I guess most pre purchase exams wouldn’t assess possibility of kissing spines but I would have thought loss of use insurance would require very thorough exam?
Wow… with that total of purchase cost, I would have imagined that they would have gone through with a fine tooth comb, xrays, pictures, tests, horse psychics :lol:
Wow and the sad part is that these are only the ones that show up publicly. Be careful out there.
[QUOTE=thehorsedream;8496561]
Wow… with that total of purchase cost, I would have imagined that they would have gone through with a fine tooth comb, xrays, pictures, tests, horse psychics :lol:[/QUOTE]
I read that as the combined total of multiple horses, not just one.
[QUOTE=Ready To Riot;8496585]
I read that as the combined total of multiple horses, not just one.[/QUOTE]
One of them was 275,000. I think that would warrant a thorough exam.
Well, that was an entertaining read. I am absolutely flabbergated at how long it took the plaintiff to get a clue. I don’t know anything about law, but anyone who gets taken for a ride that extensive doesn’t deserve any relief.
[QUOTE=comingback;8496619]
One of them was 275,000. I think that would warrant a thorough exam.[/QUOTE]
Ahh yes!!! That’s more than my house!
[QUOTE=Ready To Riot;8496624]
Ahh yes!!! That’s more than my house![/QUOTE]
Honestly, I’m not sure even I’m worth $275,000 to someone, forget my home.
Sad that so many trainers will take advantage of people with money who need guidance in a world they truly do not understand. More of these unscrupulous individuals should be named publically at least. One cannot, of course, slander someone just because a horse didn’t work out but so often it is outright fraud. I wonder why this person had it happen multiple times-you would have thought after the second one they should have stopped to think!
Any time I see the words “investment” and “horse” paired up, I cringe.
What I don’t understand is this trainer had a good thing going on. He was allowed to keep 25-30 horses at the farm and earn money on training, commissions, lessons etc. Why wouldn’t you buy sound, legitimate horses for your main junior client, build up a great reputation, and enjoy the sport without struggling financially??
1 Like
[QUOTE=Limerick;8496762]
What I don’t understand is this trainer had a good thing going on. He was allowed to keep 25-30 horses at the farm and earn money on training, commissions, lessons etc. Why wouldn’t you buy sound, legitimate horses for your main junior client, build up a great reputation, and enjoy the sport without struggling financially??[/QUOTE]
I agree that from the complaint it sounds like he had a plum deal…
Well said Limerick. A few years ago one of our Olympic medalists got his uber-wealthy owner very irritated by messing with commissions. Why mess with a good thing?!
I sat down for drinks in Wellyworld recently with a bunch of Irish riders, many of whom were mucking stalls a few years ago. They advised their newcomer Irish friends to not mess with “these rich Yanks” because “they’re not stupid.” Good advice. Be honest and be fair.
Question from the complaint:
“29. Ultimately, the horse was declared to be unable to be used and Kassem was forced to make an insurance claim on the horse for loss of use. Unfortunately, Kassem was only able to recover 70% of her loss and so Kassem sustained damages of $82,500. Kassem was also required to surrender the horse to the insurance carrier to be destroyed.”
If you collect on loss of use through your insurance company, is it typically a requirement that you surrender the horse to be put down? I suppose it would deter insurance fraud but… if your show horse has an irreversible injury, it seems sad that you have to choose between using a policy you paid for and giving a happy retirement to your horse.
[QUOTE=starhorse;8496792]
Question from the complaint:
“29. Ultimately, the horse was declared to be unable to be used and Kassem was forced to make an insurance claim on the horse for loss of use. Unfortunately, Kassem was only able to recover 70% of her loss and so Kassem sustained damages of $82,500. Kassem was also required to surrender the horse to the insurance carrier to be destroyed.”
If you collect on loss of use through your insurance company, is it typically a requirement that you surrender the horse to be put down? I suppose it would deter insurance fraud but… if your show horse has an irreversible injury, it seems sad that you have to choose between using a policy you paid for and giving a happy retirement to your horse.[/QUOTE]
Sometimes it is. Sometimes they let you keep the horse. It depends.
[QUOTE=Groom&Taxi;8496620]
Well, that was an entertaining read. I am absolutely flabbergated at how long it took the plaintiff to get a clue. I don’t know anything about law, but anyone who gets taken for a ride that extensive doesn’t deserve any relief.[/QUOTE]
Martin got hired as the family’s pro and installed on their farm (with 25-30 of his own sales horses) only after he had botched several purchases…or perhaps the problems with the horses came to light more slowly and after he was deep into his business relationship with the family?
The first mare sent to be sold as a broodmare and resold to the kid as a riding horse is remarkable.
I’m glad deep-pocketed HOs are finally doing what it takes to hold horse traders to a standard of transparency. I can’t believe people spend (often) real estate-sized hunks of money and don’t expect the process to be better regulated. IMO, lawsuits are how the industry gets cleaned up.
[QUOTE=Groom&Taxi;8496620]
Well, that was an entertaining read. I am absolutely flabbergated at how long it took the plaintiff to get a clue. I don’t know anything about law, but anyone who gets taken for a ride that extensive doesn’t deserve any relief.[/QUOTE]
Which is why this continues to happen. Because people blame the victim.
Googling the plaintiff, I see that she is a doctor’s wife south of Atlanta and that they have a really beautiful barn and a therapeutic riding center. So maybe she had the disposable income to spend. Doesn’t justify the people ripping her off however.
As to insurance, for the first I think about 7 or 8 years that I owned Cloudy I insured him for injury, illness, death, and for “loss of use” with one of the big equine insurance companies. I paid extra to get the rider that I did not have to surrender him or destroy him if he was injured/ill and deemed unsuitable as a hunter jumper. That insurance rider cost a lot of extra $$$, but gave me peace of mind if something had happened. It also made his yearly physicals by the vets for his insurance give him a pass on some things.
Wow. I am also surprised that it took nearly a million dollars of bad investments before the owner got suspicious.
I agree with other posters that this action seems so flagrant and foolish it’s mind-boggling. Forget ethics, it almost seems to go against the perpetrator’s self-interest to engage in such a terrible swindle, versus finding a horse that is actually, you know, sound.
Very, very sad.
