Marsha: In my part of the country - Eastern U.S. - a horse bought as a "hobby" (vs inventory of an established business enterprise) is not considered viable collatoral for a loan. I took out a personal loan from my credit union to buy my first Friesian back in 1993. The rate was high and is higher today. Personal, unsecured loans have an upper limit - normally around $10K. Yes, I still have the loan out - and over the years since than other horses have been bought or partially bought via this same personal loan. Now after 7 plus years of paying this high interest loan and never succeeding to lower the principal, I have decided to cash in an IRA to be free of it once and for all. I don't regret having taken the loan out - not for one minute. It got me that first Friesian that started it all!!! And it helped us build our herd to where we are today. But now it's time to take stock and get it out of my life! If you find a bank to actually consider a horse as collatoral, let me know! I didn't expect to so was not surprised.
Posted on Jan 3, 2001, 1:28 PM from IP address 128.226.188.77