I’ve been cringing as I read this. We are moving to Mineral, Louisa County by the power plant. She is not the onlt questionable horse dealer in Louisa
Bless their hearts…
I especially like the “restocking fee” of $500 if you don’t take one after vetting…fascinating. After seeing their photos of “professional riders” riding the “grand prix jumper prospect” hopping over the x with one of the horse’s knees forward and one back, and after reading the customer comment page, my guess is that these people target first time buyers who don’t know any better.
“Hi Liz… I am very excited about Fiona and the three other Beautiful Mares that we are privileged to own. I believe these Girls are the Perfect Foundation Mares for Avalon Acres Signature Breed. When we breed these Mares to the Beauty & Performance of the Enchanting 16.3 Friesian Stallion that we have chosen; Next years Foals should be an Inspiring Joy for Anyone who Loves the Baroque Breeds.”
Quote taken from the “customer comments” page at VSH. Nothing to add except . . . . Signature Breed??? WTF???
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Exactly how do you “restock” a horse 
Let me find the upc code tatooed on the horse and bleepy scanner thingy 
:lol:
LOL Didgery…they’re breedin baroque horses through PMU’s…Maybe Shackneys are baroque?
WHo is brave???
For someone far braver than I am, the delightful Ms. Booth recently placed an employment ad. Perhaps someone here is interested in working for her, or at least learning more about the operation?
Before you apply, though, read carefully. She doesn’t take any crap from people who need babysitting…
Virginia Sport Horses has openings for stall or pasture board in exchange for schooling young horses. Hours and work are negotiable to the right persons.
I am looking for 1-3 experienced mature persons who would like to exchange board (for 1 horse) located near Montpelier, VA for schooling 2 greenbroke, young warmbloods. Preferably 3-4 times a week at the same location. I would prefer someone with experience in either starting or re-starting horses that have been previously started under saddle. I would prefer someone with an excellent reputation for producing well-behaved, and happy horses in foxhunting and hunter/jumper types. Mature, responsible individual a must…We are a busy operation with no time for individuals who need to be babysat or disciplined…
http://www.virginiaequestrian.com/main.cfm?action=Classifieds&sub=view&ID=8196
Mutt with papers…and they shall poop platinum butterflies!
Okay, help me out here. Obviously there are plenty of horses from the PMU farms coming through their little operation. Sooooo, why on God’s green earth would they keep breeding and breeding and breeding more? Hmmmm, could it be that they are helping the PMU industry too? Or, on a more sinister note, are they selling them to the killers?..you know, “liquidating?”
It just boggles the mind.
OK, Mapquest says they are 23 miles from our new farm. Maybe I need to take a drive this weekend.
If your going to slander someone’s business practice whom you know nothing about, alteast have the tact to list their website privately as requested by another poster.
This seller is neither arrogant or rude.
She is a highly respected, highly overworked individual who goes well out of her way to place the right horse with the right buyer.
She also actively seeks to help slaughter bound horses.
The reason she can get away with this deposit is because many of her customers are repeats.
As a very satisfied customer myself, I wouldn’t hesitate to do business with her again on these terms. =)
That is DEFINITELY a Photoshop job - a very very bad one! He has been cut out (of the PMU ranch background) and pasted into that 'Virginia" background.
These people are sick and delusional.
Recently, we had someone come and try one of our horses (actually, a horse very similar to most of the horses listed on VSH). She mentioned to me that she had corresponded with this woman and mentioned the $500 non refundable fee just to LOOK at the horses. Between the website and her correnspondence she got such a bad taste in her mouth she opted not to look at anything. Why pay $500 and risk not liking anything?
My take on this business is someone who’s gotten way over her head. If you need to charge people to come and look at your sale horses because you cannot afford the time to show them and the money to pay the groom and the rider, then you have WAY too many horses to sell. Get down to a number you can reasonably manage and sell, and stop charging everytime a potential customer so much as sneezes.
We sell horses. We get the occasional tire kicker and the occasional person who backs out after a PPE. Such is the business of selling horses. Don’t like it, find another business.
Your kidding right? Some of the stuff she admits to is illegal. If you have a coggins drawn at the farm and change it to erase any trace the horse was at your farm that is illegal. You can’t tamper with it.
Punishing buyers by forcing a $500 fee to see the horse, so they buy the horse sight unseen. Very unethical. A $500 restocking fee if the horse doesn’t pass the vet. Not to mention the blatant lies.
She’s a wacko, end of story. No respectable horseperson would say the things that website does.
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I’m just thinking that they would rather deal with Internet sales - Heres the video, now send me a check, hands washed. As opposed to dealing with the public in person. Hence the outrageous $500 looking fee will discourage real live people coming out to the farm. IMO
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As one poster said, they may well use the initial 500 to acquire thehorse in the first place, as they allseem to be on farms in Canada. Which you’re not allowed to buy from.
With all due respect to VSH’s customers, why the high prices for unproven horses?
I bought a horse from Babb-Murphy Sporthorses of Gays Mills, Wisconsin that is exactly the same “type” as coming out of VSH. However, the price properly reflects the type of horse: A Mutt.
Granted, to me she’s a beautiful mutt (Clydesdale/Standardbred cross) but a mutt all the same. All of the horses listed for sale from BMS are mutts that have come out of the PMU industry, been broken to saddle and/or harness and trained before being offered for sale. The highest price I’ve seen yet (and this is going on three years of watching her ads) is $5,000 and that was for a much more mature horse.
Best of all, there was no non-refundable deposit just for looking. The only thing I paid for was $10 for a video because I’m in Georgia and wanted to see the mare move. Then I paid for the mare and Mary helped arrange shipping for me. I paid the shipper directly.
At no time was there any hostility or threatening tone to the transaction. Her horses are represented for what they are: well-trained, steady-eddies that are versatile for what you want. They’re priced very reasonably and, consequently, Mary moves a lot of horses. No “restocking fee,” no threatening language about going around her to buy from somewhere else, no derogatory and downright cruel comments about “40 year old women.”
While it’s an old cliche’, I’ve found it to be true: You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
from the boarding agreement–
The property is open as a sales facility between the hours of 7:00AM - 7:00PM , Monday through Saturday. The Horse Owner must seek permission of the Property Owner to be on the premises.
Okay, if she’s so concerned about slaughter, how come she advertises that she sells horses at auctions/sales for $300 (those are meat prices :no: ) and can help others “liquidate” their horses, too.
And if she’s such a wonderful person / businessperson, why does she insist on tampering with Coggins’ tests (which, btw, is illegal)?
As for posting her web site – Her web site is public. And last time I checked, we were allowed to disagree with others. And I disagree with the business practices I read about.
I liked the bay TB gelding advertised as a PSG prospect. For $1000, I would bring him home as an all-around muck-around, trail riding prospect quite happily.
But PSG? Well, in that case, Poly is officially for sale. I wat $25,000 for him because surely, this picture alone makes him a GP prospect:
http://www3.telus.net/boldchance/polysbanner/poly020416.JPG
:rolleyes:
I also thought Fawkes was cute… but really…crossing a little creek? Yeah, whatever. Most horses could and should be able to. And jumping out of his arena? I’d rather not see that, thanks… or see how the video is cut directly after.
At any rate… no respect based on that website… It’s just too bad they’ve managed to get their greedy little hands on a few rather nice horses who deserve GOOD homes (which they will only get at prices around the $1000 to $1500 range…) and who are instead going to wind up god knows where…
And honestly… Say I paid $500 to go look. Pay to vet horse. Pay all fees associated with vetting horse. Horse doesn’t vet. Nothing else there I like enough to buy. Paly $500 “restocking fee”. Well… Now I’ve just spent more than I spent on Poly, and have no horse to show for it.
Ridiculous all around.
Oh, and does this mean I can start advertising the LOVELY Clyde/TB/QH (1/2 QH) yearlings out at the farm for $10,000 as canadian sport horses? Or Grand Prix jumping prospects?
They’re darned nice yearlings, afterall.
(and they are. But they are just horses. Very nice horses, some of which DO have sport horse potential at lower levels, and they are nicer than some of the horses pictured on that site… but they are not $5000+ horses at this time…adn they sure as heck aren’t appraised at $35,000 to $50,000 either.)
:rolleyes:
BC
Hey I think we may have just found the owner or operator of this farm!
I think we can all learn PLENTY about this person’s business practices from reading all the crap on their website. If their website does not accurately portray their business practices, perhaps they should consider re-writing it.
If she is so eager to 'help" slaughter-bound horses, why is she offering to help others “liquidate” theirs? Why is she breeding more and more unregistered, unproven horses and trying to pass them off as “Canadian Sporthorses”? If she is overworked, perhaps cutting back on the breeding program would be a good idea.
