Who would own this foal?

[SonnysMom]

Owner A has mare at Boarding Barn A. He moves the mare to Boarding barn B since Boarding Barn A breed his mare without his permission. After a couple months at Barn B he sells mare to Barn B.
The mare unexpectly drops foal in field. He now feels he has some sort of rights to the foal.

I don't know if anyone ever had mare pregnancy tested. I saw her three weeks before she foaled and she did not look fat let alone pregnant.
I don't know if there was any type of bill of sale.
I am hearing this 3rd hand once removed.

Previous foal from this mare was sold for mid 4 figures- just to put things into perspective. What would your thoughts be on the former owner of mare having any rights to the foal.
What would you do if you were the new owner of mare.

[JoZ]

I bought a YEARLING that ended up being pregnant (pasture accident). The paperwork talked only about the filly herself with obviously no mention of Junior. It would never cross my mind that Junior might belong to the previous owner. Ya snooze ya lose.

If he left Barn A because of unauthorized breeding, then he obviously knew the mare had been bred. Is he unclear on the connection between breeding and subsequently having a foal? :lol: If he had had the mare tested, he could've approximated the due date, and put that into the contract with the Barn B buyer if he wanted the foal back. All sorts of things would have been possible but that ship has sailed.

[amdfarm]

Well... the owner of the mare knew that she was bred and could possibly be pregnant when he sold her to Barn B. W/out a contract stating anything about a foal, then he gave up all rights to the mare and her in-utero foal when he sold her. If he was upset and moved the mare because she was bred w/out his permission, it sounds like he didn't want a foal to begin w/? Is it because of what another foal out of this mare brought? Is it because he didn't price the mare accordingly to include a foal as a 2-n-1 package? Sounds like a money thing to me.

I don't think the previous owner should have any rights to the foal unless it was spelled out in a contract signed by both parties. New owner owns both mare and foal.

MHO, of course.

[Mozart]

Well, I am not a commercial law lawyer, but I would say new owner bought "as is". That includes what's inside her. It might be different if the bill of sale specifically excluded the unborn foal or specifically referred to her as "open" or "barren". (although in the latter case I would still say it would be a stretch to say the prior owner has some rights to the unexpected foal)

If there was no bill of sale I would tend to say....prior owner could reasonably have expected she was in foal and that foal needed to specifically excepted from the deal.

Anyway, that's JMO in the court of COTH.

[tri]

The previous owner has no rights to the foal.

This happened to a friend of mine as well. She breed one of her mares to her own stallion several times with the mare not taking. Had the mare vet checked the last time and no pregnancy so the mare was put back into work and sold. The new owners with delight informed her several months later that the mare was indeed in foal.

[mistyjewell]

All I can think is that the new owners were lucky that nothing bad happened to mare or foal!

And would they be able to prove parentage on the foal? I'd say the previous owner is lucky the new owner doesn't sue them, so much could have gone wrong by neglecting to tell someone that a mare they are buying is in foal (if it was an accident and they honestly had no idea is one thing, but to have an idea and to not disclose it...)

So no, I don't think the old owner has any right unless it specified someting about the foal in the bill of sale.

[Foxtrot's]

New owner could haave been really mad to have a foal if they had a show season planned for the mare! No, old owner was negligent and asleep at the wheel.

[wildREDhorse]

When Barn B bought mare, they bought everything inside her, including the fetus, whether it was mentioned or not.

Also... if they left Barn A because they had bred her, owner knew she was bred... and sold her anyways... Unless there was some sort of special stipulation in the bill of sale saying that baby was original owners... It's Barn B's baby.

[Ladybug Hill]

duh

:lol:

[misita]

The mare owner, at the time of delivery, owns the foal, unless.... there was a contract saying the mare seller owns the foal, should one appear.

[SonnysMom]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. Barn B will be talking to her lawyer so I am sure this thread will be helpful.
Another part of the story is old owner seems to feel that this foal is worth the same a the previous foal. I think he is not taking into account that the economy sucks and the horse sales market is not the same as it was 1 year ago.
I have no idea if this foal is eligible for papers or if the stallion owner will sign a breeders certificate of some kind. I would assume that SO has not been paid at this point.
I don't think papers matter to new owner. She plans on keeping foal.

[catknsn]

I remember several years ago there was this gorgeous mare that came through the CBER feedlot...dumped because she would not get in foal. Fortunately, despite being an older TB mare, she was adopted and went to a good home.

You guessed it. She was pregnant. Had a perfectly gorgeous foal. If the "dumper" ever heard what happened, I'm sure they were besides themselves - no way they got more than $200 out of her, if that.