I am contacted on a daily basis by people who have bought a horse and for a number of reasons, it  isn’t suitable, because either the horse has an inherent vice or has been misdescribed by the seller. Generally people are not aware of the  legal options open to them and really want to know where they stand. Your legal rights will depend on whether you have bought the horse from a  dealer or someone selling privately. I have tried in this article to give you a snapshot  of the law covering the sale and purchase of horses but please remember every case will turn on its own facts and if in doubt take specialist legal advice.

Selling in the Course of a Business

If you have bought a horse from someone who is a dealer or sells horses on a regular basis the Sale of Goods Act 1979 ( as amended) will apply. Sometimes clients don’t always know whether they have bought from someone trading in the course of business and there can be a difficulty in proving that the seller was in fact a ‘dealer’. A good indication is whether the seller, is for example a well known professional producer  or the sellers advertisements have a ‘T’ by them indicating that they are ‘trade’ adverts.  If you are a stud, and are selling ponies, in most cases you will be selling in the course of a business.

Also beware if you are a private seller and give your horse to a dealer to sell on your behalf, if the dealer does not disclose to the buyer that they are selling the horse on your behalf, the contract can acquire the status  of a sale in the course of a business.

The significance of the Sale of Goods Act is that Section 14 (2)  implies that goods sold in the course of a business are of ‘satisfactory quality’ and if they turn out not to be of a standard of satisfactory quality then a buyer may be entitled to reject the pony and receive a refund  of the purchase price (as well as damages for out of pocket expenses in certain cases). The Law says that goods will be of a satisfactory quality taking into consideration the following:

1. Fitness for the purpose ;
2. Appearance and finish;
3. Freedom from minor defects;
4. Safety and
5. Durability.

The difficulty with the Law is that while it is easy to apply the Sale of Goods e.g. to a faulty kettle you bought from an electrical store   (i.e. doesn’t boil hot water so is not of satisfactory quality)  with horses their use and type is varied. For example if you have bought a horse described as a  Grade A show jumper for £20,000 and find that it will not jump a single pole you’ll probably have a case, however if you bought a horse described as suitable for show jumping and paid £1,500; if later you find that it will not jump a 4ft  affiliated track, it is unlikely you will be able to reject the horse on this basis. In that latter case it may be unreasonable to imply into the contract for sale that (although the horse was described suitable for show jumping)   a reasonable person would not necessarily expect to buy an affiliated showjumper for £1500.

If you want to buy a horse for a specific purpose and you make this known to the seller, for example a safe hunter, if the seller  assures you that the horse is suitable for that purpose and you rely on his assurance, your case will be stronger if on  the first sight of hounds the horse takes off, than if you never communicated to the seller what you wanted the horse for.

It is always prudent to record in a contract any representations which are crucial to the buyer. For example if you have asked the seller to confirm that the horse is good to load, write this down on the receipt and ask the seller to sign the receipt. On the other hand if you are the seller and have specifically disclosed to the seller that the horse  windsucks or crib bites, again write this on the receipt/contract because it will be difficult for the buyer to later say that they never knew the horse wind sucked.

Description
If you are selling a horse make sure that the description you give in your advert is accurate, i.e. height, breed age and be careful about the representations you make, for example do not put in your advert  ‘ top class’ show horse  if the horse has never been in the ring. Also always be careful about putting the horse is 100% in traffic, because horses can be unpredictable and are flight animals. Although your horse may always have been well behaved when hacking on the local country lane can you really guarantee that your horse will be the same hacking along a busy main road ?

It is always worth keeping a copy of the advertisement  as this is a useful record of the description of the horse if there is a dispute in the future.

Notify the Seller if there is a problem
If you discover there is a problem with the horse, for example a vice which you were not aware of at the point of sale, notify the seller as soon as possible because the longer you leave it before you contact  the seller the harder it will be to ‘reject’ the horse. Keep a note of any telephone calls or copies of letters between you and the seller or vice versa, including dates  and times. Whilst it would be reasonable to notify a seller that the horse keeps napping or bucking a few days after purchase it would be unreasonable to complain to the seller 8 months later. Remember that horses are not inanimate objects and have their own personalities and quirks. It may seem obvious but if you have just bought a horse give it time to settle into it’s new surroundings. A horse that has lived out all of it’s life with other horses is bound to behave differently if he is stabled 24 hours a day and never sees the light of day.

A Private Seller

If you have bought a horse from a private seller any remedies you may have will be based on the representations made about the horse at the time of the sale. The representations will form the contract and can be made up of a mixture of what was said at the time of the sale and the description of the  horse in the advertisement. There is a legal caveat  that the buyer should ‘beware’ and the law is not there to resolve a bad bargain. You should find as much out about the horse as you can before you enter into the contract with the seller. Ask lots of questions about why the pony is being sold, whether  the horse has any  vices,  find out what the horse has done previously. Sometimes it can be useful to speak to the previous owners of the horse or for example ask the seller whether they mind if you contact their instructor to try and find as much about the horse as possible. Although you may want to try the horse a couple of times, remember there are lots of honest sellers out there who get frustrated with time wasters. A genuine seller will only be too happy to tell you as much as they can about their horse but it may be unreasonable to want to go back and try the pony on 4 or 5 occasions !

If a horse is described as ‘vice free’  or ‘ good to load, clip and shoe’ and it later transpires that this is not the case you will have to prove that the seller has ‘misrepresented’ to you and as a result of those misrepresentations you decided to buy the horse. In the absence of a written agreement, misrepresentations can be hard to prove, again it is always advisable to record your agreement with the seller in writing. Once again it is important to keep a copy of the advertisement as proof of any representations made by the seller. If you are successful in proving misrepresentation you will be able to end the contract and recover the purchase price. Damages may also be awarded in situations where you have been able to prove that the seller knew of the vice prior to the time of sale but fraudulently misrepresented that the horse was vice free.

Vetting
Buying a horse usually involves a large capital expenditure and so it is worth, in most cases having the horse vetted. If you have a vetting make sure that you do not use the same vet that the seller routinely uses. It is important that the buyer pays for the vetting so that there is a legally  binding contract between  buyer and the vet, which the buyer can rely on later if necessary. As the buyer do not rely on an out of date vetting certificate which a seller may provide, always  have your own vetting carried out.

It is important to remember that the purpose of a vetting is to discover whether the horse has a ‘clinically discoverable’ disease, physical abnormalities or injuries. A vetting is not definitive and just because a horse has ‘failed’ a vetting it does not necessarily mean that the horse is not suitable for a certain purpose. Whilst a vet may make comment on whether a horse is sound and suitable to be a  hunter it will be unreasonable for you to expect the vet to answer questions in relation to whether this horse is suitable for  “my novice child” or “will make a top class  WHP” – these are  matters which you as the buyer should satisfy yourself  before on you enter into the contract.

Finally please don’t be put off from buying a horse as there are lots of genuine four legged friends out with equally genuine sellers, both professional and selling privately. As a buyer remember to be realistic in your riding abilities, don’t buy that just backed three year old and then complain to the seller you can’t cope three weeks later. Sellers please be honest and be realistic when advertising  your horses this will save you time, stress and money in the long term.

This article was kindly supplied by Kerry Dovey of Equine Law 

Kerry is a solicitor with a particular interest in equestrian-related legal matters. She advises on a
wide range of equine issues including sale and purchases of horses, acquisitions of equestrian and
agricultural property, and offers advice on loaning/grazing agreements. She is a member of the Equine
Lawyers Association. Kerry is a Native Pony Panel judge and regularly competes home produced horses in mountain and moorland ridden and WHP competitions, including qualifying for the Horse of the Year show. Kerry also has a good understanding of the agricultural sector and runs a 50 acre farm with her farrier husband on the edge of the New Forest Kerry.dovey@wandb.co.uk