Liz, I mean, Merlin’s Mom, welcome! 
And trust me, I wouldn’t want any of those horses. I buy from reputable, actual breeders who don’t charge me a non-refundable deposit just to look at their stock, NOT “product”.
Talk about not living in reality…
Wow so there’s more than two
Funny how that works…so there are more than the TWO names I recognized who have been to VSH and chose to hide behind a listserv to bash people!
Maybe all of you other folks should consider who’s making the comments.
I dunno about needing to put up a rules and regs page such as that is necessary to sell 1000 equines per annum. I know of a few sales places that come close to those numbers and don’t have anything even close to ridiculous rules as those.
I do agree that if it’s working for them…good for them. They still have clients and buyers and by the wording on their site they really don’t want many new ones. It’s working for them. However, it is still a tad bit funny (and somewhat insulting when making fun of rider weight and the way the wording is done to insinuate that they are the supreme knowledge and everyone else is dumb as a box of hair).
They are making some pretty much illegal threats on there…which if someone wanted to really push it legally (as in the case of buying from whomever else has the sales horse listed instead of through this middleman barn becoming somehow ostracized) they’d have a pretty decent leg to stand on. Not to mention what looks like a pretty bogus claim of Canadian Sporthorses…which is an actual registry.
We can reserve our rights for comment on a facility that has public website and very public rules.
I can well understand how/why they came up with some of those rules…(definitely not all of them though) because working with buyers constantly can be a pita…but that is the nature of the business. One doesn’t become a pediatrician and hate the kids’ parents…one would assume to then not go into equine sales if they hate most buyers.
By the terms on their site…they’re weeding out not just the pita buyers…but also purposely trying to weed out the types of buyers that can and will know enough about equines to not make a bad or overpriced purchase. Frankly it’s genius marketing if it;s working…only bringing in the most gullible willing to part with their money on an unseen product.
And nobody is convincing us that their “liquidate any lame/ill/bad purchases here through us for $300” isn’t an obvious way of saying, “We can and will sell you crap…but don’t worry, we’ll sell it per lb for you afterwards.” :winkgrin: Yes, many sales barns will try to sell off sub-par animals…few also offer to meat man it for you too though. :eek:
Ah, it’s going to be a great Friday.
My pony Merlin is appalled - he said I am the only person who can be called Merlin’s Mom!
Haven’t commented yet on this thread, but “WTF” would definitely sum up the thoughts that went through my mind when I visted the VSH Web site. :lol:
My name is Susan Flanagan, I live in Red House, VA and I have ONLY Arabians. So, I’m not hiding behind a listserv, whatever the heck that is…
Never been to VSH even if I wanted to. Heck, how could someone get past the armed security guards, locked gates and rabid dogs?
What about you MM? What’s your name and where do you live? How many horses, and what do you do with them?
The right to choose
ArahHorse2…and we live in a free country where you have the right to choose who you deal with…I’d never own an Arab, but I’m not bashing Arab owners on a listserv.
Of course, I also don’t make assumptions to win an argument…my name isn’t Liz, and I can assure you that Liz Booth hasn’t taken the time to respond to this thread.
My entire point was that I know for a fact that several people who are doing the bashing on this thread have been turned away by VSH when they attempted to purchase horses…maybe you should wonder why that’s the case and why they’re using a public listserv to do their bashing.
Sorry, no comments from anyone on this BB are needed to form an opinion…your website says it all. Sleazy would be an understatement.
(And no, I never have, and you can be sure I never will, buy a horse from virginiasporthorses.com)
Oh please! Horses such as she has listed can be purchased anywhere and for a lot less money, as well as no humongous list of insulting rules and regulations.
I don’t care if anyone else doesn’t like Arabians. That just leaves the choicest ones for me!
1 Like
dehere98
An earlier post of yours:
“Handsome Black TB/Perch with a puppy dog personality. Temperament a 10+++ easy and uncomplicated to ride. Good ground manners. He is athletic and has 3 nice gaits.
This opportunity includes riding in a beautiful facility with 400 acres of trails, and a large sand ring with lights.
He is young, not a beginner’s horse
Please p/t me.”
Sounds suspicously like the “10+++++” ad wording used to describe VSH horses.
My entire point was that I know for a fact that several people who are doing the basing on this thread have been turned away by VSH when they attempted to purchase horses…maybe you should wonder why that’s the case and why they’re using a public listserv to do their bashing.
Not to argue…but being turned away from a facility with rules like that would make me assume the buyer was smarter than average and not the other direction. Seems the reasons they turn folks down would be they’re too heavy, too knowledgeable, too business savvy, would require a PREpurchase exam and not a post purchase one, would require touching, watching, handling and riding an equine before they purchase it, wouldn’t be agreeable to paying $500 for what amounts to a 15 minute schooling ride, wouldn’t want to risk getting an unsuitable horse to have as their only recourse to pay another $500 restocking fee (as if they bought a TV) and/or to have it sent for $300 of price per lb on the hoof, might want to shop elsewhere and isn’t willing to rsik cheesing off this facility in case they buy a horse this facility already had their eye on, doesn’t buy into the fact that this facility is not the sole shopper/importer of canadian horses, knows the difference between a sweet tempered and cute grade PMU and an actually bred for performance and capable Canadian Sporthorse, and isn’t willing to pay $3500-$5k and higher for a PMU they can pick up for a couple hundred at auction or a rescue.
To be turned away for any of those reasons…smart buyer in my book and one who might know more than the website is trying to project. :winkgrin:
2 Likes
Just because “several people blahblahblah” according to you have been turned down to buy horses here may have problems with the place, doesn’t mean that everyone else who has not had dealing with VSH is wrong in their assumption of shady dealings and insulting behaivors from VSH.
I have never dealt with VSH… but this place according to their own website, makes my skin crawl. Things are most certainly shady, and I don’t get the feeligin that Ms. Booth gives a flying fruitbat about anything but taking $ from people that maybe just haven’t done their homework. Certainly care of the horses, responsible breeding practices, and trying to make sure a client makes a good match with a horse (even if it’s not your sale!) is not high on Ms. Booth’s priorities.
Who am I?
Debbie Bauer, western Howard County, Maryland…5 horses currently, ranging in age from 1-8. I’m one of those 40 plus year old women who got back into riding after having kids. 
We have two appendix quarter horses (both paints), 2 spotted drafts (clyde cross and shire cross paints), and a 2 year old paint/pecheron cross that was a rescue from a feedlot from a PMU farm. He did come THROUGH VSH on a load of PMUs that Liz rescued and placed…and he cost next to nothing.
We event, ride cross country, and fox chase…of course we also spend most of our lives trail riding. I’ve been riding since I was 5 (in the 1800’s) and grew up on a farm with livestock.
I’ve trained and placed several draft crosses in the past 5 years, but now I’m concentrating on riding my own.
Nice to meet you ArabHorse2
I’d say the website is more than enough to form an opinion. For what it’s worth MM (oh, my name is kelly and I live near baltimore, MD and have never been anywhere NEAR VSH), I have trouble believing that anyone knowledgeable would go there to buy horses…
Between the fact that many are overpriced (when it’s quite easy to buy horses of same or better quality for less than half the price, including shipping), and the utterly bizarre rules and regulations stuff (messing with coggins? ‘waiving’ health certificates that are required to cross the canadian border?), I just can’t see very many people who know much going there.
MM, what was it about VSH that attracted you? What was it that made you feel comfortable shelling out a nonrefundable $500 deposit on horses you could probably buy for $500 from other sources?
Oh crap…I gotta leave for the airport in 10 minutes and won’t be back online till tonight, Hmmmmm, probably atleast 10 hours. Geeesh, I’m gonna be up all night reading what I missed!
All good points, caffeinated. Yes, MM please tell us why you even considered going through VSH? I’m not being insulting, really! I have a burning curiousity to know.
Where in Baltimore?
Hey Caffeinated…where in Baltimore? I grew up in Baltimore county and my son worked for both Green Spring Valley Hunt and Cave’s Farm.
I chose VSH after spending a lot of time on the phone with Liz. I was in the market for my “final” horse…at 50 I sure didn’t figure I’d ever need another one…and had a very specific wish list.
Liz spent a lot of time with me and offered me the choice of three weanlings (I wanted to raise the horse myself)…I have to admit chosing was hard, but I’m more than happy with what I chose. He’s now 3 years old and standing 16.2H…I couldn’t ask for a better partner and he’s just beginning serious training.
Oh, sorry, and I didn’t pay a deposit of any kind…I wrote a check when I selected my horse from the three that were available…and I’ve been in and out that “locked gate” more times than I can tell you since then…both to select horses for friends and our equestrian team members…and to take a horse that was rescued but needed work before it could be placed.
If you live in western HC, who do you hunt with???
I haven’t posted thruout this whole thing, but have been keeping up with this very fun thread!
All I have to say is WTF to this. It just sounds like a scam, sure maybe she does sell that much “product” but hey, whatever.
MM, please don’t turn this into a trainwreck to get closed by mods, this is just too much fun to read! And, no, I wouldn’t buy a horse from this farm if my life depended on it…
Other than going by breeding (and picking sex, color, and estimated eventual size) how exactly can you have a “wish list” for a weanling? You don’t know anything about its ability to do what you want - everything is just a guess at that point.
Dehere98 is NOT Liz Booth.
Don’t really know her, but have had a COTH transaction with Dehere98 and that’s not the name on her paypal or the return addy on the package I got.
Steph
1 Like
