Games Trainers Play: The Florida Horse Saga

[ybiaw]

[QUOTE=birdsong;2920077]
Its all in WHO you know!! Not saying that it would be a definite…but I might know some of the deputies in that county.

This is such an OBVIOUS case of someone taking advantage of a naive person…I agree to the poster that said the horse is probably going to be flipped!! (or something worse)[/QUOTE]

Along the lines of what birdsong said, I happen to know the president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, although I’m not really sure if he’d be able to do anything to help…

[eponacowgirl]

Okay, okay, okay, okay… Theres lots of points you’ve all made that I feel need to be responded to, but right now I don’t want to fish through it all. I will before the night is out.

I talked to my friend today. She called me, crying, and started the conversation with “I’m an idiot, I f**cked up big time, I did everything wrong and now I’m screwed.”

So SHE KNOWS exactly what has gone on.

Now all the bullsh*t that brought this statement on:

The horse hasn’t been vetted yet, won’t be until the 14th. Yes, I threw the bullshit flag on this one too.

SHE DID HAVE A CONTRACT. Its being emailed to me as we speak. She and the seller DID intitial on an extension of the trial.

They DID send her a check- asked her to hold it before she even got it. I told her to go to the bank first thing tomorrow morning and CASH THAT MOTHER F*CKER but shes confident they’ve already put a stop on it or will as soon as she tries to do anything with it.

Wanna know the kicker? They took him to a show this past weekend- he was in two division, which is four O/F classes, right? He was DQed in all of them for refusing. THIS HORSE DOES NOT STOP AT FENCES. I showed along side her all summer and never saw this horse stop at a single thing. She took him on his first XC schooling and he jumped everything. EVERYTHING. So the horse is either sore, his training is messed up or the girl can’t ride worth a hoot. The two “involved trainers” mom and daughter, agreed that he probably refused because the “seller and buyer have to totally different riding styles” BULL FREAKING CRAP. Also, horse was sent to FL jumping 3’ in a snaffle, auto changes and now he “doesn’t change and takes off bucking after the fences.” and they have him in a Kimberwick.

Friend knows she goofed. PLEASE don’t spend anymore time telling me how screwed she is- we need help. They told her after the whole bucking, no changes, refusing conversation, that “they still really like him and can see his potential.” I think they’re just going for leverage now.

After I take a look at the contract, I’ll put some more info up here and see what I can ask for help with.

I’m thinking at this point the certified letter and having someone go see him at the show this weekend to see if hes actually bucking etc. would be our best course of action.

There is no way she will be able to pack up and go get the horse, I KNOW and SHE KNOWS thats the neccessary option, but as someone posted- shes a kid with no help from parents and she needs the money, etc. etc. I am of the opinion that they’re not actually trying to flip the horse- not yet anyway. I think they’re just taking her for a ride. I also firmly believe this was orchestrated from the get go.

Okay. Cothers- GO!

[RainyDayRide]

poor horse …

[Bearx2]

I have been keeping up with this post and I was hoping that things would go better then this. Hugs to her and hugs to you.

[Dressage4Fun]

ok,

do we have people that can

#1) act as agent and pick up said horse?

#2) can we pull together and get this boy a great home?

I know we can’t sell here, but we can pool our resources and find him a home… or a REPUTABLE TRAINER that CAN… I would love to have him, but I am in New Mexico… shipping would kill us!! LOL!!

COME ON COTH"RS!! We can DO THIS!!

[tweeter]

She needs to call them and tell them since he now has all these problems she’s taking him off the market. Get a COTHer to pick him up, and I bet between us all we can think of what to do next. Poor horse.

[hoopoe]

I assume this is what the honorable trainer/ buyer told her, that the horse was misrepresented stopping not a snaffle mouth no changes…

Get Hercules cause there is a lot of BS flying about that needs shoveling out.

go get the horse, the deal is off and offer him for sale to a nice locally known trainer

[horse-loverz]

Epona I KNOW you don’t need the I told you so but I was just wondering what your friend was thinking sending the horse to Fla when she KNEW in advance she would not be able to go get him should this situation occur. whew I feel better now that I said it again:yes: Well I know she wasn’t really thinking it through at all.

As far as what to do … if you know what show and where I’m sure one of the Fla CoTHers could maybe go watch and see… Send the certified letter… cash the damn check… or at least attempt to… Maybe even let them know that they are entering into a lease situation now and not a trial if she can… (some of our more legal eagles can better advise you on this)

As a last act of desperation if it goes horribly horribly bad is there a Fla peep that could get the horse and board it temporarily until friend can come down and get him?

I wanna join in with the pirates and wear my best Jack Sparrow outfit and put my cockateil on my shoulder and go keel-haul someone… ARRRRRGH!!! I live in KY so you could get me on the way to get Epona:lol:

[bambam]

@eponacowgirl;2920251

I’m thinking at this point the certified letter and having someone go see him at the show this weekend to see if hes actually bucking etc. would be our best course of action.

Okay- NO on the show this weekend. Certified letter telling them that there is no extension on the trial, and unless they wire her the full asking price by close of business Thursday (assuming she sends this overnight tomorrow which she really really should), they have until close of businesss Friday to make arrangements for a professional shipper to transport the horse back to your friend at their expense (per the agreement in the beginning I think you said the agreement was ship back at their expense if it did nto work) no later than January 18 and provide wirtten proof to her that these arrangements have been made and, unless they send her the full purchase price by wire by COB Thursday, they may NOT show this horse this weekend or at any other time. State that if she does not receive either the full purhcase price as stated in the letter or the horse in her possession by the 18th, she will consider the horse stolen and report it as such to the police.
No phone calls- she needs to take the next step in writing
These people are not taking her seriously because she has rolled over on everything.
They are not going to buy this horse at anywhere near the asking at this point, she has some bad riding/training to undo already and she needs to pull the plug now- no ifs, ands or but.

[BeastieSlave]

[QUOTE=eponacowgirl;2920251]
They told her after the whole bucking, no changes, refusing conversation, that “they still really like him and can see his potential.” I think they’re just going for leverage now.

The first thing that hit me was - is he really bucking and getting DQ’d? If he was that bad, why do they still “really like him”? They need to either buy him or send him back. Wasn’t there something about sending him back if they didn’t buy in the contract? If so, she doesn’t need to drop her price. PERIOD. If they don’t like it, at the end of the trial, they send him back.[/QUOTE]

Now, we all know how hard that’s going to be… I can envision some sort of COTH go get him & hold him thing where a FL COTH’er goes and gets the horse and the COTH network either warehouses him until seller gets some $ together to get him back up there, or gets him sold (the right way). I’m still probably just wishing for that happy ending, but ther’s got to be a way!

I’m thinking at this point the certified letter and having someone go see him at the show this weekend to see if hes actually bucking etc. would be our best course of action.

YES!

[BeastieSlave]

[QUOTE=bambam;2920322]
Okay- NO on the show this weekend. Certified letter telling them that there is no extension on the trial, and unless they wire her the full asking price by close of business Thursday (assuming she sends this overnight tomorrow which she really really should), they have until close of businesss Friday to make arrangements for a professional shipper to transport the horse back to your friend at their expense (per the agreement in the beginning I think you said the agreement was ship back at their expense if it did nto work) no later than January 18 and provide wirtten proof to her that these arrangements have been made and, unless they send her the full purchase price by wire by COB Thursday, they may NOT show this horse this weekend or at any other time. State that if she does not receive either the full purhcase price as stated in the letter or the horse in her possession by the 18th, she will consider the horse stolen and report it as such to the police.
No phone calls- she needs to take the next step in writing
These people are not taking her seriously because she has rolled over on everything.
They are not going to buy this horse at anywhere near the asking at this point, she has some bad riding/training to undo already and she needs to pull the plug now- no ifs, ands or but.[/QUOTE]

Ooooohhhh, this is so much better than my reply above! :yes:

[blackstallion]

Is adventurebeachponies still around? She knows a lot of FL peeps.

Another scenerio is that this trainer and kid are ruining this horse! And are having trouble flipping it. Hope she put in the contract that the horse is to be returned in the same condition he was hauled down there. Cash that check! Don’t deposit it. CASH! Then go get the horse and subtract the shipping and the possible damages from the cash. I doubt there will be any cash left over to give back to the buyer.

[Cherry]

posted by eponacowgirl:

Okay. Cothers- GO!

Do you know us or what??? :winkgrin: :lol:

I also firmly believe this was orchestrated from the get go.

I concur!!! :mad: Was this a double team event though??? Mother and daughter venture??? :uhoh:

Well, at this point I’m afraid the only thing I can suggest is calling a lawyer and trying to iron out what her rights are concerning this contract–I have a hard time believing that your friend cannot void this deal with all the BS that has been going on. It sounds like a case of fraud to me! Get legal advice now!!!

If it has been established that she is able to back out of the deal the lawyer will probably suggest she hire an agent to go pick up the horse. She’d better go to ID the horse though to make sure she gets the right one!!! This is nuts!!! :mad:

[RainyDayRide]

No brilliant suggestions … but kudos to you, Eponacowgirl, for working to help a friend who is/has been screwed by her elders.

(I vote for the letter, no showing this weekend, they put horse back on a truck at their expense.)

[CoolMeadows]

If there is a signed contract, with a trial extension added, agreed to, and initialed by both parties I think your friend is sadly SOL as far as getting her horse out of this ridiculous situation. I really feel for, been there, done that and it is shocking how quickly a horse can be thoroughly ruined by an unsuitable rider. I hope she is able to get him out of there, assess what holes they’ve put in him and make a plan to help him return to his former good guy self if possible.

For the future, add into any trial agreements exactly what tack is allowed, what shoes are allowed, what supplements are allowed, what turnout situations/boots are needed etc, etc… although the last time I did that it was all ignored anyway and the horse was also switched from a snaffle to a kimberwick and returned with a broken leg, cellulitis and a totally blown brain. She did not recover.

[eponacowgirl]

Okay, one more update from friend this evening. I guess as the evening progressed, she got more and more irritated and RIP ROARING angry (which we have found she doesn’t do very often…)

She called her trainer in IL and basically said “LISTEN, lady, I trusted you, you totally screwed me over… WTF!!!” Trainer said “I agree, theres alot of screwing happening, I don’t approve, call my daughter and see what she has to say.” Mom put in the preliminary phone call “You should PROBABLY answer the phone…” and my friend called FL trainer. FL trainer proceeded to rip my friend a new one for “tattleing to her mommy” and then my friend turned the tables and told her where to shove it. Trainer immediately came back with “Okay, okay, the girl totally messed up at the show, she hasn’t shown in a year and NEVER at 3’, she couldn’t get it together, popped the horse in the mouth over the fences, hence the bucking, and then he started refusing and she got TOed at the horse, punished more, and it was all down hill.” Trainer then got after student, dad of student got after trainer and trainer told dad that he was being stupid, he needed to buy the horse, his daughter needed to listen to trainer and if they didn’t close the deal by the 15th she would no longer be training his daughter and didn’t need him as a client anymore. Trainer also advised that anything coming up in vetting would be CLIENTS problem, not sellers.

Friend is going to send the letter tomorrow.

Feeling better after this update…

Still would like to have someone at the show this weekend- will try to find out where. Anyone have any ideas?

[Amwrider]

Does she know for a fact that her horse actually performed like that at the show?..or did the potential buyer tell her that to bargain down the price on the horse?

I too think that if she signed for the extension, she cannot insist the buyer ship back at their expense any earlier than the end of the extension.

I think what she has to do is sit and wait it out, send a legal letter stating that per the terms of the contract, money is to be wired to her account by the conclusion of the extension or earlier. Horse is to be shipped back the day after the extension ends at the trial buyer’s expense.

If I were her, I would be careful about cashing the check. If the check is marked “paid in full” and she cashes it, that is considered a binding contract in FL.

If I were her, I wouldn’t cash or deposit that check, I would insist on a wire transfer.

[RainyDayRide]

@eponacowgirl;2920400

Still would like to have someone at the show this weekend- will try to find out where. Anyone have any ideas?

Have her call FL trainer back and ASK where the show is.

and Yes to wire transfer… no more checks.

(I’m glad her tears have turned into assertiveness.)

[cholmberg]

[QUOTE=RainyDayRide;2920435]
Have her call FL trainer back and ASK where the show is.

and Yes to wire transfer… no more checks.

(I’m glad her tears have turned into assertiveness.)[/QUOTE]

Should she tell her she has an agent to go watch the horse to see what is
really happening? That should really have them scratching their heads
and behinds wondering how she got an agent in that area to go watch.

Very glad to hear that she’s getting mad and standing up for herself
and her horse. Sounds like she’s going to have some poor riding to
undo when she gets him back though. :no:

[Midge]

OTOH, if they have put a stop payment on the check, or the check is no good, they have broken the law. (ASSuming the amount of the check is somewhere in the contract and what that check represents.) I’d cash that baby ASAP. If it is a deposit, they can either pony up the difference or lose their deposit for NOT ponying up the difference.

Epona, please understand I am NOT insulting you at all here, but something else COTH needs to keep in mind is we have only the owner’s side of this story. We all know there are two sides, so let’s be careful. Bottom line is, if it’s her horse and the people trying don’t start acting like smart people, she needs to get that horse back.