# Calling a lease horse your horse?



## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm be heard a lot of controversy over calling a horse you full lease, your horse. What do you think?


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

You can call it your horse, but at the end of the lease it goes back to its real owner.

Not sure why it's a 'controversy', since who is it hurting to call a lease yours?


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## Rideordie112 (Dec 7, 2013)

I think it's fine! Especially on a full lease. I mean you love, care for and ride this animal. As a child I leased horses that I called mine!


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## Uze (Feb 23, 2013)

There was only one horse I leased that I called "mine" because I fully intended on buying her. (That was until someone else bought her out from under me :/ ) If I never intended to buy the horse, I didn't call it mine, but I don't think it's wrong for someone to do


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

IMO if you have a full lease on the horse and are responsible for the total care of that horse then it's yours until the lease is up.


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## Bright Stride Equine (Oct 20, 2016)

In my corner of the world, a 'full lease' means that you pay for everything for the horse as if it were yours, you just don't actually own the horse. So you cover board, vet, farrier, feed, emergency costs etc. Often times you can move the horse to whatever barn you want.

To me, that is pretty much "your horse" (even though legally it is not) but I see no problem calling it such.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm currently leasing a horse (been leasing him since July), I call him 'my horse' 'my baby' etc LOL. He's my trainer's horse, but she doesn't seem to mind at all! I take a gazillion pictures up & post them she actually loves all the attention her horse gets from me! 
No problem at all.  

I feel like he is 'mine' because well, I ride him almost every day, groom him, help with feed, etc. I don't pay for the vet/farrier/dental, but still, I think of him as my own all the same! <3


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## beverleyy (Oct 26, 2011)

I think as long as you're not trying to say you own the horse, then it's fine. For example, 

"I'll be right back, just grabbing my horse!" - totally fine. 
"My horse prefers carrots over apples" - totally fine.

However, telling your friends/new barn owner/trainer it's _your_ horse, vs. your _lease_ horse. Or telling the vet during an appointment that it's _your_ horse, vs your _lease_ horse (even if you're paying for the vet visit) - not okay, IMHO.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't see anything wrong with it. If you lease a house and you ask someone to come over you don't say "Hey, do want to come over to my lease house?" or you don't say "We can take my lease car." if you are talking about who's car you are going to take to go somewhere. 

If I leased a horse, I would call it my horse until it was no longer my horse when I gave it back.


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

Okay that makes a lot of sense!! A bunch of people on my equestrian team thinks it's wrong, but I definitely dont


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I only half lease a horse. I sometimes say, 'my lease horse', or sometimes 'my horse'. it's not that important. if discussion moves in such a way as it matters, I will make clear that he is not mine. otherwise, it doesn't matter.


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

Okay! Thanks! The people on my team are so confused lol


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## Naphth (Jan 7, 2015)

The only people I know who have complained about me calling a lease horse my horse are bitter hateful people who are angry at world. There's nothing wrong with it, even most owners leasing out their horses wouldn't care as long as you're not being a jerk and saying things like "my stupid horse is lame and worthless but it's the only one I can find". The people I leased from were so friendly and wanted me to feel like I owned him, they always asked me about other use and, when someone else was going to lease, the owner checked with me to make sure it would be fine before he did anything else.


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

I hate it when people are that negative. That sounds like a great barn owner


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

Well, if you rent a house you'll refer to it as "my" house in every-day conversation unless it being rented is pertinent.


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

It's fine if someone calls a lease horse "my horse" only with friends and fellow barn people. I would however be angry if someone was claiming that on social media (as so many young kids do). I'd get about 50 phones calls from people asking why I sold my horses!

Ultimately, no matter the terms of the lease, those are my horses, under my control and my ultimate responsibility. I'm the one who has doctored them, stayed up all night or out in 10 degree weather when they are sick or injured. I'm also the one who sacrifices luxuries just so that I can afford to own them.


If you are going to call a leased horse your own, be sure the real owner is fine with that-many are not. And whatever you do and no matter how you feel, _never be caught criticizing_ that horse owner. Believe it or not, I have witnessed a lot of people doing that!


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

Okay thanks! I have some large problems with the owner I've expressed in other posts, but I've heard many people say it's a bad ide, so I'm going to stop.


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## beverleyy (Oct 26, 2011)

Chasin Ponies said:


> It's fine if someone calls a lease horse "my horse" only with friends and fellow barn people. I would however be angry if someone was claiming that on social media (as so many young kids do). I'd get about 50 phones calls from people asking why I sold my horses!
> 
> Ultimately, no matter the terms of the lease, those are my horses, under my control and my ultimate responsibility. I'm the one who has doctored them, stayed up all night or out in 10 degree weather when they are sick or injured. I'm also the one who sacrifices luxuries just so that I can afford to own them.
> 
> ...


Already replied to the thread, but I agree with this as well. As an owner, I would be super ticked if a leaser did this with my own horses. Having leased out my mare's in the past, as well as unfortunately witnessing it on social media as well where young pre-teens/teens will post multiple posts about "their horse", and when a friend comments on a nice photo of said horse, said friend asks "is this your horse!?", young girl replies back "Yes, this is my horse!". As well as times I've received facebook messages asking why and when I sold my horse.

Or the time I had a leaser who took things so far as to book appointments for my horse behind my back, as well as a vet's office calling me to confirm the upcoming appointment for my mare (had mare free leased out, my contract was strict and girl broke it in every which way. My vet knows me personally but the office is a mid-sized number of people, apparently leaser booked an appointment behind my back for an apparent "issue" that I had no knowledge of. Vet called me to confirm the appointment. I was beyond ticked. Or the time same leaser had been booking farrier appointments behind my back with a farrier I was 1) not comfortable with, and 2) had no knowledge of/didn't approve this farrier. Long story short she asked another farrier to come out for "her horse", and they wound up pulling my mare's hind shoes. I was again beyond ticked. 

Maybe that's why it brings such a sour taste to my mouth when I hear of a leaser calling the horse 'theirs' in such a way that insinuates the horse actually is owned by them. 

/rant over:lol:


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm in charge of a lot of the vet stuff, but I'd never do that. I calling mine but if someone specifically asks if he's truly mine my answer will be no


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## Naphth (Jan 7, 2015)

Sfriedman said:


> I hate it when people are that negative. That sounds like a great barn owner


They are! I love that place. I wish I could keep leasing and taking lessons there forever. But I had to move :icon_frown:


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

Aww I'm sorry


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

Question has essentially been answered but I'll add that when I leased, any time a peer at school saw the pictures I kept in my locker or on my binder and asked "is that your horse?", I would reply with yes, since trying to explain leasing seemed to always leave people more confused. I think in situations like that there's not much of a problem with it. Although that was back before social media was a big thing (like, facebook was still new, and xanga was still popular!) so it could be different now.

That said, I had a unique lease situation and was (still am) very close with my mare's owner (she is essentially my "horse mom"), and I knew she wouldn't mind me calling Dolly my horse.


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

The owner of my horse calls him my horse. She's say something like "go get your horse and load him into the trailer" and "how was your and your horses ride" I don't think she would care if I said he was mine. Our lease is kinda weird


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I have a couple girls that have been riding my horses (free lease) since one was middle school and the other elementary. One is now graduated from College and the other is in her first year of college. They've been calling my horses theirs for years. In fact, I am happy that they feel like the horses are theirs. I know they will treat them right because they love them...


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## Ihave2horsesnow (Dec 7, 2016)

Why not? If Ur leasing a vehicle U call it Ur's, I c no prob with it.


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## CaliforniaDreaming (May 8, 2011)

Sfriedman said:


> The owner of my horse calls him my horse. She's say something like "go get your horse and load him into the trailer" and "how was your and your horses ride" I don't think she would care if I said he was mine. Our lease is kinda weird


I had a trainer who referred the horse I was full leasing from her as "your horse". We ended up buying him anyway, so it was pretty much inferred from day 1 that he was 'mine'. When I was leasing my mare however, I was pretty careful not to refer to her as mine in social media as I have no idea how her owner might have responded.

It might save time on your horse owner's part to just say 'your horse'. She probably isn't being too nitpicky there, the legality of ownership hasn't changed so its not necessary to get into the semantics too much. When I trailered a friend and her lease pony out on a trail ride a few weeks ago, I told her to "go get your pony and we'd load him up" which was a lot easier than saying "go get the pony you lease from <name> and we'll load him up.


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## CadenKaylee (Oct 13, 2016)

I think it would be fine to be treated the same as a car, apartment, or house. It's yours until you're no longer responsible for it. Not sure why it would make a big difference.


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

Yea I completely agree with all of those statements


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

In most cases, I think it's fine. I think where it becomes problematic is when young people jump the gun ("I ride this horse at my lesson barn and take care of him and love him and he loves me so it's just like he's mine, but the owner is so mean and won't let me do whatever I want with him...") or when they come across as not having really earned the privilege of horse ownership. An example of the latter is this 10 year old girl who came to my house to see my horses and was talking about how she "owns" 14 horses (they're her uncle's horses, but she rides one - bareback, without a helmet). Those who actually own horses know how much time, blood, sweat and tears, not to mention money, goes into their full-time care. The bucks stops there. The person leasing a horse can end the lease and walk away (not saying they all do), but the owner is responsible for the horse's welfare.


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## Iridescent (Sep 8, 2016)

I could see if it was a partial lease where it might rub someone the wrong way. A full lease, not really, unless the owner is really, really against it.

But I mean, I use a lesson horse and sometimes call it 'my' horse to people that already know it's a lesson horse and I don't own him. That's just out of convenience. I know there is another girl that leases the same horse but doesn't ride very often. TBH I got jealous the one time I saw a pic of her posing with him a few months ago haha. I would probably not love it if I heard her call him 'her' horse only because I've been riding him more just doing lessons lol. But I wouldn't say that's controversial just me wishing I was the one leasing him


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## Sfriedman (Nov 24, 2016)

I do most of the care for him, and I've felt the same way with old lesson horses before him


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Sfriedman said:


> I do most of the care for him, and I've felt the same way with old lesson horses before him


I don't mean to be picky, but "most of the care" is not the same as ALL the care ALL the time. On Christmas morning, in the middle of the night when he's sick, when everyone else is going south for March break, when you have the flu and can barely walk, 24/7, 365 days of the year. I am responsible for my two horses 100% of the time for every little thing they need. I have to arrange farrier care, vet visits, deworming. I have to clean stalls and muck out the paddock every day. I have to brush them and clean their feet. I have to track down a hay supplier and check the quality of the hay. I have to fix fences and replace malfunctioning or bent stall hardware. I have to drag the pasture. When we lost power for two days, I had to haul water to them in 25 liter jugs which my husband filled at his work. Even when I boarded them, it was completely different. I could take a day off. Heck, I could take a week off. Unless you have a leased horse at home, it's not the same. 

Again, I'm not saying you can't say he's "your" horse in casual conversation (like "I'm going to load my horse in the trailer now" or "I'm going to ride my horse tonight"), but sometimes there is an entitlement in young people's minds that can irk those of us who do 24/7 care and cannot walk away when we get bored/want to take a vacation/the horse becomes lame. 

I guess it comes down to the word "owner". Most people assume there is only one owner - it's like a relationship, which is probably at the root of the confusion. In the case of leasing, it is more like shared ownership.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

When I went for an interview with my late boss he asked me what would be the worse thing about employing me. 
That took me aback and I really had to think. In the end I told him that his horses would be 'mine' 
I got the job, his horses were mine, I did my best for them. I worked for him and his family for twenty five years. 

It was funny as he would often get the babies muddled - we seemed to breed a lot of plain bays!


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## beverleyy (Oct 26, 2011)

Acadianartist said:


> I don't mean to be picky, but "most of the care" is not the same as ALL the care ALL the time. On Christmas morning, in the middle of the night when he's sick, when everyone else is going south for March break, when you have the flu and can barely walk, 24/7, 365 days of the year. I am responsible for my two horses 100% of the time for every little thing they need. I have to arrange farrier care, vet visits, deworming. I have to clean stalls and muck out the paddock every day. I have to brush them and clean their feet. I have to track down a hay supplier and check the quality of the hay. I have to fix fences and replace malfunctioning or bent stall hardware. I have to drag the pasture. When we lost power for two days, I had to haul water to them in 25 liter jugs which my husband filled at his work. Even when I boarded them, it was completely different. I could take a day off. Heck, I could take a week off. Unless you have a leased horse at home, it's not the same.
> 
> Again, I'm not saying you can't say he's "your" horse in casual conversation (like "I'm going to load my horse in the trailer now" or "I'm going to ride my horse tonight"), but sometimes there is an entitlement in young people's minds that can irk those of us who do 24/7 care and cannot walk away when we get bored/want to take a vacation/the horse becomes lame.
> 
> I guess it comes down to the word "owner". Most people assume there is only one owner - it's like a relationship, which is probably at the root of the confusion. In the case of leasing, it is more like shared ownership.


I could not agree more. I know I've posted in this thread a couple of times now, and I don't usually give more than a single response, maybe two depending on the nature of the thread. But I just have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with you. And the truth is also that, when that horse is injured for a lengthy period, maybe permanently, the owner is the one who deals with it. A leaser can walk away (mine did, no fault of her own). My mare became injured with a career-ending injury, we later found it was much worse than we had initially thought (that or she did more damage while on stall rest, we're not quite sure). My leaser had to back out of her year long contract, and I don't blame her one bit. She's paying quite a bit for a horse that's essentially going to sit in a stall and eat your bills, and then the recovery time under saddle on top of that will take quite some time as well. I'd walk away too if I were in her shoes. But I am the owner. I can't do that, and I don't want to either, but if I did want to - it wouldn't be so easy as to ship the horse back to the owner, because that person is me.


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## HorsesandHappiness (Oct 4, 2016)

I see no problem with it. After all, if I were on the lease (ie leasing) an apartment, I would still refer to it as "my apartment" even though the building is owned by the landlord.


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