John French posted about the situation on his Facebook page some time back.
I know because I read it.
Boy! Lots of “newbies” voicing thier opinions here! Lol.
[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;6239858]
John French posted about the situation on his Facebook page some time back.
I know because I read it.[/QUOTE]
Yes I know he posted it, my point was who appointed Sonesta the one who should post it on GFF wall. It was not her place and equates tacky business practice for her.
As for people taking back broodmares that have been sold to GFF, sounds like a great idea, but the key word is “sold”. It would be illegal to simply go get a mare because you thought it might not be getting the care you expected it to.
There are many neighboring farms that are so simlar to GFF yet not mentioned. Can’t stress enough that I am not condoning bad behavior, but again the thread digressed into bad CA horsekeeping.
I think you will always see “newbies” come out of the woodwork in an issue that is passionate.
[QUOTE=RoyParker;6239854]
:no:
and the post about John French? do you really think that everyone with a FB page is going to post their financial issues or court issues on their page? Really? I don’t see any posts with people begging her to call them, but might have missed that.
and I mean’t exactly what I said, empathy for the “entire situation”. Does that mean I do not like to see GFF bullied. Of course. I don’t like to see ANYONE bullied.[/QUOTE]
If you look back at my post, I said that it “wouldn’t be likely” for G.F.F. to post her problems on her facebook page.
Most people would not use facebook exclusively to communicate with their customers either,most people would be speaking with the people with whom they are doing business by phone or email and not avoiding them and leaving them to beg for contact on a facebook page…
I have seen the pleas from customers on the facebook page. I’m surprised that as interested and protective as you are regarding G.F.F. that you wouldn’t have noticed them.
Did you really only notice Sonesta’s entries on that page? 
I haven’t been back to the page, the customer’s pleas for a phone call or an email may be gone by now.
The fact that G.F.F. is deleting entries to her facebook page while ignoring her customer’s requests for contact (on that same page!) is telling…
I don’t understand your reasoning (or lack of it). It does seem to me that you have some personal interest.
If you are a good friend who feels the need to defend , fine then, so be it, you have every right.
Just don’t accuse others of having an agenda or being “bullies”. I really think, most everyone here is rightfully concerned about the situation.
Raises hand as one who has directly dealt with her, embarrassingly enough. I’ve been to her farm not once but twice. Being from Southern California, I’m used to seeing horses on dry lots, and during both of my visits, saw mares in adjacent pastures and not all on the one dry lot. Did the dry-lotted mares and foals have shelter? No, but I’ve seen horses look a lot worse than the ones on her property. I’m very guilty of going against my gut feeling in sending my mare up there, but I felt that it was the right breeding match. A very newbie mistake, indeed.
[QUOTE=dianehalpin;6239231]
Almost every other breeder here has discussed foaling difficulties and other breeding oriented problems as they have arisen, but Ms. Burnell foaled out about 25 mares last year, apparently without losing a single one and all apparently having normal births. That just doesn’t ring true and I know she was unable to produce an IgG record when I needed one to insure a young Redwine suckling.[/QUOTE]
Interesting, indeed. JB told me directly that she did lose a foal last year (around this exact time last year) due to a veterinary error, and that was why she was choosing to change vets. The first series of vet bills for my mare was paid directly to a veterinary office, as per usual with my regular vet at home. After that, JB said that she was using a friend as a vet, and was unable to produce any records, tests, ultrasounds, etc. even though I was being charged for them. Big red flag. At the eleventh hour, and after months of “breedings” I was told that my mare was actually in foal, although I never received any evidence. I had already let JB know at that point that I was choosing to bring the mare home, and that’s when the communication ended. I sent a great shipper up to get her, thankfully, and after a three hour standoff with JB and a phone call to the Sheriff (anyone sense a theme here?), JB finally agreed to release the mare to the shipper. This was a mare that was neither sold to or leased by GFF, this was my personal mare that I sent up solely to be bred. Of course, as I figured, the mare was checked completely open by my vet as soon as she arrived back on our property. On one hand, I was livid at the deception, and on the other hand I was thankful that it enabled me to cut ties with JB completely. I would have hated to have to go back later on and fight for a breeding certificate later on.
This was my first, and last attempt ever at breeding. Guess I chose a doozy.
Oh Dear…
Don’t be embarassed, G.F.F. is the one who should be …
It really is too bad. It’s good though, that you got your mare out and didn’t just bury your head in the sand.
Mr. Parker do you recall my description of what happens to one’s arse when one buries their head in the sand? Really , open your eyes man…:eek:
Hey Roy - DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGERS.
And when anyone posts the horses are being fed. Well there’s a huge difference in the nutrition levels of horses, foals and in utero foals with just feeding a lot of grain and/or marginal hay to a balanced diet of GRASS, proper grain and good hay. A proper nutritional diet is especially important for the development of in utero foals.
You are free to post your defense of Jill, as others are free to post their concerns and bad experienes. And you CANNOT have read this entire thread where I and others have said we CARE ABOUT THE HORSES. And nothing as far as I can see or have read has indicated the situation has improved, in fact, it’s now worse.
If she really was a professional with a PLAN fo this situation, she would have posted that new PLAN all over the internet to protect her business and keep her clients completely informed. To date - she’s done neither.
A professional response by GFF would have been to write a letter to every one of her clients - explaining the situation and what her plan was to mediate the situation. AND - they should have been able to contact her by telephone and expect her to respond to them personally. No one else should be stepping in as a contact person on issues between the farm owner and the clients.
FWIW, the ONLY thing I posted on her wall about John French was once sentence that said "Jill, you need to contact John French right away."
That was it. Nothing more. It was done because John had posted that if he didn’t hear from her immediately, he was filing suit. That was before I knew the extent of what was happening. I was actually trying to get her the message so she DIDn’t end up with a suit against her.
I do not see how my post could be construed as any sort of announcement about John French filing suit.
Lawsuits are public information anyway.
[QUOTE=AndNirina;6239896]
This was my first, and last attempt ever at breeding. Guess I chose a doozy.[/QUOTE]
Don’t let that experience stop you from trying again…-with a different stallion owner of course! There ARE ethical, honest, and reliable stallion owners out there with super nice stallions. Plenty to choose from. :yes:
[QUOTE=3Dogs;6239539]
Diane. Agree “Tobias” has NOT actually read most of the posts and given only 16 posts to date, the"alter" question pops to mind!
May ALL the horses be safe…I feel like I am watching a sad episode of “Hoarders” unfold…[/QUOTE]
Actually I have read every single one of them and what brought me out of lurking. It makes people who don’t have a direct link to her situation look even worse/unprofessional when they comment on something they do not have the complete facts about.
I am not liked to her FB page, but I find this very disturbing as well. It says alot about her in general and only tells me to avoid any dealings with that person.
[QUOTE=Sonesta;6240034]
FWIW, the ONLY thing I posted on her wall about John French was once sentence that said "Jill, you need to contact John French right away."
That was it. Nothing more. It was done because John had posted that if he didn’t hear from her immediately, he was filing suit. That was before I knew the extent of what was happening. I was actually trying to get her the message so she DIDn’t end up with a suit against her.
I do not see how my post could be construed as any sort of announcement about John French filing suit.[/QUOTE]
Oh really? You were doing this out of the kindness of your heart to help her AVOID conflict (irony there)? How?, by posting it on her Facebook wall? Why not an email or a phone call, even if it was just to leave a message?
The only reason someone would do that would be to cause harm to others or exploit them.
I find it disturbing as well as a tad mentally unbalanced.
Do you think that makes you look professional in people’s eyes and would make someone in the future want to do business with YOU? I would think not.
[QUOTE=Tobias01;6240407]
Oh really? You were doing this out of the kindness of your heart to help her AVOID conflict (irony there)? How?, by posting it on her Facebook wall? Why not an email or a phone call, even if it was just to leave a message?
The only reason someone would do that would be to cause harm to others or exploit them.
I find it disturbing as well as a tad mentally unbalanced.
Do you think that makes you look professional in people’s eyes and would make someone in the future want to do business with YOU? I would think not.[/QUOTE]
It would encourage me to do business with her in the future! I am sick and tired of people making excuses for others having questionable business practices. Not returning phone calls from worried customers and clients and providing misinformation on EVA, imo, is questionable business practices. (and if Jill wasn’t answering her phone calls, or emails… then how do you suggest someone relay a message? If you see that person on FB, it seems that would be a great way to let them know).
Interesting, as Jill is on HGS talking about looking forward to doing “LOTS” and “MULTIPLE” embryo transfers with a couple of mares mentioned here on this thread.
[QUOTE=Tapperjockey;6240416]
It would encourage me to do business with her in the future! I am sick and tired of people making excuses for others having questionable business practices. Not returning phone calls from worried customers and clients and providing misinformation on EVA, imo, is questionable business practices. (and if Jill wasn’t answering her phone calls, or emails… then how do you suggest someone relay a message? If you see that person on FB, it seems that would be a great way to let them know).[/QUOTE]
So your saying she needed to be informed by Sonesta because she had no idea of the lawsuit?
[QUOTE=Tobias01;6240425]
So your saying she needed to be informed by Sonesta because she had no idea of the lawsuit?[/QUOTE]
Maybe she didn’t. X was looking for Y. Y was seen on FB by Z. Z knew X was looking for Y and let Y know that. There is nothing wrong with that.
[QUOTE=mbm;6239622]
PP, then you had better quick call the aspca on MANY of the people around here that do the same thing…
while i disagree with a lot of what i am hearing re: her management - it isnt different than most of the horses around here…
no horses are out all day with hay in front of them, many are out in rain sheet during the day, many live in dry lots, many dont have shelters…
why even talk about this stuff when it is normal for so many horses?
why not focus on the stuff that is really a problem and out of the ordinary?
as i was driving to the barn today i could of taken several pics of places that i suppose would of horrified most of you![/QUOTE]
I think the point that most people are trying to make is that this should NOT be the norm - in California or otherwise - and is, sadly, quite often the case up here in Alberta and that truly blows my mind considering the extreme violence of some of our winter storms. It should NOT be the norm that any horse has no available shelter to get away from inclement weather, bugs and heat. It’s one thing if a horse chooses to walk away from its shelter or shade tree to stand in the blazing sun, quite another when there is no option and the horse has to make do. Foals especially can become quite overheated rather rapidly, or excessively chilled even in warm rain.
I have no dog in this fight, have never done business with her, have never seen her place and have no bone to contend with her. I just hope things can be settled and that all the horses land gently. I also hope that Jill can also eventually get some peace in her life as everyone deserves some of that. She’s in a bitter place right now, one I hope to never find myself, and if one puts themselves in her place one realizes rather quickly that the most bitter of all pills to swallow is having to find homes for the majority of your horses sooner rather than later, and the sinking realization that if and when you recover from this horrid dark place that you will have rebuild it all from scratch again. Some people can recover and rebuild. Some never recover from it. Us humans manage to put ourselves in rather precarious predicaments on a regular basis. I just feel quite sad (for the horses), because in a lot of cases the horses pay the ultimate price for human shortcomings.
[QUOTE=Tapperjockey;6240431]
Maybe she didn’t. X was looking for Y. Y was seen on FB by Z. Z knew X was looking for Y and let Y know that. There is nothing wrong with that.[/QUOTE]
Then why not send her a FB message instead of posting such a situation on her public wall? Why? Its called negative public exploiting and it says a lot negative things about the person who did it.
[QUOTE=Tobias01;6240441]
Then why not send her a FB message instead of posting such a situation on her public wall? Why? Its called negative public exploiting and it says a lot negative things about the person who did it.[/QUOTE]
What was negative? "“Jill, you need to contact John French right away.” is not negative at all. It is saying that someone is looking for you. Perhaps it’s so John can wish her a happy birthday for all anyone knows from that sentence. . And depending on the account and privacy settings and type of FB accounts… you can’t do that. Many business pages and group pages, you post on the wall or can’t contact them at all because FB doesn’t do messaging for them… If you can find the manager/etc… then you may be able to message them if they have the account set to receive messages and/or are on your friends list already.
