Games Trainers Play: The Florida Horse Saga

[eponacowgirl]

[QUOTE=Woodland;2928593]
fingers in my ears lalalalalalalalalalalalala - This seller does not want our help ladies and gentlemen - if she did she would have told her dear Eponafriend and we would have gone all pirate on the “buyer” and “T” would no longer be in Florida!

The market for a good horse is on the rise - spring is near and every youth rider and the parent that lives vicariously through them is ready to SHOP! IF I were the “Seller” I woud say asking price is now a firm price - don’t want him? Fine! Ship him home at your expense there are buyers waiting! After all “T” is now famous!

[/QUOTE]

Hahahahaha… hopefully his fame won’t come back and bite ME in the ass!

I don’t know that we can arrange his purchase on the BB, but if it happened OFF the BB somehow…

[RNB]

At this rate the “trial” period is going to last the entire show season. At which point, if they win year end awards they will probably buy and if not will tell the owner they want her to come pick up the horse! And then next December we can start another thread!!

[goeslikestink]

[QUOTE=ADizzyGirl;2928576]
Holy crap… I haven’t lurked here in MONTHS, and I just spent three fricken hours glued to this thread.

I’m speechless… wow. Poor ponay.[/QUOTE]

caught you-- haha its addictive you will be back----------------

whats the fraze arnie says in terminator------------ i will be back

[goeslikestink]

[QUOTE=RNB;2928685]
At this rate the “trial” period is going to last the entire show season. At which point, if they win year end awards they will probably buy and if not will tell the owner they want her to come pick up the horse! And then next December we can start another thread!![/QUOTE]

haha-- arh so thats there plan earn enough prize money, to buy the horse for the entry fee

[goeslikestink]

[QUOTE=EponaRoan;2928288]
I don’t think you’re supposed to discuss raising money on this board unless it’s for a 501©(3) charity …[/QUOTE]

nah–you read it wrong people offering to raise peanuts in kilo’s

peanuts is really whats at stake here not money–

[MistyBlue]

There’s going to be a “rescue” of a horse who was “sold” by a naive buyer to a shady trainer and bad rider? There’d better be a really big pool of donators since this happens about 500 times daily in the USA.
Aren’t there better candidates out there requiring saving? Ya know…hungry, abused, injured as opposed to badly ridden?

[Moderator_2]

Well, actually, we can’t let you raise money here - especially to a person not a 501 C-3… So, please, dismiss that idea on these boards.

Thanks!

(By the way, all the money raised for Aiden et al went to foundations earmarked for the individual. That makes it legit.)

[mademoiselle]

I kind of agree with the other poster. This horse doesn’t need to be saved. As far as we know he is fed, shiny, he is on supplements and has access to vets and farriers.

The horse will survive the bit and the poor riding, trust me. If every horse who is poorly ridden was a rescue case … Well, I don’t even know where to start.

In this case the owner made her own decisions despite everybody’s advice and refused to be helped thinking that she kenw better. So if she never gets the money or gets the horse back and needs to retrain him, call it ‘experience’.

[saje]

Okay, hang on. Back the bus up a minute.

I’ve been following this from the beginning. I think EC’s friend is a fool and, at this point, is getting what she asked for. I think it’s a shame she doesn’t care more about her horse. I’m sorry EC has gotten roped into it all.

But I can’t see that this horse is being abused. There are MANY more horses out there in FAR worse circumstances - just go cruise Craigslist and Dreamhorse and your local rescue site. THOSE horses really really need a home. This poor horse may be in the hands of manipulators and be ridden by a beginner, but he’s a long way from death. He is not at all in the same boat as Tiny Tim.

If COTH members want to participate in a “Rescue Of The Month Club” (which isn’t a bad idea, actually, though possibly against board rules) I suggest that the focus be on truly truly needy horses, god knows there are plenty to go around.

Don’t let do-gooder hysteria (another variation on the pack mentality theme) cloud the truth of the situation.

[AnotherRound]

I agree with these last two posts. Who’s being abused, here, except poor us? The true victims here are us who have to watch this train drive off the cliff and our instinct is to try somehow to stop it, but honestly, the horse is fine. The owner wants to suffer, and, admit it folks, it is her right to make rotten decisions.

What’s the worst that can happen? The scammers get the horse for next to nothing? And the problem is? The owner also gets what she wants, which is, apparently to get rid of the horse. We hate to see it, it galls us and insults our sensibilities and sense of honesty and fair play, but we are observers here of a tragic farce for which se cannot write the ending, but my feeling is save your money (not mine, I have better choices for my charity giving than this baffoon) for horses in true need.

Really, don’t spend your money just to make yourself feel better, look for where it will do the most good.

[mbamissaz]

[QUOTE=ESG;2928390]
I think this horse may even be in greater need than TT. :no:[/QUOTE]

Are you kidding me??? I agree with the last 2 posts…this should NOT turn into a money-raising thread to bail this horse (and owner) out of a situation that is not really all that dire in the grand scheme of things.

[BeastieSlave]

Nope, not contributing to this one!

The owner is in denial and doesn’t deserve our money. If she had listened to us ages ago she wouldn’t be in this postion. The horse isn’t in danger, he’s just at the mercy of a less-than-professional trainer.

Besides, if we bail her out, will the lesson really be learned? I don’t think so.

[Camelot]

Go read the Saving Freeway thread on the Ultimate Dressage board to remind yourselves what an honest to gawd rescue horse is. Send that woman some money if it’s burning a hole in your pocket. She’s hasn’t asked for a dime though so I don’t know that she’d take it.

The Fugly Horse of the Day person is trying to place a free horse. Maybe some of y’all could help her out.

Pulling the rug out from under some unscrupulous trainers is satisfying in the short-term but what have you really done to improve anything for anyone?

I do hope the owner of the horse doesn’t end up owing the buyers money with the way they are doing their accounting. If she does, or ends up with no money and no horse, she has learned quite a life lesson. You can’t, nor should you, save people from learning the lesson. Sadder but wiser should be the outcome here.

[Beenthere]

First and foremost they were comments made in gest to a silly situation, although I for one would put my money up…it is my choice how I want to spend my money or offer assistance. I do, however, respect the Board and its rules and there will be no collection of “peanuts”…

As for you all telling us where to spend our money…you can stop that right now…no one here knows how much I for one donate to rescues and the like…it is well over the price of this very horse each year…not to mention I have personally rescued creatures that live with us that have run up costs far exceeding $50,000…this does not include the monies I have spent re-homing OTTB that are dumped when they get injuries etc.

Trust me, my offer is a drop in the bucket for the monies I spend helping horses and people in need and I don’t do it to make myself feel better.

It is not wise to chastise people who donate or imply they are donating in poor judgment because those type of comments could vacuum seal one’s wallet for future rescue requests…haven’t you heard the comment “don’t piss off the benefactor”

[2WBs1TB]

Hey y’all, PT Barnum has a saying… there’s a sucker born every minute. Right now the only sucker is the chick who sent the horse off. She is learning one of life’s lessons. She will get over it.

If y’all mobilise a “rescue” for this horse, y’all will be suckers too. Only you won’t get over it.

[saje]

[QUOTE=donkeyman;2929018]
First and foremost they were comments made in gest to a silly situation, although I for one would put my money up…it is my choice how I want to spend my money or offer assistance. I do, however, respect the Board and its rules and there will be no collection of “peanuts”…

As for you all telling us where to spend our money…you can stop that right now…no one here knows how much I for one donate to rescues and the like…it is well over the price of this very horse each year…not to mention I have personally rescued creatures that live with us that have run up costs far exceeding $50,000…this does not include the monies I have spent re-homing OTTB that are dumped when they get injuries etc.

Trust me, my offer is a drop in the bucket for the monies I spend helping horses and people in need and I don’t do it to make myself feel better.

It is not wise to chastise people who donate or imply they are donating in poor judgment because those type of comments could vacuum seal one’s wallet for future rescue requests…haven’t you heard the comment “don’t piss off the benefactor”[/QUOTE]

I’m not telling you how to spend your money, and I don’t remember quizzing anyone on how much they donate and to what causes. If you have the funds to be generous, well good for you and it’s great that that can and do help.

My objection is to calling this horse a rescue, and the general sentiment of “OMG we HAVE to get him OUT of there NOW!!!11!” Not everyone is as clued in to the really needy horses as you may be, Donkeyman.

You spend your money as you see fit, and I’ll send out wake up calls as I see fit. It’s a free country, ain’t it?

[Cherry]

Ah, everything aside–I can’t stay away from this thread! :lol:

posted by Camelot–

Pulling the rug out from under some unscrupulous trainers is satisfying in the short-term but what have you really done to improve anything for anyone?

Part of me would love for someone to buy this horse out from under Trainer #2–not just because she deserves to lose the horse but because “behavior seen as rewarded tends to be repeated!”. If she gets away with this she will do it to another person, then another, then another, ad infinitum… I’d love to see the wind taken out of her sails! :yes: :lol: “Nip it, nip it in the bud!”, as Barney Fife would say! :lol:

This horse may not need saving now, but most likely in the future it will. People who think nothing of using people won’t have much more respect for animals… As least that’s been my experience…

It’ll be interesting to see how this eventually plays out. One more week, eh??? Does anyone think this horse won’t pass the PPE, or that a PPE will never occur??? Does the “owner” have a contingency plan??? How can you have a horse for this long and not know if you’re going to buy it or not??? I’d a fallen in love with this horse the first time I looked into his eyes–forget the PPE!

[findeight]

I think we are done here and rapidly going off the bridge into a real wreck. Friend is being manipulated but there is no way she can take the horse back financially so that’s about it…and does not sound or look like horse is being abused.

Perhaps the new Mods will archive this one? Put it along with our all time favorite train wreck? The Arabian Jumper one that wandered thru politics and Iraq, alters, Sybils and all manner of fights over these and other topics and gave us the “well whack me with a dead cactus” COTHISM.

Now that was a classic and the standard in threads gone awry.

This one is dead. Epona, you tried but it’s over. Forget it.

[Moderator_1]

Please be advised

In case there is any doubt, to repeat the statement made by Mod 2 earlier, the boards are only to be used for fundraising efforts under special circumstances for recognized charities.

In case there is any confusion or comparisons to be drawn, the Tiny Tim thread/effort was undertaken during a transitional period in the moderator staff. While we have no doubt of the motivation for that thread or those like it, it would not have been permitted under the rules and would have been closed if it had been seen earlier.

Please avoid further discussion of fundraising efforts on this thread.

Thanks.

[egontoast]

The OP said this in the first post

What do we do? We’ve never sold a horse like this before and we’re kinda baffled.

We? Sounds like the OP has some interest in the sale of the horse. Also sounds like she did not think it was such a stupid idea in the beginning. The OP is involved somehow in the sale of the horse . She is not a disinterested party.

If the kindly CoThers decide to buy this horse contrary to the rules all because of this soap opera, no doubt lightbulbs will click on in many a seller’s head.