Or the lack of drugs causing them.
The OP now has enough opinions to decide what makes the most sense in her situation.
Hope they can find some more answers and maybe get the mare back to her old form and showing well.
Not getting any feedback from the seller would make this situation maybe worthy of following further with an attorney consultation.
There may be enough to go back to the sellers for fraud, depending on what guarantees were implicit in the sale?
An attorney would have to determine that.
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Offhand, hate this kind of thing but…IME Reserpine works for many weeks or months but consistently, not on and off. Where did OP send the hair test and what drugs were identified? Did the mare have any vet procedures within the timeframe of the hair sample?
Its pretty common for new horses to sort of have the wheels come off after a few weeks in a new situation, especially when they come out of a serious and rigid professional barn routine into a more casual situation. Even slimy, shady sellers don’t usually load up sale horses knowing there will be a PPE, apparently friend did not pull blood but seller would have no way of knowing she wouldn’t run blood for the common drugs, most of which are short acting and would have worn off in tne first few days.
The fact she was good at the show for the first part of the day but then blew and seller claimed Futurity background could point to brain fried from being pushed to hard in order to meet a Futurity training schedule. Certainly would not be the only mentally burned out ex Futurity horse out there that has erratic behavior at shows or when schooled seriously on show skills. Horses that need specialized rehab type training and no pressure to recover from past experiences.
Too late now but did friend research the claims of a stunning show record? That’s avaiable thru AQHA and free to members, should go back a few years, long enough to see if she really was a big winner or just did a lot of shows…maybe too many too young.
The other thing that pops into my head right off after reading all this is if friend is “only” into this 25k with all the associated purchase expenses and vet work? That would be below market for a still young QH mare with the extensive AQHA show resume claimed. Or maybe it wasn’t claimed but what friend thought they heard or wanted to hear? Showing in is not the same as winning in. Math doesn’t work so well here between stated achievements on this thread and sale price. Something else going on, maybe drugs or unsoundness or maybe just fluff marketing and a burned out mare known to be temperamental?
Is there anybody who is familiar with the mare who knows her well enough and has seen her show often enough to be of help? And did an Ammy show her or was she mostly Pro ridden? Can you get her show record and see? It could be a huge clue. NRHA can’t help with drugging outside of their competitions but they can get you a copy of the mares’ competition records for a very reasonable fee or a member friend can pull it for you. It could tell you everything you need to know along with the AQHA record.
Yeah, maybe it’s sleazy seller and drugs, that would be easy to blame. Generally there’s more to these things that are not as easy for an average owner to identify and remedy. Some horses are just complicated that way and often it’s no secret to those familiar with the horse so they tend to be priced below market.
Doesnt sound like it’s the right horse for her regardless.
And that’s not personal. Anybody who says they never bought the wrong horse or dealt with people they didn’t research and should never have trusted just hasn’t bought very many horses. It happens. Mistake is to dig in and look for excuses instead of admitting it was a mistake.
You can also get detailed show records from the NRHA records on any horse or rider.
Hmm, I had missed the posts by the OP about other details, the price one of those?
Was that a 3 year old filly that was shown in the small futurities and then in the big one?
If so, those earnings are considerable and she should have been priced higher, maybe?
Of course, no one considers a three year old a finished horse.
They still need careful management and guidance.
You can’t just leg them up daily and go show.
It takes consistent, good training for a while longer to have a dependable show horse.
Interesting if she was a pro ride all along, or an amateur showing her?
Still more questions than answers.
A sad situation, definitely.
