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To earn
points in amateur or youth events, many breed associations
specify that the horse must be owned by the youth or amateur
exhibitor (or a member of their immediate family). As a
result, many show horse owners actually take the step of
signing a transfer of registration when leasing a show horse
so that the horse can be shown by the youth or amateur lessee
and earn points. In most breed associations, transferring
registration of a horse with no intent to actually transfer
the ownership of the horse is strictly against the rules, and
if caught, the perpetrators can be fined and/or suspended.
Still, this practice is fairly common, and as you might
imagine, it leads to all sorts of legal problems.
Because the parties rarely have anything in writing regarding
the ownership transfer (or the lease, for that matter), the
lessee may be able to successfully claim ownership of the
horse. The lessee has possession of the horse, has been paying
the horse's expenses, and has usually paid the owner a lease
fee (for which they typically have a canceled check). The
lessee is also the registered owner of the horse.
In
contrast, the legal owner has little to prove that they really
own the horse. They have signed a transfer of registration, so
they no longer have registration papers in their name.
Usually, they have no written lease agreement.
The legal owner has not been paying the horse’s
expenses during the lease, so they have no receipts for horse
care. When faced
with an ownership dispute, the legal owner often has nothing
more than an argument that the lease fee paid to the owner was
far below the horse's fair market value and therefore no sale
took place.
To
prevent ownership disputes, the lessor can put the lease
agreement in writing, and include a provision about the
transfer of registration being for the purpose of showing
only. ELS offers a show horse lease
agreement, its Full
Equine Lease Agreement with Registration Transfer, that is
designed to cover the above issues.
Additional
Information:
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