Same here…it is actually surprising that this mistake doesn’t happen more often.
[QUOTE=FalseImpression;3945025]
I meant IF the trailer had stopped FIRST at Frank Madden’s and second at Ward’s… would people be as quick at pointing a finger at the sales barn… is this a case of “reputation” putting a slant on the situation?[/QUOTE]
If you were asking me, yes I would. No one in this entire horse world is without flaw and the fact that the last chain of custody for GG in specific was the Ward’s is why I looked towards them. Had it been the other way then I would have figured Frank was doing a shady deal… Not going solely on name because honestly I admire McClain and think he is an amazing rider and I am too young to know anything more than stories about Barney.
Conspiracy theory: Is it possible BW did a little “switcheroo” with a horse he knew looked like GG and was going to be leased out. Possibly hiding the horse “in plain sight”. If the discovery goes unnoticed for the yearly lease term-he’s now got himself a really nice horse. If the switcheroo gets discovered-blame it on the shipper.
The market isn’t that soft for horses in that price bracket. They are still selling…his issue will be ridability. He is probably more marketable NOW than he was when he was sent east since there is now a record of a junior rider being successful with him.
Oh, please- do people really think there is a conspiracy theory? There are a lot of really good horses in the world, and none of these people, I expect, are low on funds. If any of those involved wanted to buy a horse comparable to GG they could have done so, instead of doing an amateur-ish switch that could be easily discovered once the problem was found out.
I’m not saying there wasn’t negligence or whatever involved, but this doesn’t seem to be as exciting as some people want it to be. There are two sets of horses at my current barn that could be twins of each other- down to the size, shade of coat, sex and markings. It would be dead easy to get either pair mixed up.
Posted on HSS:
The shipper involved has been a very close family friend for decades with the east coast business in question and “practically grew up” on the New York farm. He is not just “some shipper who got caught up in the middle”.
The fact that the shipper is chummy with the NY trainer who ended up with the real GG, changed his name, leased him out to a junior at another barn to show successfully in the Hi Jr/AOs…that seems to make it more fishy to me. :mad:
If it’s true, then it’s just one more amazing coincidence.
[QUOTE=foursocks;3945311]
Oh, please- do people really think there is a conspiracy theory? There are a lot of really good horses in the world, and none of these people, I expect, are low on funds. If any of those involved wanted to buy a horse comparable to GG they could have done so, instead of doing an amateur-ish switch that could be easily discovered once the problem was found out.
I’m not saying there wasn’t negligence or whatever involved, but this doesn’t seem to be as exciting as some people want it to be. There are two sets of horses at my current barn that could be twins of each other- down to the size, shade of coat, sex and markings. It would be dead easy to get either pair mixed up.[/QUOTE]
Damn it Foursocks! I want it to be exciting I am hoping a hermaphodite and a Bolivian midget are involved somehow and that the horses were trained with mini bike chain bits and rumplestiltskin nosebands and forced to have their manes braided on the right…or that they are clones and one was a meth user and the other an honor student at an inner city school!
[QUOTE=FalseImpression;3944638]
I wonder if everyone would have the same reaction/comments if the mix up had gone the other way: GG was expected at Ward’s barn, but ended up at Frank Madden’s and was leased out by him.
It seems that BW’s reputation places him under a cloud of suspicion right away… but would you all be as suspicious if FM had had GG when he expected another horse?
I hope we find out what happens to Con-Air![/QUOTE]
This is the consequence of bad behavior- loss of trust. If it were a trusted person, they would get the benefit of the doubt. People who have proven themselves unworthy of trust just are less likely to get it.
I’m just not buying the conspiracy theory. First of all, follow the money. A childrens jumper lease is tiny potatoes. Second, the horse is fairly well known on it’s own coast and apparently has a somewhat distictive style. No one is going to be able to bring it out in even the high jr/aos without someone recognizing it eventually. Third, it’s twelve. it’s all downhill from here, agewise. They aren’t planning on sticking it in the back field for a few years and helping it change color. Fouth, on the very heels of winning a gold medal at the Olympics, you’re ‘stealing’ a not top GP horse and leasing it out as a childrens jumper. As if after the Olympics, McClain probably doesn’t have 15 as good as that one.
There is no upside for this little maneuver. Honestly, I could see Barney trying it for kicks, but not if he had to use McClain’s name.
I too an surprised it doesn’t happen more often. Has anyone ever seen a shipper arrive in the daytime? I managed a sales barn 25 years ago and we never double checked the paperwork. And while GG is slightly different in that he has a verifiable record, if every horse who came in was as represented, we would have been millionaires.
they are involved… you’re very insightful… you best be watching who is near your vehicle and outside your home… you’re getting too close… too close…
muhhhhahaaaaaa
When I had my eventer shipped in from British Columbia to WI the shipper almost sent him down to Keenland. They unloaded at a layover farm in the dark and since he was a large very young looking TB and wouldn’t hold still for them to check the tag on his halter he got put in with the TBs going to the Keenland sale. They did figure everything out before he went all the way to Keenland though! They felt really horrible. And this was a shipper that has done a ton of coast to coasts.
[QUOTE=tidy rabbit;3945365]
they are involved… you’re very insightful… you best be watching who is near your vehicle and outside your home… you’re getting too close… too close…
muhhhhahaaaaaa[/QUOTE]
OMG Look at what is outside my window!!!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bY-Gu4Mr7eU/R78FM3xrF6I/AAAAAAAABEY/jQSQCsuOHpo/s320/midget.JPG
Seems to me like any potatoes, tiny or not, would be welcome at this time. I don’t think tiny potaotes would stop anyone from playing a game when it comes to money today.
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;3945282]
The market isn’t that soft for horses in that price bracket. They are still selling…his issue will be ridability. He is probably more marketable NOW than he was when he was sent east since there is now a record of a junior rider being successful with him.[/QUOTE]
Well, a junior was riding GG last year. I just checked last year’s show results to make sure that it was the same horse I thought it was. The show barn I was at last year (I’m taking a short hiatus from riding) cleaned GG’s clock at every show where our top horses and riders were at, whether it was at the Pebble Beach or Del Mar GPs or in the junior ranks. So did many other top jumper barns’ horses and riders. Every jumper trainer seems to know every top horse in every barn out here already. I doubt that their opinion will suddenly change. If they couldn’t sell the horse out here last year, it’s hard to believe that he will suddenly become more marketable by coming back here a year older.
moesha…
stay out of the hallway at night. best to stay in bed and not look around… spooky
http://msp291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/michaelcrocker/MIDGETS.jpg
First of all, follow the money. A childrens jumper lease is tiny potatoes.
But they didn’t lease him (the real GG) out as a Children’s Jumper. They leased him out as a High Jr horse, and since they supposedly took him as a trade, they owned and any money made on him was good. When they leased him to the junior in NJ, I have no doubt they knew exactly how talented he was.
The imposter GG was the one showing as a Children’s Jumper, under GG’s name, with the explanation that he wasn’t living up to his reputation.
Am I the only one wondering if Barney or Mclain is the actual owner of Kanye, and if USEF will do anything if it’s determined that Barney leased a horse that’s listed under Mclain’s ownership?
[QUOTE=tidy rabbit;3945411]
moesha…
stay out of the hallway at night. best to stay in bed and not look around… spooky
http://msp291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/michaelcrocker/MIDGETS.jpg[/QUOTE]
Wear your tin foil hat!!
GR704 comes to mind!
[QUOTE=foursocks;3945311]
Oh, please- do people really think there is a conspiracy theory? There are a lot of really good horses in the world, and none of these people, I expect, are low on funds. If any of those involved wanted to buy a horse comparable to GG they could have done so, instead of doing an amateur-ish switch that could be easily discovered once the problem was found out.
I’m not saying there wasn’t negligence or whatever involved, but this doesn’t seem to be as exciting as some people want it to be. There are two sets of horses at my current barn that could be twins of each other- down to the size, shade of coat, sex and markings. It would be dead easy to get either pair mixed up.[/QUOTE]
I am not so much into conspiracy theory although based on the flyer, I don’t think those horses look THAT much alike. I don’t doubt that some horses do look identical but it seems that GG was tall and a finer build and the other horse was stocky and shorter. Maybe in the middle of the night but I don’t think they look identical, that’s where I get a bit confused…
