Texas law provides liens for two specific types of services provided to horse owners: boarding services (the stable keeper’s lien) and breeding services (the stock breeder’s lien).   This blog provides an overview of the stable keeper’s lien.

How does a stable keeper’s lien work? The Texas stable keeper’s lien, also known as an “agister’s lien,” is a possessory lien that applies when one person takes care of horses or other livestock of another by providing board or pasture for the horse or other livestock. If you run a stable or keep other people’s horses on your land or land you are leasing, you may keep possession of the horse until your board bill is paid by the horse owner. If the nonpayment persists, you can have the horse sold to collect the amount owed.

How do I foreclose on a stable keeper’s lien? Your foreclosure has to comply with Section 70.005 of the Texas Property Code. Under that section, you must: 1) have possession of the horse for 60 days after the date the charges accrue; 2) make a written request to the owner to pay the unpaid bill; and 3) if the charges are not paid on or before the 11th day after you made demand for payment, you may sell the horse at public auction after giving the horse owner 20 days’ written notice.

What if someone is interested in buying the horse? Can I sell it to them or does it have to be sold at an auction? Texas law provides that you must sell the horse at a public sale. This is to prevent boarding facilities from selling a horse worth a lot of money to a friend for much less than the horse is worth, just to satisfy the debt. To get around the public auction requirement, boarding facilities can draft clauses into their boarding agreements allowing them to sell to horse by private treaty. The boarding contract may also provide for interest and late fees for past-due board.

My boarder left a lot of tack at my barn and did not pay their board. Can I keep or sell the tack to satisfy the bill? No. The stable keeper’s lien only covers the horse itself. Boarding facilities may not hold tack or other equipment as security for payment of past-due board. Again, a boarding facility may draft a clause into their boarding agreement allowing them to keep or sell tack or other equipment belonging to a boarder who does not pay their bill.

This entry only addresses the current law in Texas.  The University of Vermont’s website, Equine Law and Horsemanship Safety, provides a list of agister’s lien statutes in other states
(scroll to bottom to find your state).