Aaahhhhh!!!
I was sure that when I came back this thread would be locked up or something because it’s really someone here advertising sales horses…
Then I remembered that none of us are taking this seriously enough to actually consider paying all the fees (or maybe it’s just that none of us can do that much math)…
Then I find out that findeight is flying off to visit the farm :eek:
I hope that you find the perfect hypoallergenic grand prix PMU Shackney! :winkgrin:
WOW!!! so you must be about 110 yrs old… Welcome to the new millennium!!! Excuse me ~ I need to go find a dead cactus (obscure reference)
Newbie here, but someone posted a link to this and I had to post.
I did go to look at these horses when I was in the market, as a draft cross appealed to me. However. One quickly learns one’s lesson about word of mouth when viewing this farm…
This woman DOES exist and DOES have a “legit” farm in the Bumpass are of VA. She has lots of land (all eaten down), lots of horses (all looking like crap)…
She ships down a ton of PMU horses from the farms up in Canada. They usually come down in February, depending. Most of the time, they’re babies shoved in a stock trailer, driven straight through, and chased into a pen that’s probably the size of two or three birthing stalls put together. Ankle deep in muck (straw, mud, poop, you get the idea). She took us on a walk through the fields to see the other horses she had, mainly the ones that were 3 and up. You COULD NOT touch these horses. I went to pet one, just to say hi and see how they reacted, and as soon as you reached out, they all bolted. Nevermind the fact that there were 5 & 6 year old children in the field with us, she just laughed and kept going.
Some - scratch that, a select handful - of the mares really are nice looking and probably decent to buy. However, ALL of them needed weight, ALL of them needed work, ALL of them needed worming/teeth/shots/ you get the idea.
I wouldn’t buy a horse from this woman if you paid me. Upon further digging, she’s got a 50/50 reputation. Some people swear by her, others hear her name and go “OMGWTF” and hold up a proverbial cross.
I can’t believe she’s got the audacity to put up a $500 “non-refundable fee”. Half those horses aren’t even BROKE.
The stallions… ugh. Swaybacked, bony, nasty tempered (except for the pony stud in the field she let all the kids go into, he was so sweet, I think a Welsh cross?)… I’m ashamed to admit I’ve been to this place O_O
No, no. It gets fun when our friends from the left coast chime in. :yes:
I have to admit that I’m quite proud of the COTH family today. No one has really gotten snarky or twisted their knickers. I cringed when Merlins’ Mom piped in to defend VSH, thinking that it would all go south, but fortunately it hasn’t. It’s remained fun and quite entertaining.
Pass the popcorn. 
Welcome Xharper!!! You’ll fit right in here. Oh, and just to warn you now, COTH is highly addictive. :yes:
Thanks for giving us some inside poop on this, uh, lady (term used loosely). :rolleyes:
P.S. Just so you know, in COTH we use “WTF” to stand for Where’s the Fruitbat? See the dictionary here: http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=51794
I’ll remember “WTF” for the future LOL
I’m not a heavy poster, I tend to lurk, but this woman… urgh. I can’t believe people defend her, but I guess some of us just like to have horses that are civilised & healthy (this coming from a chick that bought an unbroke, 4YO TB mare from her trainer, but we’ve changed that little issue LOL)
I’ll try not to lurk too much here!
xharper…welcome out of lurkdom!
xharper welcome
I am assuming you didn’t have to pay the $500 non-refundable looksie fee. So you were a tire kicker and it is all your fault, we now have to pay that said non-refundable $500 to do business with this exceptionally well run business. Shame on you! 
I’ve only ever bought one horse in my lifetime so according to Liz and her bat$hit website, I must be stupid and uneducated about horses…even though I have been around them and riding them most of my life.
I bought my guy off of a school line and HANDED OVER NO MONEY until AFTER the PPE. AND the stable let me use whatever vet I wanted.
Sure, there were some terms that came up in the PPE that were “vet speak”. What I didn’t understand, I had the vet EXPLAIN to me in layman’s terms. I still ask my vet to explain things that I am uncertain about. The average person will not always understand medical jargon but that does not make them an idiot.
I don’t get her whole speil on “interpreting results”. What is there to interpret? If there’s something one does not understand, then they should ASK. Just as you would with your own human doctor.
I have never heard of a “restocking fee”. Wouldn’t the proce you pay for the animal go TOWARDS that anyway? Like, for instance, how I said I bought my guy off a school line…I’m sure some of the money that I paid for him went to finding a new schoolie to take his place.
I HAVE heard of very fancy breeding facilities (places that sell REPUTABLE, expensive, highly bred (and PUREBRED!) horses) that ask you to make a deposit but THAT IS ALWAYS REFUNDABLE. If you don’t buy, you get your money back, if you do buy, it goes towards the purchase of your animal.
Most stables, regardless of whether they are sellers, breeders or plain boarding/lesson stables do not like strangers just showing up on the property. That’s for the safety and well-being of the horses AND the visitors. HOWEVER, it still happens, even at the stable I board at. And NO ONE is EVER “turned away at the gate”. If you need to turn people away, then you are hiding something.
And jeez, even used car dealers let you TEST DRIVE the freaken car BEFORE you buy it!
And If I WERE a 40-something, pushing 300lbs, wouldn’t it be better that you let me TRY the horse first to make sure that he/she was not too much for my novice, fat a$$?
She is OBVIOUSLY selling to indescriminate re-sellers and newbies who wouldn’t even know how to put a saddle on. As it has already been stated, she is actively discouraging any knowledgable or caring horseperson from buying from her.
And that bull about your horse arriving dirty and looking mistreated? Sure horses are dirt magnets but there is NO EXCUSE as to why you can’t pick up a brush and tidy the animal up before delivery. I know plenty of people who have sold and shipped horses and they almost always give a full bath (weather permitting), trim, hoof-picking and polish before they send the horse off AS AN INCLUDED SERVICE AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. If a seller cares at all about their reputation, they want their “product” to arrive looking its best.
If I were recieving a shipped horse I would expect them to be clean and well cared for. I would not expect to see anything on that animal other than sweat marks from travelling and maybe a little poop around the feet as that is unavoidable.
And if their horses load so willingly into an open stock trailer WHY does it take someone and HOUR to get them on?
Finally, what I am curious about is the people who board with her. If you need an appointment to even SEE your own animal why bother? I have been at SEVERAL stables over the course of owning my horse and one I left because (in addition to other reasons) they would not allow me to see my horse on Christmas.
I have also boarded in a backyard barn ON SOMEONE’S PRIVATE PROPERTY, and they NEVER disallowed me to see my horse AT ANY TIME DAY OR NIGHT.
That whole site makes me sick. I could go on but I know this post is long enough already. 
What I want to know is
Who is the movie star horse she refers to?
"As our clients can tell you, there is no shortage of fox hunting propsects at VSH…VSH horses have gone on to compete in all range of disciplines…we even have a movie star!"
WOW!!! I went offline about 11 hours ago and we were on page 13 :lol: . I’m afraid to go to bed!
I don’t get her whole speil on “interpreting results”. What is there to interpret?
Duh. When a vet says “the horse failed the flexion test,” that could be INTERPRETED as the horse is just being fickle. Or it could be INTERPRETED as the horse was angry at the vet for holding its leg up and therefore did not want to trot nicely.
But certainly not be INTERPRETED as lame. Geesh. Dontcha know we are all just a bunch of dumb people?
BTW, I did email a link to this thread along with my opinion of her “policies.”
Welcome xharper and AQHMOMNY. I see that this is what it takes to draw folks out of lurkdom.:rolleyes:
LoneWolf, I concur. I may brew coffee. I left my office at 2pm and logged back on at 10 and NOW LOOK!!!
In addition I’m annoyed that Findeight is getting the hypoallergenic Shakney and Bold Chance (?) is grabbing the Argentine superrider!
:eek: Ok, with just the $500 “lookie” fee, that’s a cool 1/2 million a year. Add on all the extra charges and the price of the magikal platinum butterfly shitting beasts and one wonders why they even need to HAVE a business after the first year? :rolleyes:
I just made the mistake of watching some of the videos since I couldn’t at work earlier, and I think I saw better riding in the childrens’ walk-trot classes at a show I went to last week.
This is just flat out as bad as it gets. How can you in good conscience, WAY overcharge some ignorant beginner like that, and sell them a PMU cast off in questionable condition with limited training, and one that will probably mature to be over 17 hands? This disgusts me.
OMG…I am a lurker mostly too, but this has prompted me to exclaim WTF!!! It is just so unreal…WOW is all I have to say…
But, I must breed my mare to the “will finish to 17.2” Thoroshire 2y/o stallion at stud! I just have to have one of those babies…who knows what majikal qualities it could possess. ROFLMAO
Oh, and the “buckskin tobiano/leopard spot, A circuit quality, hunter stallion prospect who is now a gelding but will command a 6-fig price one day”…wow where is the buckskin tobiano ? stallion prospect? Things that make you go hmmm. I’m glad I have dial up or I would waste too much time looking with my jaw on the ground.
terraserver on msn. I used it on occasion for forestry stuff.
WHO IS RIDING???
uhm WHO is the guy in the videos “riding”( if you wanna even call it that) the horse?? Please please tell me that is her husband and not the “trainer”.
ooohhh…did you all see!!! We are in luck! Virginia Sport Horses is holding their “First Annual Sporthorse Production Sale” on August 13th!
"Approximately 100 warmblood horses and ponies, from weanlings to made fox and show hunters, and dressage, event, and jumper prospects will be offered for sale."
"All horses have current coggins, and a veterinarian will be on call for interstate health certificates."
They are accepting advanced bids through Aug 12th, if anyone is interested. They accept visa or mastercard. Otherwise, you can go to the sale on the 13th, I guess. No mention if you have to pay the $500 fee to attend the sale.....
I must say, this whole thing is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. And I feel sorry for whatever poor, uninformed souls are scammed by these people, and for the poor horses....just sad. But their sales site is like the car wreck you know you shouldn't look at but can't turn away from.......Lessismore- that was a typo. She meant that they even have movies named after them…“One flew over the Cookoo’s nest” and " Psycho"
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