Wait, so this is some sort of scam? OMG!!! My BF’s momgot a call about my BF doing sorta the same thing!!! Not sure why they called her because he’s 35 yrs old and has been living on his own for a long long long time but needless to say it freaked her out! A little local reasearch found that it wasn’t true but now I’m gonna have to look on the internet for more info–these people are CRAZY!
Ooh, fun with 419 scammers! One of my favorite pasttimes!
I must be a BNT, too, cuz I just got one of these letters abour three weeks ago. “Terry Smith’s” beloved 18 year old daughter needed riding lessons while on holiday from school. (Funny – school is just STARTING in most places about now…) “Terry” tells me her daughter is an “armature” rider. Wants to know my rates for lessons, what clothes she will need, and so forth. I quote a ridiculous fee, tell her clothing is HER problem. In the next emails, the daughter now is 12 years old and has NO experience with horses, but rides a bicycle well and needs bicycle lessons to improve. Hoo Boy!
I strung this idiot along as long as I could – the bicycle lessons and a youthening student finally pushed me over the edge to insults that abruptly ended the correspondence. Next time maybe I’ll play along for the Cashier’s check and string them along to the local cops…
Please paste any of your correspondence with Mr Owen, oh BNT…I need a few laughs!
Yes, yes! Please keep us posted on Mr. “I need to support my son morally” Owen!! :winkgrin:
Ok, here is my reply to him:
Dear Mr. Owen, I am pleased to receive your inquiry. What a small world, I have another aquaintance from Brugge in Belgium also. He is named Dr. Eah Vuille who attended 6 years of medical school in Brugge. One of my British riders, Nigel Powers brings his son Austin for lessons and they brought Dr. Vuille out to the facility yesterday. I asked him if he knew you, he did not but he does know a couple of Owens in Brugge, a Mr. Alwas Owen and a Ms. Ibbe Owen-Monet. Are either of these any relation to you?
You have asked for quite a bit of information. My apologies in advance if this reply is long, however I do want to provide you as much information on our program as I can, since your son would be traveling a great distance to be tutored at my facility, and as a recognized International Riding Academy (IRA), my services do not come cheaply.
I would be happy to instruct your son so that he may become a very good horse rider. I take great pride in the quality horse riders tutored at the Tammy Tatonga International Horse Riding Academy (TTIHRA). We tutor riders in American Cowboy Trick Riding (ACTR). I am founder and I also teach the Bodacious graduate students at the academy.
I am proud to announce that some of our graduates are professional riders with the Dixie Stampede and have performed on television at the closing ceremony at the Nagano Olympics. Unfortunately we are not an Olympic sport yet, but we should be by 2016, Dr. Eah Vuille is diligently working on having our sport recognized, that is why he was visiting my facility yesterday as I was providing him with competition footage of my riders to present to they Olympic committee. This is a very exciting time for me!
As a recognized IRA, we do provide the horses for the instruction, however Paul will have to provide his own trick riding saddle. Here is a link to our recommended supplier for all of our equipment: http://www.westernstageprops.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WSP&Category_Code=TRS
We require the white saddles as they are indicative of the purity of the spirit which points to our honesty, integrity and morality. It also looks nice and the judges favor “white saddle” riders in competition. The riders in dark saddles are thought of as inferior.
Let me tell you a little bit about our program.
As Paul would be a beginner student, he is not allowed to wear the official Cowboy dress yet. He would be required to dress as an Indian. Cowboys and Indians is very popular with American youth and we utilize this to designate the more experienced students from the less experienced students. He is allowed to wear riding tights under his loincloth, however this is his option and is recommended as our climate in Florida can become quite chilly in the upcoming months.
Our Indian level students go through several clinics with the famed instructor GaWaNi Ponyboy and will earn their level 1, 2 and 3 feathers through these quarterly clinics. After achieving their level 3 feather, they are allowed to test for their Cowboy status in their 4th quarter (they are also eligible to compete at this point).
This is a rigorous test consisting of physical demonstrations of the Parelli games with horses, an oral dissertation titled “Why American Cowboy Trick Riding Should be an Olympic Sport,” a written test on various basic and intermediate ACTR positions and how the Indian level versions evolved through the sport to the ACTR level. For extra credit they have the option of constructing a diorama depicting the American Indian from the American Civil War (ACW) era.
To graduate to Cowboy level, riders must pass all testing with a 92.75% or greater score. Scores of 83.5 to 92.74% must repeat the Indian level. They will not lose their feathers, but will earn additional feathers with each quarterly clinic. They are eligible to re-test each quarter. Riders who score 83.4 or less are demoted from the Indian status to Redneck status. They are still eligible to compete in the Redneck division and the Open division at competitions.
At the Cowboy level, their quarterly clinics are instructed by the famed Australian trainer Clinton Anderson. For each clinic attended, they earn a silver concho to affix to their saddle. Riders with much silver on their saddle are obviously the most highly schooled and the judges at competitions favor these riders greatly.
I, Tammy Tatonga cannot stress how seriously we take our sport. Carl, may I call you Carl? You may call my TaTa, which is the nickname one of my early students gave me when I opened TTIHRA. This student is now in the Trainer In Training (TIT) program at this very academy, this is quite an honor and she will soon become a graduate. She already has offers from the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show in Las Vegas . Her name is Annie Oakley, you will be hearing a lot about her and I suspect that she will be the first American to represent ACTR in the Olympic venue.
I can direct you to the websites of our greatly esteemed clinicians. This may benefit young Paul as he will be able to familiarize himself with their methods and then determine if this program is something he will be interested in.
GaWaNi Ponyboy
http://www.ponyboy.com/
Clinton Anderson
http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com
Feel free to ask any of my esteemed clinicians questions about the program and the clinics they conduct. They know me as Bodacious TaTa (I do not let me students call me that as it is not respectful for a student to refer to a tutor as Bodacious). Just drop them an email through their websites and tell them that you represent Bodacious TaTa in your inquiry.
As you can see, we are very level oriented in our program and our students are very successful and our best TITs have found very lucrative careers, especially in the Las Vegas area.
I sincerely hope that the quality and integrity of our program appeals to you. I am hoping you were able to view our spacious facility on our website prior to yesterday. Dr. Eah Vuille requested that I include some information and a petition for the Olympic committee, so our web designer currently is re-working the site. I am sincerely apologetic that it is not up right now.
In the interim, I can send you some brochures that we hand out at competitions, airports and political rallies. Please kindly advise of your address and I will mail them out as soon as I return from traveling. I will be on a lecture cuircuit for the next week and I depart this evening for Iceland , then it is on to Ireland , Italy , Iran , Israel , Istanbul , Ishtar , Indonesia , and Guatemala . It is a busy schedule, but will have my laptop computer with me so we will be able to correspond.
The fees are $2,799.99 US per quarter and we recommend that you pay for no more than 4 quarters at a time. The fees do not include housing, housing is the responsibility of the student. If you pay for the 4 quarters now, we will include a free GaWaNi Indian Loincloth, a Parelli giftpack and also a Racing Stripes DVD movie.
The program is costly, however I am certain that you will agree that this price is a bargain for all that is offered. The preferred method of payment is PayPal, but if this is not an option, you may send payment with a printed copy of this email, this way my business manager is aware of the pricing we agree upon. Payment may not be personal check and should be in the form of a Bank Check/Cashier’s Check as we do not want to receive unsecured funds for these amounts.
Please send the copy of this email and the payment to:
[INDENT]Bodacious TaTa[/INDENT]
[INDENT]c/o Tammy Tatonga International Horse Riding Academy[/INDENT]
[INDENT]5525 West Gray Street[/INDENT]
[INDENT]Tampa, FL 33609[/INDENT]
If you are in town this week, (sorry, I will still be on my lecture tour), you may bring the printed copy of this email and the payment to the business office directly. Just tell the front desk that you are there on behalf of Bodacious TaTa and have the secured funds for TaTa tuition. Also, please remember to have the desk clerk validate your parking stub!
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional questions you may have.
Regards,
Tammy “TaTa” Tatonga
Founder Tammy Tatonga International Horse Riding Academy (est. 1999)
Reg# FL594.1999 by Florida Dept.of Bodaciousness Certification
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I’m gonna laugh my ass off if you get a reply and a nice big fat payment that clears. :lol:
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:lol::lol::lol: that just made my day, “TaTa”! That was hilarious! I can’t wait to see how he responds. Please keep us updated :lol::lol::lol:
Alas, I will never know if I get a check, but the Tampa division of the FBI at 5525 W Gray Street will. :yes:
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"Tammy Tatonga International Horse Riding Academy (TTIHRA). "
:lol::lol::lol::lol:
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Where is the standing ovation emoticon when you need one?!
That was absolutely brilliant!!! :D:D:D
Not to mention totally hilarious! :lol::lol::lol:
May I call you Bodacious, or would that be too forward? 
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That was hilarious, Miss TaTa!
I have been silently wheezing laughter for the past several minutes, as I kept rereading and laughing over ever sentence in your reply.
Priceless.
If I don’t stop laughing soon, my students will guess I am not working on my grant like I say I am.
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That was FABULOUS! !
You are brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
TIT program?
Oh. My. God.
I think I just peed my pants a little. :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol::lol::lol: PRICELESS:lol::lol::lol:
you are a genius!!!
I can’t WAIT to see if you get a reply.
LMAO
If you get me fired I am blaming it on you!!! :D:D
That has got to be one of the funniest things I have read, and was trying to laugh under my breath here at work (I wasn’t able to accomplish this) :eek:
Seriously if you get a response (which I seriously doubt) you have got to let us know!!!
Oh, Oh, I wanna be a TIT! Where do I sign up? Hilarious, absolutely hilarious!
I had so much fun writing it. I seriously doubt I will get a reply, but if I do you KNOW I will post it here.
Those that read the Stick art thread will get the Indian feather joke and also the tatonga reference.
Sigh, gotta go. I have some Level 1 Indians waiting for me.
