I am the “mean trainer” who is supposedly bullying this poor innocent girl … The funny part is she left out most of the story.
Fact- I have two boarding contracts signed by this girl for this pony , one when she first started boarding with me in high school, and another from 2007 when her mother gave her this pony back after taking her from this girl.
Fact number 2, when she was in college in Kentucky she couldn’t afford to keep this pony and sent her back to me in horrible condition asking me to help her, I agreed to reduce her board and keep the pony to help her out and use the pony for lessons to make up difference in the board.
Fact- she sent two other horses back to me over the four years she was in college, all same story , emaciated and covered in fungus that I helped her with.
fact -she told everybody that she "gave " me said lesson pony.
When there was a law suit from someone falling off this pony, she didnt want anything to do with ownership of this pony.
My boarding contract states that after ninty days of nonpayment I can legally take your horse for back money owed. I have A signed contract, not once but twice by this girl.
When the pony came back I received one payment for 75$ of the agreed 200$ a month payment. That was in 2009!
Now keep in mind I already have 10 school horses and only do 20 lessons a week, I did not need this pony , who at the time wasn’t exactly lesson horse material. I did this to help this girl out.
And as far as her claim of a verbal agreement that she could come get the horse after six months notice- that doesn’t even make sense at all, of course I wouldn’t sign or agree to that- why the heck would I pay to care for and maintain a horse for nearly ten years (over 40,000$) that somebody could come and take back at any time? I’m nice, but not that nice.
She told me and everyone else that she gave me the horse , she kept and boarded four other horses at my farm from the time she graduated to December of last year, she lived in my home and worked for me, and when I used her other horses for lessons I paid her by the lesson for each time they were used , which I have documentation of.
She never once in the nine years paid any attention to this pony one time out of the scope of her job , never a brush or a carrot.
When she was tossed out in December for not doing her job, she never wanted the pony back untill I questioned her about the balance she owes me on the horses she left with . I told her after she said she would be back to get the pony that if she was now claiming to own her for all these years then she needed to pay me at least some of the back expense for the pony. I followed the Connecticut state statute and put a Lein in this pony for back board owed, since she was now claiming ownership. The Lein went through and was legally filed with the court . She was given an opportunity to come and bid at an auction for the pony, she did not show up or attemp to work with me at all. The auction resulted in my legal ownership of the pony, as of February 28, 2018. This girl then snuck into my farm through the woods and stole this pony during the night almost three weeks ago. She is now being charged criminally. I was fully prepared to handle this matter civilly in court, as I have documentation to back up everything I have stated here.
This is a 21 year old grade pony who was worth nothing untill I took her in and made her into a suitable lesson mount. I didn’t need to help this girl when she was down and out, I did it because I liked her, I gave her a place to live , and keep her horses. This isn’t about the pony, this is about spite, she was let go for being a substandard employee, she trashed my business and stole equipment and money from me, and now my pony.
Now she turns on the sob story to get sympathy but she left out the important parts of the story, like that I have written documentation to support all of this, that if this goes to court, which I was happy to do, she would loose, she knows this, which is why the desperate move of stealing the pony was made. Now my pony is being hidden somewhere in a shed , away from the home she has known and loved for over ten years.
When i sent her the lien notice she was credited more then generously for lessons the pony did over the ten years. I am a small time barn, I only tried to help this girl out because she had a rough go growing up, but Business is business and I was given a pony, paid for and maintained that pony for ten years . if she has now changed her mind it is very simple , she either owes the money and can have the pony , or she doesn’t owe the money and doesn’t own the pony. I am not independently wealthy and don’t make a habit of supporting expensive animals for someone for ten years untill they get their life together. If you find somebody who will do that let me know, I would love to have somebody pay to support my animals. Now this girl owes a lot of money and will have a criminal record .
