I’m so happy your horsie is home safe and sound!
Congrats!!
And again, so glad everything has worked out for you. 
~Courtney~
Do you have anyone else that is in close enough proximity to your horse that could just “drop in” and check on them?
My husband had a real bad experience many years ago with a trainer he had dealt with for years. He had a halter filly that was supposed to go to “World”. My husband had been calling, Oh yeah she is looking great. Should be ready to go. Yah yah. Well being a pilot, my husband just dropped in one day. She was up to her eye balls in you know what, hairy, not fit, just a mess. He suspected something was up. Come to find out another more $$$$ client had a filly to compete against this one. So guess who got the royal treatment???
Husband got a friend with a trailer and they came right back to load her up. The wife was there and threatened to call the sheriff, ya da ya da ya da. Didn’t slow them down, they hauled her off. He ended up selling her. End of his horse experience, until he met me of course. 
So depending upon the “value” to you of this horse, I would sure find a way to physically check on them. Besides if you do “talk” to the trainer what are they going to tell you? Oh yeah your horse looks like crap, and we have been meaning to call you??? Probably not.
I am truly sorry you are having these problems, but NO ONE takes care of your own horse as well as you might. You need to check on this deal. 
“The older I get, the better I used to be.”
Thanks to all - I have e-mail Twister and kennett Square and hope to get to the bottom of this. Thanks for the harsh posts because it made me feel a little better about leaving not so nice messages - I hate doing that
Hopefully the trainer has just been way too busy to call and everything will work out and maybe someone on the board that I’ve asked for help can enlighten me on this. Trying to still think positive…
I would love to go myself, but am currently 800 miles away and hate to make the trip if things are okay. Also, I can’t get in touch with the trainer so don’t know when she will be on the property (really don’t want to trespass). Lastly, currently, don’t have a horse trailer to bring horses back in if anything is wrong. In my last letter, I asked for a copy of the insurance on my horse. If I am not provided with that, it is a breach of the contract and I can break the lease, however, since I can’t set up a vet check or the shipping, that wouldn’t do me much good either. I have not heard a single negative thing about this trainer from anyone and so I am assuming that all is well and she is too busy to call, but I would like to know if anyone has actually seen my horse.
That said, yes, if I haven’t heard anything in the next couple of weeks, I will be making the drive, borrowing a truck and trailer and getting my horse out of there. I completely agree with you LC that it is my ultimate responsibility and would hate to have anything happen - I alternate between feeling half okay because people are saying she is probably busy and hald crazed because I also have been reading the horror stories.
Just hoping someone can help without me making the 800 mile trip to discover my healthy, fat pony and ticked off trainer that I would doubt her.
BTW when you say you leased the pony you mean you signed something right. Please tell us you have a written agreement signed by both parties.
From Allergy Valley USA
Miniwelsh, you must be SO relieved - great news to hear that they are on the way. Do let us know how they look when they arrive and fingers crossed that they look just fine.
Congrats MiniWelch. The fact that the horse was underweight and had no muscle just shows you haow hard this lady was trying to sell him, eh?
Thanks Cactus and Coreene. I don’t know of anyone I can send out to check on the horses.
There are some people on this board who know the trainer so I don’t want to say too much, but I am running out of ideas. I have asked a friend of the trainer who has helped me before to see if she can help me get a hold of the trainer - but like you said, they probably aren’t going to say the horse is doing badly.
Makes my stomach turn to think about all this.
Unfortunately, I do not know the trainer in question.
Is there someone in the area who would “check” to see that they are ok??
What state are they in? I’d be happy to help if possible…I’m in Maryland
Always,
FairWeather
Still on Stall rest
http://www.fairweather.bizland.com/entrance.html
Yes, I do have a signed lease agreement. I just wish I had a clause in there that stated how often I had to be contacted etc. Actually, the trainer does have a cell phone - she just never answers it. I leave messages on it on a regular basis 
I did make some progress last night when calling some of the references she had given me before we signed the lease. I also called her vet and farrier and left messages. I also checked out Travelocity’s fares, just in case. Thanks to all of you for your great advice and helping me realize that even busy horse professionals shouldn’t treat clients this way.
great news you are getting your horses back, i’ve got my fingers crossed that they arrive safe and sound. really sorry that this happened to you and your friend.
is there anything you can do that might prevent this from happening to anyone else? can you file a complaint with the BBB? lawsuit for damages?
-jacksmom - who thinks the culprits forehead should be tatooed with ‘loser’.
I’m relieved to hear that the ponies are back home. Lots of carrots for Minnie!
Well I’m afraid you are maybe being just a little too “anonymous”. Couldn’t any of the BB’ers you know be of help. By personally contacting you via email? I know many that BB’ers I have become accquainted with on this BB that I wouldn’t hesitate to call upon to “search” something out for me. And I wouldn’t know them in person if they came up and bit me. 
Use your resources.
“The older I get, the better I used to be.”
Thanks for asking…I have some people from the board very nicely helping. I am not sure if you know this trainer, but I have seen your name listed on e-mails that she has sent to me…I sent you an e-mail roughly a month ago about the problem. If you think you can help, I can send you another with my name and e-mail address.
Thanks to all for helping. Unfortunately, I still have not heard from the trainer after many, many messages. I sent a certified letter on Tuesday and am hoping that gets a response.
I will e-mail you the story and see if you can help. As you can see, KS did see one of the horses who seemed to be fine and also suggested that a call be placed to me but so far it didn’t seem to help.
Do you all think that I could have ticked the trainer off by posting this in the first place? I hated to do it, but am not sure after repeated messages what else I could have done
Well, no reason to remain anonymous at this point.
Here’s the update folks. I sent a certified letter requesting copies of my insurance information ( amterial term of our lease) as well as an update on both horses. The letter came back last week unclaimed. I immediately sent the sheriff to the property, but the trainer was not there. Not being a horse person, he could not identify the horses but did say the properyt was well looked after and all the horses looked healthy. He left a message for the trainer to call me and him. He heard from the trainer on Friday at which time she said “I left a message for her that I am done with the horse and wiating for someone to pick it up”
I immediately checked with the owner of the sale horse. Neither of us has heard from the trainer at all since the end of May (her last e-mail) I have caller id and an answering machine and did not receive a call. I let the deputy know that.
Today I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau hoping that they will be able to mediate this matter and force the trainer to actually contact me (she has my day and evening numbers) so that I can make arrangements to ship the horses home. I also contacted my attorney in DC.
What a nightmare this entire thing has been. I am just hoping that my pony is alive and well and not injured. Never having experienced this level of unprofessionalism before, I am amazed to say the least.
Thanks to all for your advice and support throughout this ordeal.
Behind every good woman lies a trail of men
Prior to contacting my attorney, I did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I am not sure, without crossing the line to “slander” what I could do to notify the trainer’s clients of her business practices. I try to stay on the legal side of the way I do business 
Getting the horses home and safe was my first priority. And I will say that after this ordeal, I urge everyone that if they get in a similar situation, contact an attorney immediately. It feels good to be able to say that you went about everything legally and ethically and have the end result be in your favor, let me tell you.
Behind every good woman lies a trail of men
Congratulations, and I hope you get back all the years you’ve lost from your life because of the stress of this situation.
Have fun with your horse!
