when can I legally be deemed "owner"?

2-8-09 --- A friend, Ivan, calls and asks me for help, asked me if I knew any place he could temporarily put his 12 yr old daughter's horse as he and wife are divorcing, and wife has had possession of said horse and is moving, hence no longer having a place to keep her. He told me he only needed a week or two to find her a place to stay, and would compensate for any expenses.

--- I call another friend of mine, Jim, and arrange a stall for her at his stable for a period of 2 weeks. The cost is $6 a day for feed, water, and stall. Ivan understands, and agrees.

2-9-09 --- I borrow a neighbor's trailer, which did not have working lights, put in new lights at a cost of $35, an hour of my dad's time to put them in, and drove 14 miles to pick up the horse. I loaded the horse, and drove 17 miles from there to Jim's stable.

2-10-09 --- Ivan and daughter come to visit the horse.

2-14-09 --- Jim calls me, asks when the owners were going to come take care of the horse. No one had been out there to clean the stall, and he watered and fed the horse for them. I drove the 14 miles out to clean the stall and turn the horse out to exercise for an hour, as she had not been out of the stall for 4 days.

2-17-09 --- Still no word from Ivan, and Jim asks that I take care of her, or she be removed from the premises. I agree to remove her, and decide to take her to my house.

2-18-09 --- Jim asked that I pay for the stall as I am moving her, a cost of $56. I borrowed my neighbor's trailer again, to pick up the horse and move her to my house.

2-25-09 --- ---Finally hear from Ivan, and he meets me at Tractor Supply Co, and gives me $50 to pay toward an electric fence to put up at my house to contain the horse who is jumping fences. He promises to have her moved ASAP. Until then, he was not aware the horse had been moved, despite voice messages I had left advising him.

3-1-09 --- Ivan comes to my house and leaves me $50, claiming he will pay more when he gets paid the following Friday, 3-6-09. I suggest he find another place to keep her as she is becoming a nuisance with the neighbor and his cattle, and her jumping fences has destroyed them in places.

3-6-09 --- No news.

4-3-09 --- I leave a notice at the last known address for Ivan to contact me and arrange to come pick her up.

5-18-09 --- No news.

I have fed, watered, and maintained the horse, as far as trimming her feet and handling her since she has been on my property. I also have chased the horse over the neighbor's 400 acre pasture to catch her and remove her. I have wormed her 3 times, and doctored her wounds on her legs, chest, face, and belly due to the fence jumping.

My question is, since I have tried several times to contact Ivan to remove the horse from my property to no avail, when can I assume that he has no intention of returning to claim her and remove her from the property myself? Is there any set amount of notice I have to give him to pick her up before I can be held accountable to theft if I sell the horse?

This would depend on the state and the livestock laws of that state. This is not an abandoned property by the definition of LL-Tenant laws. This would fall under agricultural laws. I suggest you copy and re-post under that forum to get the correct answer for your question. Good luck (and thank you for taking care of the animal).

see your other post for comments