[QUOTE=2bayboys;3944329]
Taking poetic license:
“What you got on the truck Earl?”
“Well, I got this little black horse for you, these two hunters who are going to Stable X, and I got this other black horse, a Grand Prix horse from California.”
“Oh, really…?!!” 
[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol::lol: Pretty much.
Also, Con Air had GG’s halter. So, the halters were accidentally switched? I wonder when that happened. It would be helpful to know where Con Air was picked up and whether the two horses stayed overnight somewhere together. I really wonder who Con Air is, where he came from, where he was shown before, and who owned him.
There are just too many things that went conveniently wrong.
Hey guys, I haven’t ready any of these posts but I have to input something. I was notified that people are questioning why the police were sent to the farm and the involvement of the farm that was in possession of the animal. I am a boarder there, have three horses and the care is impeccable! The animals are all fat and shiny, the indoor is lovely, the footing is great, the barn is brand new construction and the facility is amazing. My only thought about the police is that it was precautionary. The trainers HAD NO idea the horse was not what he was supposed to be, they tried him at the Ward’s and leased him. Once they were notified of the mix up they were very willing to cooperate and the horse safely left last night. The farm had no involvement and did not resist in any way in giving the horse back. Any other mix-up or mistake happened before they tried the horse and they had no knowledge of it or interaction with it. Thanks.
PS - I really am so glad that the horse is safe and sound and heading back to his owners; I would hope if I were in the same situation people would help me in such a way! I think we should focus on that, however it happened it was resolved properly! 
wouldn’t it be an amazing coincidence if the Wards had imported that horse Con-Air? would it? just wouldn’t?
I questioned the police presence and in doing so, I was not implying that the BO or trainer of the NJ facility where GG was living were in any way resisting his return to his rightful owner.
My question is, GG’s representatives on another board have been loudly proclaiming that this was just an unfortunate mix-up from the shipper and ALL IS WELL. Then why did GG’s owner feel that it was necessary to have the police there as a precautionary measure? That is talking out of both sides of your mouth.
No it is not. Having the police involved in something like this makes it easier for everyone.
Can anyone just take any horse off a trailer? Is that how it works? No recordkeeping or control at all? Any old groom can saunter up and take off any horse s/he’d like. No signing for the horse? No checking coggins/records? No inspection of the horse’s condition? Nothing? I genuinely want to know, I have never used a large commercial shipper like this and would have THOUGHT there was lots of control/recordkeeping-- to protect the shipper himself/herself!
It probably depends on the outfit. And the level of professionalism of the driver and the groom pulling the horse off the truck. It’s like anything else. I imagine that the people who are doing the hauling and the people doing the unloading are a step or two removed from the professionals in question. It could have been a scam. But it seems just as plausable that it was an employee screw up and lack of oversight.
I had a commercial hauler ship my horse a short distance last summer. FWIW, there was no paperwork, no checking my coggins, there was no “procedure”. And these guys ship nationally though are not “big names”.
In post 124, satori (1 post) says
The hauler that Patrick Seaton hired to transport GG was Earl Jacque, and the last stop before Frank Madden’s was Barney Ward’s. All people dealing with Barney Ward in the last six months should be notified so that they can verifify that a mistake has not been made, and they did not receive the wrong horse.
IMMEDIATELY, in post 125, donotbotherme (1 post) says
A horse fitting the description named Kayne is winning in the Junior/A/O jumpers at Gulfport. Owned by McClain Ward, ridden by a different junior find pictures, looks exactly like the horse… No previous show record before 11/08… If it is the horse, the horse is safe and well cared for…
So my guess is that someone who reads here, say post 124 and thought “I know a dark bay/black horse that came from the Wards- let me look at the pictures”
I am more interested in “who is satori?” than “who is donotbotherme?”
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2bayboys
My question is, GG’s representatives on another board have been loudly proclaiming that this was just an unfortunate mix-up from the shipper and ALL IS WELL. Then why did GG’s owner feel that it was necessary to have the police there as a precautionary measure? That is talking out of both sides of your mouth.
No it is not. Having the police involved in something like this makes it easier for everyone.
But the police have to have a legitimate reason for being there, in other words, they will not respond just because you want them there to make you feel better. They have to have been told that there was a likeliness of the need to “keep the peace”. And the record of that call to the police is public information.
post 2 says
THE HORSE BEING SHOWN AS GOOD GUINNESS, IN THE STALL, WITH GUINNESS’S PAPERS/HALTER…WAS/IS NOT GOOD GUINNESS!
So it appears the halter got switched at some point, and from then on, the handlers were misled by the name on the halter.
But was the halter switch accidental or deliberate?
Possibly the INSURANCE company requested the police presence?
GG’s owner is a lawyer.
Everything happened so quickly after Patrick identified GG in the Gulfport pix and tracked him back to Resolution. Since there has been an investigation, I’m guessing he contacted police and maybe faxed/emailed the pictures at about the same time or beore he contacted Resolution and the police went just in case, with photographic proof/ proof of ownership etc… Better safe than sorry but the people at Resolution had no idea they’d leased a horse who was being searched for. Nothing shady about the police being involved and there was no showdown once the horse was identified.
These are experienced, educated horse professionals…
You are reading way too much into the fact that the police were summoned. Law enforcement had been involved in trying to locate GG from the beginning. Why WOULDN’T the police go to the barn where a missing horse was presumably located? I understand that the barn was entirely cooperative, but if it were my barn, I’d sure want some sort of law enforcement there if someone claimed a horse in the barn was actually a missing, high dollar grand prix horse. Additionally, there is probably STILL an ongoing investigation as to exactly how this happened. Don’t you think the owner of GG (and the trainer’s involved, as well as the lessee and the barn owner of the NJ barn) was official records / reports of what happened the day he was recovered and removed from the NJ barn? I sure would if I were any one of the players involved. The police being there makes absolute sense. I’d be far MORE concerned if no law enforcement at all was involved in his recovery.
I also think you’re reading way too much into the “All is well” comment. I took that as nothing more than an assurance that GG was found and was going to be returned.
But the police have to have a legitimate reason for being there, in other words, they will not respond just because you want them there to make you feel better. They have to have been told that there was a likeliness of the need to “keep the peace”. And the record of that call to the police is public information.
I think a mix up worth a lot of $$$ is a legitimate reason to be there. Anytime there is changing over of property, especially in a case like this, it’s good to have an objective authority figure there to document. Then there’s no “he said she said”.
I did not realize (perhaps I missed it in earlier posts) that there was a criminal investigation launched regarding GG’s disappearance. With that being the case, the police presence makes perfect sense.
[QUOTE=vxf111;3944214]
If it was just a mixup caused by 2 black horses shipping together at the same time and being confused, you would think that mixup would have been identified the MINUTE someone told the shipper there was a problem-- and not only would it have been identified but through the shipper you would know EXACTLY who to call because you’d know who the swapped horse belonged to.
Why didn’t this happen here?[/QUOTE]
Exactly. It seems like the logical course would have been for the shipper to check records, see who else was on the trip, and make sure there was no mix-up.
[QUOTE=Janet;3944426]
post 2 says
So it appears the halter got switched at some point, and from then on, the handlers were misled by the name on the halter.
But was the halter switch accidental or deliberate?[/QUOTE]
This is the one I keep stumbling over, how the halters got switched. I can possibly see the horses, black with minimal white in the dark, getting switched, but i’m choking on the halters also . . . accidentally . . . switched. So far though, the quote saying “The horse in GGs stall with GGs papers/halter” . . . is only words on a BB and must be taken as such. Need the horse’s mouth on this one.
I don’t see anything too odd about the horse suddenly competing in the Ch/AAs- so much of that could be due to the rider on hand. However, a Childrens horse is a much different animal than a GP horse . . . I would be more concerned that whomever has been training this horse for the past 6 months did not notice he scoped out around 3’6"? A Grand Prix horse?
[QUOTE=War Admiral;3944170]
I’m not exactly crying for the owners here, sorry. It is THEIR horse and it is THEIR ultimate responsibility. Not buying into the “blame the trainer” scenario here, at least not 100%. They coulda picked up the phone and called, too, or flown to Fla. There are no guarantees of profit for horse owners - if anything, exactly the opposite! They were suspiciously quiet throughout the whole thing.
As to donotbotherme, whoever s/he is, s/he had VERY good reason to want anonymity. I mean, look at the names involved in this horse’s “disappearance” and do the math…[/QUOTE]
Actually, the trainers have a fiduciary duty, ergo, they are the ones responsible for the care and custody of the horse. That is what the owner is paying for. I’m assuming the horse was in the trainer’s custody when it was sent, the trainer was the one who made the arrangements to get the horse sold, the trainer was going to profit from the transaction, etc., therefore it is the trainer’s repsonsibility. If the horse was at the owner’s home and the owner made all the arrangements/negotiations, then the owner would be responsible.
The owners were probably relying on their trainer’s representations that the horse arrived safely - why would they go to Florida to check and see if it was the right horse? After all, one of the early posts mentioned that there were offers to buy the horse that wasn’t GG, they just weren’t offers that the trainer and the owner were expecting. How was the owner supposed to know that the offers weren’t for his horse. I’m sure that the potential buyers weren’t in direct contact with the actual owners.
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