So here is my situation… I adopted a 5 year old BLM Mustang Gelding and my friend, who worked at a horse farm with me, became interested in him and wanted to take on full responsibility of his care. I agreed (stupidly) with only a verbal contract and no written contract (very stupidly). There was no room to board at my facility so she took him to one right down the road. I have been keeping tabs on him and EVERY TIME I see him there is something wrong!
For example: he had a nasty cough when he first came to the boarding facility (October 2015) I told her if she wanted the responsibility of the horse she would have to pay for the vet call. She lied to me about calling the vet, and I came back by the end of the month, after she stated she had it taken care of, and he STILL had a nasty cough - to the point the farmhand was concerned. I called her and told her if i had to front the bill, I would take him back. She begged me not to and called a vet out - all was taken care of.
I checked on him in January and his feet had not been done since October. I explained to her the importance of getting his feet done and she acknowledged and stated she would call the farrier out. This farrier happens to be my friend. I stopped by 2 weeks later and his feet had STILL not been done! Its a barefoot trim that costs only $35! She then states she doesn’t have the money…yet is posting pictures of her at Disneyland eating churros and ice cream, going to clubs, buying drugs, buying stagecoach tickets, new cowboy boots, a unicorn tailbag (dont get me started on that. LOL) and spending weekends up in Laughlin and Las Vegas. Then she states she had forgotten to get ahold of the farrier. Now I had to threaten again if i had to front the cost - I would take him back. Again she begged me not to and had it done shortly after. Now with the farrier being my friend I had him put it on an automatic schedule of every 8-10 weeks since she apparently has a hard time remembering these things.
So I take some time off of seeing him, giving her some space so she can prove she can actually take care of this horse without me, and I come back in April and his sheath is horribly swollen! I reached out to her and asked her how the horse was doing she said his sheath was “a little swollen”. I asked if a vet was called and she stated “Yah, but they’re gonna mail me the report”. Funny thing is, I use the same vets and they do EVERYTHING electronically and hand you something in person as well…So I had reasonable suspicion she was lying. I called the same vet and ask them to release the report to me and they refuse since I wasn’t the one who made the call and SHE needed to call them to release the info…even though I faxed them all the paperwork from the BLM stating he is mine. Whatever…thats a whole other issue.
I stopped by every month since then to see if there was any improvement with his sheath and there was not. I took pictures for evidence that in fact it had only gotten worse with time. I contacted the people who TIP’d him and they stated he has no fly allergies and never issues of any swelling in his sheath with regular cleaning. So an allergic reaction was not the case.
Come June 19 2016, I randomly decide to stop by and check up on him since it was going to be an extremely hot day. His sheath had swelled up to the size of large lemons!!! They were hot and extremely hard and he became very uncomfortable when I touched him; trying to kick, was dancing around, etc. I asked the farm hand about it and the farm hard thought he was a stud! By this time I had enough and I called a professional to come clean his sheath. within an HOUR the swelling in his sheath had gone down dramatically. This procedure LITERALLY COST $30 and they were there within 2 hours! She FLIPS OUT ON ME stating I am not the owner of the horse because she wrote on the boarding contract she is the only owner. I send her the picture from the BLM paperwork I had signed to remind her who his true owner is and the liability she is putting me at. She states If i had concerns I needed to contact her first…however, she had lied to me countless times about him “being taken care of”. She also lied about the “treament process the vet had told her to do”. She states that the vet "found 1 bean in his sheath and gave him a shot of bute. The vet also recommended she work him 15-20 minutes to help the swelling go down, and to cold hose it 4 times a week. I may not be a vet, however I am going to school for Horse Ranch Management so i do know my stuff and concluded that the vets orders do not sound correct.
Anyways I got his sheath done - they found 6 beans and a TON of smegma build up. He needs to be cold hosed 2-3 times a day to help with the swelling and worked daily. Now that his winky is completely clean, he is feeling much better and is a happy boy again!
Now here is the dilemma - The owner of the boarding facility states that on her boarding contract, she is the legal owner and not me. I sent her a picture of the paper work from the BLM showing I am the legal owner of the horse with the description of the animal, adoption date and all. The facility owner states that there is “nothing I (as in me) can do because she put herself as the only owner on the boarding contract even though I have the BLM adoption paperwork”. She stated her brother works for the BLM and she is familiar with the paperwork and, although I may be the legal owner, she did not put me down as the true owner on her contract with the facility, only as an emergency contact, so I cannot retrieve my horse. The boarding contact has no notary attachments whatsoever yet mine does. I can’t control she lied on the contract and was unaware she had only put me as the emergency contact.
Has anyone gone through anything like this before? I am worried about his well-being and the receiving the medical attention he needs - his teeth need to be floated, overdue on his shots, overdue on his worming, feet being done on time, and sheath properly cared for, let alone he is at a public boarding facility. I am now able to now bring him onto my own property. However the facility owner states she cannot release him to me because of the boarding contract where she stated herself as the only owner.
WHAT DO I DO?!?! Do I call the cops and have them assist me with taking him back? I don’t want to cause any issues, but at this point, the horse is more important. any advice will be helpful. TIA!
