interest in the horse
could prevail over you.  If the buyer uses your horse as collateral and
the new creditor files and gets a "perfected" security interest in the
horse (has the paperwork filled out correctly and filed in the
appropriate office), you could lose to the new creditor if they take or
sell the horse to pay the buyer's debt.  Also, if someone obtains a
judgment against your buyer, they can "execute" on the horse (take it and
sell it at auction to satisfy the judgment).  Because no one knows about
your interest in the horse, you won't get notice that any of these things
are happening.

Not that I'm giving legal advice or anything, but you might want to do a
security agreement so that you have a security interest in the horse. 
Then file the paperwork with the local county or the Secretary of State
(depending on the law of the state in which you live).  Now, you have a
perfected security interest in the horse.When this is done, the buyer
cannot sell your horse as a grade animal, or use it as collateral for a
loan, and the horse cannot be taken and sold by another creditor of your
buyer.  Again, I don't know the laws of all states, so this is just
generic, non-specific stuff that you can't use straight off the internet.
 A local attorney should be able to help you with this for relatively
little money compared to how much you stand to lose if the horse just
disappears without being paid for.

Rhonda


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