My horrible experiences with Texas horse trainer/instructor Ellen Doughty-Hume

[stormy17]

Dr. Beckett…I’m not sure if the correct term is IM or IV but he was going to put a needle in his leg (and leave it taped there) so meds could be put directly into the affected area. The same thing was done to another horse I’ve seen with cellulitis (NOT at EDH’s place) Luckily this wasn’t necessary and Buzz quickly improved.

And once again, “Mickey” Fella began to colic in the AM. Ellen was told by 4 separate people that he was ill…including my farrier who noticed his colicky behavior in the field as he drove in. A vet was not called until the late afternoon and that was done AGAINST Ellen’s wishes by said working students (I was still not notified AT ALL). The vet has record of what time she was called. Wanna see it? Ellen never offered to take Fella to the hospital…even after the initial vet recommended it. Wanna know how I even spoke to that initial vet? When the working student decided to defy Ellen’s orders and call me, she told me a vet had seen him. She gave me the vet’s phone number since it was someone I’d never personally used before. The vet was horrified that I didn’t know what was happening and told me it had been her recommendation hours before that Fella go to the hospital. She’d even called Lone Star to see if they had room for him. This was around 5pm. Yes, it was my friend who ended up driving him after I called her in a panic to go see what was happening because Ellen (who still hadn’t called me) wouldn’t answer the phone. My friend who DID drive Fella to the hospital did so that night around 9pm…this means Fella was very sick for over 12 hours (so sick that he was in surgery less than an hour after arriving at the clinic). And BTW because so many hours had passed since the first vet had called Lone Star, they no longer had room for him. He had to continue another hour in the trailer all the way to ESMS in Weatherford.
And I don’t think saying he was thrashing in the stall is being “dramatic” since he had scrapes all over his head and had pulled out an IV of fluids the first vet had put in. He even went down TWICE in the parking lot trying to get him loaded.

And I didn’t “follow” EDH to two barns. I started boarding at a barn she was the trainer at. When she was kicked out, I followed. When she was KICKED OUT, I followed her again. This is my biggest mistake and one that I have already said I have to live with for the rest of my life. I (like you, Mickey) foolishly believed the lies Ellen told me and that there couldn’t possibly be a way to ride at her level if she wasn’t a good horsewoman. You weren’t a boarder or present for any of the incidents mentioned so you should just stop making yourself look foolish. I know you are very young but you should stop blindly believing your idol Ellen and open your eyes. Look at all the evidence. Even if every single thing I’ve posted is a complete and utter lie, explain all the other stories posted here and in the comments of my FB post that have zero to do with any of my incidents. Are you really going to tell me that Ellen is magically the most hated woman in Area 5 because all these people are “haters” and just “want to drag her name through the mud” for no reason? She has been in Texas far longer than I have and is a famous rider. Why would anyone take my side over hers?….unless they know I am telling the truth? I haven’t even met most of the people that have posted or reached out to me with their own stories.I have nothing to gain from this except wasting a bunch of effort and my time. Suing Ellen for money is pointless because she doesn’t have any. I only came forward to keep others, especially those new to horses or the area, from also falling victim to her….like myself and so many others before me. I laid awake at night for MONTHS before finally deciding to tell my story. Finally my conscience wouldn’t let me NOT speak up. I’ve seen her bully, manipulate, lie, abuse, and steal from so many people that I had to say something or I’d be no better than her. Even her own best friends like to joke “you know Ellen…rules don’t apply to her” (I have screenshots of this as well)
PS…I’d like to tell you stop posting but each of your posts only helps me prove my point, like that Ellen loves to pretend to practice veterinary medicine without a license.

[WasthatC]

As a slight aside and because I can’t edit my previous post…it is good practice (and your vet will appreciate it!) to call the vet in before the end of the day if you’ve been monitoring a sick horse all day.

Let’s say it is noticed early in the day that a horse is having issues. You think you can manage it and hours go by. You realize it’s 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon and if your horse isn’t better then call your vet! Have them out when maybe it is still light out. Why wait until it’s after hours and your vet has tried to go home to her own life?

No vet wants to be called out in the middle of dinner or worse, at 9:00 or later and have you tell them you knew the horse was struggling at noon but never called. Also, don’t put yourself in the position of it being later and later and you’re tired, possibly didn’t eat yourself and now you’re in the barn in the dark and you can’t go home because your horse is sick, colicky, etc.

Caring for horses is hard work but it’s rarely rocket science.
(This particular post is NOT about a horse that is in so much colic pain it is down or thrashing or dropping on its way to the trailer)

[flaxenfilly23]

Ok, let’s clarify a few matters here. First, although I dont know exactly who you are, I can say for certainty you were not there the night Fella colicked. There were 4 of us at the barn by the time I got there, 2 working students, my boyfriend and I.

BOTH working students will corroborate the OP’s version of events. One of them has already done so on this thread. Also, as Jealoushe pointed out, it is my personal opinion that anytime you have a seriously colicking horse, the trainer should be there to oversee his care. Having lessons in the morning is probably the most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard for not doing so. I know you are trying to defend your friend and trainer, but you are doing an amazing job of making her look even worse.

I live an hour from Ellen’s barn. Fella was in serious trouble already by the time Stormy called me to go look at him (since Ellen could not be reached). So please, tell me why, if Ellen was so willing to take care of him herself (and was up to date on his condition), he wasn’t already gone to the hospital by the time I got there? Believe me, I would have LOVED for Ellen to take him!!! As it was, I got a call at 9 at night to rush an hour away to look at a sick pony, then rushed him another hour and 45 minutes (standing in the trailer with him) to the hospital. They took him directly into surgery and my boyfriend and I stayed with him until they were done with him at 4:30 in the morning. THEN I had to make the drive back and had my boyfriend drop me off at work since I didn’t even have time to go home and change. So yes, I would have loved if Ellen had been responsible enough to take him herself instead of going home and going to sleep. But thank you for pointing out that I am, in fact, a responsible horse owner and breeder. Maybe Ellen could take a couple notes from my book.

[WasthatC]

Flaxenfilly if your response is to my post about not waiting to call the vet, well my post wasn’t about you or the OP. It seems the trainer and her staff knew all day long that pony was sick. If the trainer decided to go home and leave the pony to WS’s well that was her bad decision. But it was also her bad decision to let the colic go on all day without sufficient vet care.

[pictureonemore]

That friend and OP state that EDH should have stayed with him overnight. That is what working students are for. EDH has lessons to teach and horses to ride, she is an ULR trying to run a business; she can’t stay up all night every time a horse colics. She left a Ws in charge that worked at the vet clinic and was told to notify her and owner or vet if anything changed, which she did. EDH would have happily trailered him to the emergency clinic, but Stormys friend wanted to (she was also the breeder of said pony).

EH…WRONG ANSWER.

Abso-bloody-lutely that is the WRONG answer. Just because someone is a “busy” ULR, does not negate the fact that they are, in fact, directly responsible for the horses in their care. She does run that barn, correct? She is ultimately in charge, correct? If you answered yes, then she she should have been the one to be with Fella watching his condition closely and staying with him through the night. That is how real professionals operate. Stop giving excuses. She’s not the Queen of England.

As for what has been said by you and other contributors, you are only helping Stormy17. You are either believing everything you hear from EDH at face value and believing it to be the gospel, or you fail to even take notice that there are common themes in each post someone makes about their experiences with this “trainer”. Did you read the post about the single bullet left on the kitchen counter when she left that one farm? I haven’t been able to shake that little detail since I read it, and it speaks volumes about EDH. You might be too young to realize that, but it’s huge…and quite frankly, terrifying beyond belief.

I only bring up that each of these posts filled with holes and lies from her supporters really are enabling Stormy17 to prove each one false and strengthening her argument. For example, EDH’s husband commented on Stormy’s Facebook post the other night stating that Stormy “failed to mention that Galli received free board” while stating it was due to the reasons why Stormy obtained said horse. The funny thing is, Stormy then posted screenshots of her board bills showing that she was charged $600/mo for board for Galli PLUS an alfalfa surcharge. I don’t know about anyone else, but that ain’t free.

With that being said, it makes me wonder if even EDH’s husband isn’t totally clued in to what really happened. That is quite the bold claim to make, so it really does make me question if she’s even been completely truthful with him, or if he’s really going to just take one for the team. If it’s the former and not the latter, how can her “supporters” expect that she will be honest with them? IF you can’t be 100% honest with your own spouse about things like this, why on earth would anyone else expect transparency and honesty from her?

[flaxenfilly23]

No, I’m sorry if it came off that way. My post was meant as a direct reply to Mickey

[Whitewindhorse]

Anyone who knowingly (is intelligent and experienced not ignorant) and recognizes abuses like this to animals and people and either remains quiet or looks the other way or who has the power but chooses to do nothing is no better than the abuser and sadly it happens more than it should in the horse world of today

[Sparrowette]

IMO, this thread serves to illustrate, in a very real way, that a person’s ability to “sit and stick” at upper level riding, has no bearing at all on whether the rider in question possesses the other skills and aspects of personality necessary to operate a well-run barn which exhibits concern for the animal’s welfare.

To “sit and stick” a ride, and to care (about the horses and owners), are two very different things.

[heronponie]

[QUOTE=mickey2000;9011378]
Correct WasthatC. A vet WAS called.
The pony colicking; showed up very mild, horse was laying down in pasture longer than normal, brought in to be watched, given banamine. Horse was munching alfalfa hay and appeared to be fairly normal for several hours. In the afternoon, colic signs started to show again and pony looked worse[/QUOTE]

Wait, so a colicking horse was given alfalfa and left in a stall? I’m not a vet myself, but have assisted vets w/ many a colic. I have never, ever heard a vet recommend that. The typical response is to walk the horse and withhold food.

If your story here is true, sounds like EDH + staff turned a mild colic into an emergency/surgical one through really poor management. Why would you try to use that as a defense…?

[flaxenfilly23]

As an aside, several years ago I had an almost identical scenario play out with a mare of mine. She was in full training with a western pleasure trainer and started showing signs of colic early in the day. However, and here is the big difference, the trainer CALLED ME IMMEDIATELY. I got a vet out right away and he gave her some banamine and administered oil through a nose tube. She seemed to improve throughout the afternoon, but took a turn for the worse later that night. We got the vet back out right away and started her on fluids. Both the trainer and the vet stayed with my mare and I the entire night. I remember it vividly because we played Gin outside of her stall all night. We also took turns warming the mares ears up because they were so cold due to all of the fluids. BTW, the trainer had a show the next day, so forgive my lack of understandings about Ellen not being present.

The mare didn’t get any worse throughout the night but was also not better so we took her to an equine hospital and she had surgery for an impaction colic. She did not make it. I do not blame anyone for her passing. Not in the slightest. I of all people understand accidents and terrible things happen with horses. It is the way these tragedies are dealt with that makes all of the difference in the world to the owners. Not alerting an owner when their horse is colicking is not the right way. Not being there when said horse is down and thrashing is not the right way. Posting a picture of hail with the caption “life is good” after one horse had a vertebrae fractured and another horse broke his patella in said storm is not the right way…

[stormy17]

The “munching alfalfa” and appeared normal is also proof of the level of Mickey’s lies. Fella is probably the only horse on earth that despises alfalfa. He won’t take a single bite, which was a source of frustration at the vet hospital. So to say that he was happily munching it, is not even in the realm of possibilities. Proof of his alfalfa aversion can even be found several pages back in Ainsley’s (Ellen’s current BM) post about how she had to make a to trip to get Fella’s special hay after his surgery because he refuses to eat alfalfa and wasn’t allowed to have coastal (vet orders)

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=Sparrowette;9011524]
IMO, this thread serves to illustrate, in a very real way, that a person’s ability to “sit and stick” at upper level riding, has no bearing at all on whether the rider in question possesses the other skills and aspects of personality necessary to operate a well-run barn which exhibits concern for the animal’s welfare.

To “sit and stick” a ride, and to care (about the horses and owners), are two very different things.[/QUOTE]

I think this is a very good point.

When I looked at the photos on that great save competition all I could think was how sad it is that someone with such natural ability to stick with the horse could have so little actual horse sense.

[WasthatC]

I know of a trainer (not EDH) that built her business on starting & selling young horses. She has one client that appears to bank roll the entire operation. The trainer has a very small but cult following of teenage riders that lease the horses that are for sale & take lessons with the trainer.
This trainer is hands down the worst instructor I’ve ever witnessed and the horses in her care are quite often frantic. I could write pages of direct quotes I’ve heard from this woman’s mouth. She says abusive things to the teenaged girls that are in her lessons and their parents apparently don’t speak up. She lies about who owns the horses the girls are riding. Her entire operation is sketchy but one thing that is 100% true is that she appears to have Velcro on her ass. I’ve seen her sit a lot of crazy moves. Of course she caused the crazy but then she stays on it.
But one of the most telling things about the trainer’s blown up ego and the psychological impact she has on her clients is that she refuses to pick up their horses’ manure in the arena. Her clients will say “she can’t interrupt her teaching, she is too focused on her lesson.” This trainer makes her clients dismount and pick up their own manure in the middle of the lesson.
I have ridden numerous times w a rider/trainer that has been short-listed by USEF. He picked up manure every, single time my older, low-level horse manured. Yes, manure is small in the scheme of things, but it’s also telling.

Egomaniacs are scary. People who know better need to speak up.

[Wally]

[QUOTE=DrBeckett;9011368]
Stormy, I’m glad your horse is doing much better. I really hate to nitpick, but being a vet I have to say that one of your statements was probably just a misunderstanding of terminology. If the vet is going to use IV (intravenous) fluids, he’s not going to put them directly into the leg. He’s going to put it into a vein. It won’t get to the leg any faster if it goes into the leg. Blood is pumped VERY quickly through the body. It takes less than a minute for it to get to the leg. Maybe he was going to put something in the leg IM (intramuscularly), but not likely IV.[/QUOTE]

Yet another aside, I’m thinking that Stormy is referring to a regional limb perfusion for the cellulitis. So she would be correct is saying delivering whatever medication IV directly in the limb.

And if you know an owner is willing to pay for colic surgery, why not just drop the pony off at the vet clinic and then you don’t have to worry about said pony becoming uncomfortable in your barn. I really don’t understand the thinking (or lack thereof) in this situation, save yourself the worry and let it be medically managed up til surgery by veterinarians. If the horse is a surgical candidate there is not really a reason not to take it to the clinic, especially if you are unwilling to watch it.

I have no dog in this fight but I’m glad this thread was made. I have heard stories about EDH for years but it is all word of mouth, so if you don’t know who to ask, as someone new to the area would not, you wouldn’t know. This changes that.

[Laurierace]

[INDENT]Stormy, I’m glad your horse is doing much better. I really hate to nitpick, but being a vet I have to say that one of your statements was probably just a misunderstanding of terminology. If the vet is going to use IV (intravenous) fluids, he’s not going to put them directly into the leg. He’s going to put it into a vein. It won’t get to the leg any faster if it goes into the leg. Blood is pumped VERY quickly through the body. It takes less than a minute for it to get to the leg. Maybe he was going to put something in the leg IM (intramuscularly), but not likely IV.[/INDENT]

Being a vet you should know that regional limb perfusion is the proper treatment for cellulitis. It is IV into the leg.

[OverandOnward]

I am one of the many that are reading, but have not commented, yet. Too deep to step into, no dog in the fight. But this last has finally hit the switch. Maybe because of my experiences with my own horse when he was sick or lame.

quotes from mickey2000, post #434

The pony colicking; showed up very mild, horse was laying down in pasture longer than normal, brought in to be watched, given banamine. Horse was munching alfalfa hay and appeared to be fairly normal for several hours.

Why on earth would a horse that might be in some stage of colic be allowed to “munch on” anything ???

That statement alone makes my hair stand on end. It might help explain why the horse ended up in surgery in less than 24 hours.

That friend and OP state that EDH should have stayed with him overnight. That is what working students are for. EDH has lessons to teach and horses to ride, she is an ULR trying to run a business; she can’t stay up all night every time a horse colics.

I agree that a trainer is not for staying up overnight with a horse showing ongoing colic symptoms.

But that’s not what working students are for, either. Rather, a working student, qualified to drive the trailer, is for taking the horse to a clinic with a 24-hour service that treats and monitors ongoing colic symptoms. Especially if the horse needs overnight monitoring and treatment. To a place such as ESMS, where the horse eventually ended up. While the trainer carries on with her business.

So the pony ate and seemed normal … but then needed WS’s to stay with him overnight ??? Any horse with colic symptoms that are getting worse, as was happening by mickey’s own account, or that has not fully cleared the colic symptoms within a few hours, needs to be at the clinic. The sooner the horse is in the clinic, the less likely there will need to be a surgery. This is pretty basic stuff for any higher-end barn.

==========

Even the defenders are repeating that this barn, in multiple instances, attempts to treat horses that need to be treated by a vet. And, that this barn is NOT adequate to act as a veterinary clinic, precisely because things sometimes get worse. And, it is a distraction to the trainer’s real business.

I find this to be one of the oddest and most alarming parts of this entire tale. And, the very strangest part is that those trying to put up a defense are reiterating that this is the case. And thereby seriously undermining the very person they claim to be defending.

How does that make any sense? Well, if these defenders were educated by someone who manages horses in this way, then the defenders would not see the problems that are raising red flags with so many readers. They would see things as the person who taught them sees them. The defenders would think these are reasonable explanations, when in fact the defenders are burying the credibility of the person they are trying to defend. That’s all I can figure as an explanation.

A canny barn manager wants to toss such things to the vet, not only to give the horse the most qualified care, but also to avoid being blamed if things don’t go well.

I could have bought into some rationalizations and re-interpretations for some of the very regrettable things that happened to Stormy’s horses. Perhaps some incidents were extremely unfortunate, perhaps mistakes were made, but not truly egregious mismanagement. But this veterinary stuff is hair-raising … and by the defenders’ own accounts. Eek.

[babecakes]

In an odd twisted way I almost feel like ‘appreciating’ some of the defensive posters because they are painting so much of a clearer picture :lol:

[jumpsnake]

Agree totally with what others have said re:vet care done by non-vets.

This is clearly an owner with financial resources to take care of her horses. What on earth is the harm in just calling sooner rather then later? Or as mentioned, just take pony to vet and let them deal with colic? To me that is now becoming cray-cray land.

[Jealoushe]

Exactly OandO. A 4* barn should not be determining what vet care they can give or not in the case of severe vet care needed…like colic and cellulitis. Is it common to have that many issues in a barn in one or two years? Do they not have a contract regarding vet care - I know when I boarded I had signed saying I was fine with the BM spending up to $5000 on my behalf if I was unreachable.

I worked at a riding stable with 54 horses. We only had one colic, and on bad laceration in the two years I worked there. As a working student, I never had a horse colic, nor did we when I worked in the UK and Ireland. for two years. I have never had my own horses colic either. It seems like there is always some medical emergency at this farm.

[DrBeckett]

Dr Laurieace, IV antibiotics is not the first go-to treatment for cellulitis to all veterinarians. Most start with oral antibiotics, wrapping the leg, DMSO, cold water hosing. Then they start with intravenous antibiotics, with the catheter either in the jugular or in the leg. At least that’s my experience as a veterinarian. Yours may be different.