I am here to set the record 100% straight. My friend Jessica and I owned the horse in the video. She is pregnant and after many complications from a car accident, she was classified as high risk. I work 60-80 hours a week and dont have the time to ride my own horse more than a few times per week. We had Loki for several months, and he was great. Jumped anything that you pointed him at, fantastic ground manners, took him team penning a bunch of times just for fun, gave pony rides to kids, etc. He was in NO WAY dangerous. Ultimately the decision to sell Loki due to lack of time came up. He was advertised as a horse that needed an intermediate rider with a trainer since he is only 6 years old, and needs to be in a program. He never did anything malicious, but if he sat for weeks at a time, he had the potential to buck if you got right on without lunging. This was no way advertised as a beginner safe horse. Jess found a great situation with a local barn that was interested in doing a free lease for a few months to see if he would work in their lesson program. The farm is reputable and we knew one of the trainers there, so we had no worries about his care. Worse case scenario, in a few months if he didnt work out, we would get him back, and at that point she would have had the baby or I would have more time to ride. He was free leased to this local stable where he began being a lesson horse for bigger more intermediate kids. One girl and her mom fell in love with him, and asked if they could purchase him. They gave us a sob story about how they couldn’t afford to pay for him outright due to it being X-mas time (last year), so we allowed them to do payments. The little girl seemed to love him, they got along great, we thought the situation was ideal. Fast forward to spring time (March and early April), they are showing together and doing really well. We have pictures of them with first place ribbons, and several messages telling us how much they love him, etc. Last week in April rolls around, and they message Jess basically telling her that they need to move him to a different farm to be boarded. Up to this point they were following all the stipulations in the contract that we had, so we agreed that it would be ok for them to move him. So now they move the horse to Madison’s farm. We begin getting texts daily from the woman that was buying him, Madison, and Matt (Madison’s BF), telling us how dangerous the horse is, and that they would buy him from us for no more than $500, or we could take him back. The woman that was leasing to purchase him still owed over $2000. At that point in time, Jess was dealing with health issues due to the pregnancy, and I had just started a new job and really had no time. There was no way we could take him back. After all, he was doing great a week prior and we had a contract. Now we are in the first week of May, and the phone calls and texts to buy the horse at a lesser price are still happening and he is still dangerous and blah blah blah. I login to facebook and see a picture of another one of Madison’s students jumping the horse 3’6", with the caption being something to the effect of “my new horse, cant wait for show season”, not to mention that they changed his name at this point. I found this troubling and had a pit in my stomach. The monthly payment for the horse was due on the first of every month. In the contract we allowed for a a 5 day grace period. On the 6th of May, after still not receiving payment, Jess and I sat down and discussed our options. This local “trainer” that ran the barn where the horse was boarded doesnt have the best reputation and we feared that A) they sold the horse out from under us, or B) the horse is going to go missing. After a long discussion, we decided that it would be best for us to repossess the horse, and try to resell him to someone else. On the 7th of May, I left work early, picked up my trailer and Jess and she notified Madison and the woman that was making the payments on the horse (who had not responded to any form of communication for several days prior) that we were on our way to pick him up due to failure to make payment. They flat out told us “NO”.I immediately called the police, and they escorted us to the property with the lease to purchase contract in hand that gave us the right to repossess the horse at any point after the 5 day grace period if payment had not been met. Two hours of negotiations went on in order to get the horse. Finally, they walked him out to the road where the trailer was parked, and we loaded him on. We got him back to the farm where Jess keeps her other horse (the owner is long time friend and a trainer). We looked him over, and other than being head shy and his feet being long, he seemed ok. He was definitely happy to be home and settled in. I gave him the following day off to continue to settle. The next day, I tacked him up, put a plain full cheek snaffle in his mouth (he has a very soft mouth), and got right on. I figured at this point, lets see if he does anything dangerous this way we can figure out whats bothering him and how to correct it. I got on and began flatting. He did absolutely NOTHING wrong other than riding with his head a little higher than normal, almost waiting for me to yank on his face. He has never been a horse that needed a crop or spurs, he moves willingly off of his riders leg. After about 10 minutes of him realizing that I wasnt going to pull his face off, he went back to his natural frame. I jumped him in the indoor, outside, and on the small cross country course. NO PROBLEMS. NO BUCK> NO REAR. NO SUCKING BACK. NOTHING. Here is a video from that day:
https://www.facebook.com/samantha.dealmeida/videos/10155534721200344/
Fast forward a few weeks. I continue to ride the horse whenever I have time. He is great. At this point, I wanted to keep him for myself, but was forced to realize with my job, that just wasnt an option and it wasnt fair to my other horse. I began advertising him on facebook. I had tons of people interested. He’s a nice little horse, and is talented, so I thought he should be an easy sell. People would comment on his post and then message me, I would send them all of his info and videos, etc. We still advertised him in the same way. Needs and intermediate rider with a trainer in a program. Well after several people didnt show up for appointments to see him, I thought that was strange. Mistakingly, the 14 year old girl and her mother, had accidentally messaged me, thinking that I was someone that was interested in the horse. It all made sense at that point. They were messaging anyone that would comment on his sale ad, telling them how dangerous he was, etc. Thats why these people weren’t showing up to see him. Mind you, we still dont know about the video. We end up going to court with the woman and her daughter in an effort to recoup damages from them defaulting on the contract and that they were still liable for payment of the horse. We did recoup some money. August, we find a buyer for him. Its a perfect situation. He would be a lesson horse, the kids really know how to ride, the trainer is exceptional, etc. They want to do a pre-purchase exam. The vet comes back finding a trauma to his right eye. He never had any eye issues or injuries with us, so we were clueless. Needless to say, we compensated the price. Two weeks ago, I happen to be speaking with a woman that was originally interested in purchasing the horse. We were discussing boarding locations in the area, and small talk, etc. She then tells me, “Sam, I should have trusted you, and known that Loki was a good horse and not believed the video”…at that point I am confused. What video? I ask to see the video, so she sends it to me. I am beyond HORRIFIED. This video was taken by one of the 3 people in the middle of the ring with the “trainer”, that are screaming at the horse. The video was sent out by them to our potential buyers in an effort to botch our sale every time. Just to be COMPLETELY 100% CLEAR. JESS AND I DID NOT TAKE THIS VIDEO, NOR DID WE KNOW THIS KIND OF TREATMENT WAS GOING ON, OTHERWISE THE HORSE WOULD HAVE BEEN PICKED UP IMMEDIATELY NO MATTER WHAT. The video as we posted it, is the EXACT version that they sent around making it public. We have not edited the video creatively at all. After seeing the video, I immediately called the Department of Agriculture and filed a complaint and sent them the video. The SPCA was notified as well. Jess and I posted it on social media to simply make it more public than they had already done, as to what they did to our horse. People should know exactly what kind of people and “trainers” and riders they are. The rider in the video is a 20 year old girl, who is fully aware of right from wrong as she has been riding for quite some time, and could have said no at any point. This is not a child. This is also the same individual that we saw on facebook jumping the horse 3’6" as they are telling us how dangerous he is. The video HAS been guided through the correct channels, and an investigation by Animal Cruelty Enforcement Services in underway and looking promising as others have also come out against this trainer to testify on her “methods” and how she treats her personal animals as well as her sale horses, and her boarder’s horses. With that, I can say that Loki is doing exceptional is his new home and is very much loved and spoiled. He has had no issues and he is by no means dangerous. “Outing” this person was our right as they made the video public anyway when they sent it around.We are pursuing the matter legally, however we want other people to be aware and think twice.
