HORSE PURCHASE
AGREEMENT

HORSE PURCHASE AGREEMENT: HORSE PURCHASE & SALE AGREEMENT

After buying a horse, it often turns out that the newly acquired horse does not meet the expectations. Lack of rideability, health problems (lameness, coughing, etc.), display of bad habits (rising, bucking, kicking, running, etc) and other problems confront the horse buyer with a number of questions:

• Can the horse purchase agreement be rescinded? Are there alternatives?
• Was an effective exclusion of warranty agreed?
• Who is responsible for any veterinary costs and adjustment costs?
• What if there is no written horse purchase contract?
• What to do if the seller is not located in Austria?

The aforementioned questions can be discussed in the course of comprehensive and individual legal advice on the purchase contract and possible solutions can be pointed out. Ideally, details on the aforementioned topics are already contractually stipulated in a horse purchase contract at the time of the horse purchase in order to avoid ambiguities and/or surprises later on.

WARRANTIES AND LIABILITIES WHEN BUYING & SELLING HORSES

A horse is only free of material defects if it has the (verbally or in writing) agreed condition or the usually assumed characteristics at the time of (risk) transfer to the buyer.

Material defects in horses can basically be divided into

• health defects (defects of the bony or soft tissue structures, epidemic diseases, etc),
• defects concerning the riding qualities (e.g. suitability for dressage, jumping, etc), and
• character defects (vices) and
• behavioral abnormalities (behavioral stereotypes such as hitting the walls of the stall or weaving).

If a defect has occurred in the purchased horse, the buyer of the horse should carefully plan the further course of action against the seller with the help of legal advice and execute it in compliance with the legally or contractually stipulated deadlines.

On the other hand, it is essential for the seller of the horse to take out the best possible (contractual) protection against any warranty and damages issues that may arise in connection with the sale of the horse.

If the seller is a horse dealer, he should use “standard horse sales contracts” within the scope of his entrepreneurial activity when selling horses, which are individually adjusted to his activity and needs and give him maximum protection against claims of dissatisfied customers.

INTERNATIONAL / CROSS-BORDER HORSE PURCHASE & SALE

Especially in Austria horses are often bought from the surrounding countries (e.g. Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary). But also sales or purchases from or to overseas are not uncommon in horse trade.

In such constellations it should be considered and contractually stipulated which national legal system should be decisive for the purchase/sale and which court should be responsible for any legal dispute. If, as an Austrian horse buyer, you unexpectedly have to conduct a legal dispute about the deficiencies of the purchased horse before a Czech court, according to Czech law and in the Czech language, the associated costs and inconvenience are often out of all reasonable relation to the possible profit of the legal dispute.

To avoid such surprises, choice of law and jurisdiction clauses are strongly recommended when drafting the horse purchase agreement.