Horse agistment agreement, Willowvale

Horse agistment agreement with feed, vet authority and fees

Agistment is a weekly fee and a set of assumptions about who feeds, who holds and who calls the vet at 2 am. This agreement turns the assumptions into a table and a dollar figure, so the owner knows what $95 buys and the agistor knows how far it can go before ringing.

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Willowvale Agistment
ABN 19 604 772 358 · PIC 3ABCD123 · 220 Boundary Lane, Riddells Creek VIC 3431
Agistment agreement · Willowvale · Horse: CassioPage 1 of 4
Agistment agreement · Willowvale · Horse: CassioPage 2 of 4
Agistment agreement · Willowvale · Horse: CassioPage 3 of 4
Agistment agreement · Willowvale · Horse: CassioPage 4 of 4
Horse agistment agreement

This agreement is made on 2 February 2027 between Willowvale Agistment, ABN 19 604 772 358, of 220 Boundary Lane, Riddells Creek VIC 3431, called the agistor, and Hannah Reid of 7 Quarry Road, Gisborne VIC 3437, called the owner, for the agistment of one horse, a 12 year old thoroughbred gelding named Cassio, microchip 956000012345678, from 1 March 2027.

$95
Fee a week
North 3
Paddock
$600
Vet authority
14 days
Notice
1. What the fee buys
Item
What is provided
Included in $95
Paddock
North 3, about 1.6 hectares, shared with two other horses, post and rail with hot tape on the road boundary
Yes
Water
Trough on a float valve, checked daily, cleaned fortnightly
Yes
Shelter
Three sided shelter and a windbreak of established trees
Yes
Pasture and hay
Standing pasture, plus a biscuit of grassy lucerne hay morning and evening from May to September
Yes
Hard feed
Fed twice daily from feed the owner supplies, mixed to the written plan on the feed room door
Yes, feed supplied by owner
Daily check
Eyes on every horse twice a day, rugs on and off as the weather needs
Yes
Yards and arena
Two day yards, a round yard and a 60 by 20 sand arena, booked on the whiteboard
Yes
Float parking
One marked bay in the machinery shed yard
Yes
1.1
Not included
Hard feed, supplements, rugs, worming paste, the farrier, the dentist, the vet and any medication are supplied and paid for by the owner. Holding for the farrier or the vet is $25 a visit where the owner cannot attend. Stabling overnight is $18 a night when a stable is free.
2. Fees
2.1
Ninety five dollars a week
The fee is $95 a week plus GST, invoiced monthly in advance on the first of the month and payable within seven days. The first invoice is pro rated to the day the horse arrives. The fee may rise once a year on 30 days written notice stating the new figure, and the owner may end this agreement before the new fee starts.
2.2
Unpaid fees
Where an invoice is more than 21 days overdue the agistor tells the owner in writing and may refuse to release the horse to anyone other than a vet until the account is paid. The agistor keeps caring for the horse while the account is in arrears, because the welfare of the horse is not a bargaining position.
3. Health, vaccination and worming
3.1
What the horse arrives with
Before arriving the horse is vaccinated for tetanus and strangles, wormed within the last eight weeks, and has feet trimmed or shod. The owner gives the agistor a copy of the vaccination record on arrival and after each booster. A horse arriving without a current record is kept in the quarantine paddock until the record is produced.
3.2
The worming and farrier rounds
The property worms every horse on the same day each quarter, in March, June, September and December, so the paddocks are treated as one herd. The owner pays for the paste for Cassio at cost. The farrier visits every six weeks on a Tuesday and the agistor holds the horse if the owner cannot attend, at the rate in clause 1.1.
4. Vet care and emergencies
Standing authority to call the vet, up to $600
If the horse is injured or sick and the owner cannot be reached within 30 minutes, the agistor may call the vet and authorise treatment up to $600 in any one event. The owner is told as soon as the call is made and is invoiced for the cost. Above $600 the agistor keeps trying the owner and the emergency contact, and follows the direction of the vet if neither can be reached.
4.1
Contacts, and the horse in serious trouble
The owner keeps a current mobile number and one emergency contact with the agistor at all times. Where a vet advises that the horse is suffering and cannot be saved, and neither the owner nor the emergency contact can be reached, the agistor may act on the written advice of the vet. That is a serious decision and it is why the contact numbers are checked each quarter.
5. Risk and insurance
5.1
The horse is at the risk of the owner
Horses injure themselves in paddocks that are safe and well kept. The horse is agisted at the risk of the owner, and the agistor is not liable for injury, illness, escape, theft or death, except where it is caused by the agistor failing to take reasonable care. The agistor holds public liability insurance of $20 million. The owner is encouraged to hold mortality and veterinary cover for the horse and its own personal accident cover.
5.2
Riding on the property
The owner and anyone the owner brings ride at their own risk, wear a helmet that meets the Australian standard, and tell someone before riding out. Nobody under 16 is on the property without an adult. The owner is responsible for the behaviour of its horse towards people and other horses, and tells the agistor before arrival if the horse kicks, bites or cannot be paddocked with others.
6. Ending the agreement
6.1
Fourteen days either way
Either party may end this agreement on 14 days written notice, which may be sent by message. The agistor may end it immediately where the horse is a danger to people or other horses, or where its condition needs care the property cannot give, and in that case works with the owner to move the horse within 48 hours. Fees are payable to the day the horse leaves.
6.2
Leaving, and what stays behind
The owner removes the horse, its rugs, feed, bins and gear by the last day, and leaves the float bay and feed room space clear. Anything left more than 14 days after the last day may be disposed of after written notice. Notices are given by email or message to the numbers on this agreement, and a variation takes effect only when both parties agree it in writing. This agreement is governed by the law of Victoria.
7. Signing
7.1
Signed before the horse arrives
Both parties sign before the horse comes onto the property, and the owner gives the agistor the vaccination record, the current mobile number and the emergency contact on the same day. A copy signed by both is kept in the feed room folder with the feed plan.
For Willowvale Agistment
Name
:
Position
:
Date
:
Hannah Reid, owner
Name
:
Date
:

Section by section

What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.

Parties and key facts
The property with its ABN and identification code, the owner, the horse, and the fee, paddock, vet limit and notice.
1. What the fee buys
The eight row table of what is provided and included, and the list of what the owner supplies.
2. Fees
Ninety five dollars a week plus GST, monthly invoicing, the annual review and unpaid accounts.
3. Health, vaccination and worming
What the horse arrives with, and the quarterly property wide worming and six weekly farrier round.
4. Vet care and emergencies
The $600 standing authority callout, the contact numbers and the horse that cannot be saved.
5. Risk and insurance
The horse at the risk of the owner, cover held by each party, and riding on the property.
6. Ending the agreement
Fourteen days either way, immediate ending for danger, and what leaves with the horse.
7. Signing
Signed before the horse arrives, with the vaccination record and contacts on the same day.
Signatures
A block for the property and one for the owner.

How to adapt this agreement

For full care or stabled agistment, expand the fee table to cover rugging, stable cleaning, turnout times and individual feeding, and raise the weekly fee accordingly, because the labour is the cost and the table is where it becomes visible. For a property that supplies hard feed, change the hard feed row to included and add a clause naming the feed and the rate, with a mechanism for the owner to request a change in writing. For agistment of cattle or sheep rather than horses, replace the vet authority with a mustering and handling clause, add the property identification code and national database recording for the class of stock, and set the stocking rate in dry sheep equivalents rather than per head.

Which law the terms follow

Agistment is a contract rather than a regulated tenancy, so almost everything here comes from the agreement itself rather than from statute. Two exceptions matter. The services are supplied to a consumer, so the Australian Consumer Law guarantee of due care and skill applies and cannot be excluded, which is why clause 5.1 limits liability to failures of reasonable care rather than excluding liability altogether. Animal welfare legislation applies in every state and sits above the agreement, which is why clause 2.2 keeps care running through an unpaid account and why clause 4.1 lets the agistor act on written veterinary advice when neither contact can be reached. The property identification code on the letterhead is a state biosecurity requirement for land keeping horses. The agreement is governed by the law of Victoria.

What makes this document work

The fee table has an included column

Eight rows covering paddock, water, shelter, pasture and hay, hard feed, the twice daily check, the yards and arena, and float parking, each marked included or not. The hard feed row says included, feed supplied by owner, which is exactly the line that causes trouble when it is missing.

The vet authority is a number, not a judgement call

Six hundred dollars in any one event if the owner cannot be reached within 30 minutes, with the owner told as soon as the call is made and invoiced for the cost. Above that the agistor keeps trying both contacts and follows the vet direction, which is the honest position rather than a blank cheque.

Unpaid fees never become a welfare question

Clause 2.2 lets the agistor refuse to release the horse to anyone but a vet while an account is more than 21 days overdue, and in the same breath says care continues, because the welfare of the horse is not a bargaining position. Very few agistment agreements say the second half.

Questions people ask

What should a horse agistment agreement include?

The horse and its identification, the paddock, exactly what the weekly fee provides, what the owner supplies, the fee and payment terms, vaccination and worming requirements, a standing vet authority with a limit, emergency contacts, who carries the risk, riding rules and the notice period.

How much is horse agistment in Australia?

It varies widely by region, facilities and whether feeding is included. This agreement charges $95 a week plus GST for paddock agistment with twice daily feeding of owner supplied hard feed, hay through winter, shelter, yards, an arena and float parking, with holding for the farrier at $25 a visit.

Who pays the vet bill on an agistment property?

The owner. The callout in section 4 gives the agistor a standing authority to call a vet and authorise up to $600 in any one event where the owner cannot be reached within 30 minutes, and requires the owner to be told as soon as the call is made and invoiced for the cost.

Is the agistor liable if the horse is injured?

Only where it failed to take reasonable care. Clause 5.1 states plainly that horses injure themselves in paddocks that are safe and well kept, that the horse is agisted at the risk of the owner, and encourages the owner to hold mortality and veterinary cover as well as personal accident cover.

What vaccinations does a horse need before arriving?

Clause 3.1 requires tetanus and strangles vaccination, worming within the last eight weeks, and feet trimmed or shod, with the vaccination record given on arrival and after each booster. A horse arriving without a current record goes into the quarantine paddock until one is produced.

Why does the property worm every horse on the same day?

Because a paddock is one herd for parasite purposes. Clause 3.2 puts the whole property on a quarterly round in March, June, September and December, with the owner paying at cost for its own horse, which is more effective than each owner worming on their own schedule.

How much notice ends an agistment agreement?

Fourteen days either way under clause 6.1, and it may be sent by message. The agistor can end it immediately where the horse is a danger to people or other horses, or needs care the property cannot give, and in that case works with the owner to move the horse within 48 hours.

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