Agisting

Agisting a horse is the term used to describe the agreement made by a majority of horse owners in order to allow them to keep their horses at the residence or land that belongs to another individual. This is a common practice amongst many horse owners. An agistment agreement is very important and used in similar situations involving other agricultural animals. Such agreements are very essential and valuable to both the horse owner and the property owners as anything is bound to happen when dealing with live animals. Disputes might emerge over issues such as the horse agistment fees charged and it might be difficult to decide who is in the wrong. This is why the Livestock Laws Act of 1994 was made in order to ensure that both parties involved in the agreement are protected by the law. Today it is therefore easier to clear up any cases involving agistment disputes.


Agistment Agreements
This is a contract between a horse owner and the owner of the piece of land where they intend to keep their horse. This is a legally binding agreement that includes elements such as what will be fed to the horse, the pasture or cattle land used, the rates charged during a certain period of time, the profits accrued from owning such a property and other extra expenses that will be incurred during the animals stay at that land. The owner of the property who is commonly referred to as the bailee is responsible for looking after the animals that are entrusted to them. Any damages or injury that might occur on the animal as a result of minor accidents that show they could have been avoided all together if the bailee was keener will also be charged on the bailee.

Should discputes occur - The land owner today has a right to keep the horses at their property until the horse owners completely clear the agistment fees that they owe the bailee. The lien on the horses can be created by the bailee as soon as fourteen days have passed and the horse owner has not paid their arrears in agistment fees as agreed upon. After three months the bailee has a right to claim the money owed to them by the horse owners. The two parties have an option of either making the agistment contract verbally or in written form. The lien aspect is however not valid in situations where the agreement has been written down including what happens if a payment is default.