Leasing a horse is an ideal way to see if you want the responsibility of owning your own horse. You will have the benefits of riding the horse and bonding with it while also taking on the responsibilities that come with it. Too often people are quick to buy a horse and then realize it’s too much work. Sometimes the horse suffers from neglect when the owner becomes too busy or quickly sells the horse to an owner of even lesser interest.

Leasing is also a great way to have a horse that is suited to your level of riding experience or interest. For example, if you want some additional “saddle time” when you’re just learning to ride, you might want to lease one of the riding school’s lesson horses. As you progress or start jumping or training, you may want to start riding a horse that has more skill. If the horse is for a child, you may want to start with leasing a small pony, but as your child grows you can switch to leasing a larger horse.

If you were to buy a horse suited for a specific point in your riding career, you’d be buying and selling horses just about every year. But with leasing, you can end a lease on one horse and start a lease on another. Typically, owners will lease a horse because they don’t have enough time or they need help with expenses. If you are considering leasing a horse, it is important to get everything in writing. 

It’s important that you are very clear on who will be responsible for what expenses when it comes to the care of the horse. It can be anything from splitting everything in half to you having complete responsibility for expenses. Most often, this is based on how much you are going to ride the horse. If you have a full-lease, you can typically ride the horse any time you want and as much as you want. With a half-lease or partial lease, you and the owner will each have certain days to which you may ride. It is important that you put in writing which days who has the opportunity to ride the horse.

Another dilemma might occur when the horse is injured after/during a ride. Will it be the owner’s responsibility to pay for the horse’s care or will it be up to whoever was riding when the horse was hurt? How will you determine who is at fault and who will pay for medical expenses? Let’s say you just rode the horse yesterday and when you put him in his stall he was fine. But sometime in the night, he might have gotten himself cast and he strained a leg muscle struggling to get up. Is it your turn to pay for vet treatment because you rode him last or should the owner pay because she has ultimate responsibility for the horse? Other issues such as mandating a helmet or other safety gear when riding, riding on certain trails/land, or what bit or equipment to use are all additional questions that should be discussed understood and fully agreed upon before the lease begins.