breeding w/no contract

[Abejita]

Here is the situation.I have a person who wants to lease a belly..the stallion she wants to breed to- the owner says he never uses contracts.This scares me as there are not just 2 parties involved, but three being its a lease .The mare is staying in our custody and I am pretty happy with my basic contract ( i write it up to each individual situation ) What kind of clauses do you all think I should include to cover myself and the Boss in case the stallion owner jerks this woman around? Like I order semen and he says no I said 24 hour notice and they actually told me 12..but there is no contract to prove it.the owner has a good rep in the breed so I am not really worried,but the person leasing the belly is new to the whole scenario..

[Cindy]

Your deal is between you and the person leasing the mare. The deal with the stallion owner is between the person leasing the mare and the stallion owner. It sounds like the mare is staying with you and you are AIing so there is no concern about the care of the mare. I don't see how contract or no with the stallion owner should concern you. Maybe have a nonrefundable deposit on the lease of the mare in case there is a problem getting good semen. That way you still make money if the mare does not get in foal due to the stallion owner. But you know as well as I do that even the best case senario horses sometimes don't get in foal so I don't know that I would be more concerned with that than in any other situation. Other than that, I don't see any other concerns.

By the way, I only use contracts for breedings to my own stallion with people I don't know and/or don't trust. When breeding with my clients, a verbal agreement is all there is. If I can't trust them, I don't want them as clients. And to enforce a breeding contract would require taking the person to court anyway. Which would generally cost more than the breeding in the long run. Just because you have the paper does not mean that you are safe. Just food for thought. I do, however, always have contracts with outside stallions.