There is another public comment on the public post from the trainer. She recounts what happened during the first 48 hours of this whole situation.
” hind sight is 20/20! The horse flew in on a Tuesday, I have a text from Horseflight wed night telling me to get there earlier than I thought I could! Temecula to LAX can be a 2 to 3 hour drive with traffic! It took me just about 2 and a 1/2 to get there. When I arrived I told the student that went with me, oh crap we must be late, there are no other trailers here! Parked in the normal spot, walked I office to use restroom… walk out and apologize to the office lady that I’m so late! She said I wasn’t late they are not releasing any horses today…I’m sure my face looked bizarre as I was totally stumped! She said a horse tested suspect on blood work and none were allowed to leave. At this point David walked around the corner…and asked what I was doing there!? Not a single person told me! David then said they had a horse pop a suspect…he looked at the list and said one named Hireno something or other…at that point I almost fell over! I freaked and he said this happens sometimes. I asked why no one told me, he said that was Horseflights responsibility not Jet Pets. He then told me about protocol with testing on Thursday and if the horse isn’t cleared all 22 will stay for 15 days! I said what happens if he is really sick…he said he’s fine, it’s just a messed up CFt test. He said if it takes too long just send the horse back…I said my poor clients can’t afford the $5000 for 15 days let alone flying him back! David said you can always sign him over to us and I’ll send him back and have a friend sell him…I said but my clients would be out everything? He said yes but that’s better than spending more! At that point, not knowing what was about to take place, I took it a bit as a joke and got on the phone with Horseflight and the broker…and drove home for another 2 1/2 hours with an empty trailer!”
From other comments made by both the trainer and the client, they seem to believe that Jet Pets was attempting to engage in something entirely unethical with this proposal. That it was an attempt to unethically profit from this situation. I can see how someone could react to this scenario that way…
but I also see how this might be a practical attempt to resolve a situation that certainly got ugly quickly. From the trainer’s own public statements, she has indicated that within 48 hours of the horse arriving at Jet Pets, and having a CFT result of 3 according to one of her posts, she informed Jet Pets that the clients could neither afford 15 (at the very least) more days in quarantine, nor could they afford to ship the horse back. According to the trainer’s earlier post… the purchase price of this horse was $36,000. He apparently was a nice horse, but all the same… $36 000. So if the clients really did have 0 funds to work through the situation, and they took up David withJet Pets on his offer and signed the horse over right then and there… here is how it might have played out…
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The financial bleeding would have stopped for the clients. Immediately.
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The horse would have been put on the very first flight right back to the Netherlands. David would have paid that expense.
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HOPEFULLY… the horse cleared quarantine in Europe. David would be the one assuming that risk though. If it had… it would have been much easier on the horse and saved his life.
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After that, the horse would have been sent to “the friend” to be sold. David would be the one footing the bill for board, training and a sales commission to the European partner.
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Eventually… the horse would sell. As long as it vetted ok. And didn’t get sick or injured in the meantime. David would be the party assuming those risks though. David is a business person… likely he would have communicated to the European partner that the horse should be priced to sell. If it had been sold to the American buyers previously for $36,000 before this CFT issue was revealed (which means it’s no longer a good resale project for anyone wanting to flip it and offload it to someone else from North America who is shopping in Europe)… my guess is priced to sell quick back in the Netherlands after this headache is $20,000 to $25,000… at most. Quite possibly less.
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Once the cost of flying it back to Europe, going back through quarantine there, paying for board, training and commissions with a European partner, and whatever the applicable taxes are all come out of the equation… how much is David really profiting off this situation? Not a huge amount. Plus, there is a CONSIDERABLE risk for him involved in this situation. There’s always risk when buying and selling and shipping horses internationally like this. I’m pretty sure David is VERY well aware of that.
Anyway… that’s my analysis of it all. I don’t know the folks at Jet Pets, but I truly don’t think the suggestion that the client sign this horse over IMMEDIATELY was a true shakedown attempt. Maybe I’m wrong. But I don’t see it. I do see multiple decisions made by the trainer and clients to continue hoping the test would turn out differently… none of which the client apparently could afford. And the end result is the horse had been through a terrible ordeal and will likely be euthanized.
I also see the trainer’s other post proposing that Jet Pets pay them (the clients I’m assuming) $50,000 in order for them to NOW sign over a horse who has been in quarantine for almost 2 months, and who was sick with something (that presumably caused the false positive on the CFT and the fever and problematic CBC), and who must now be flown back to Europe only to be resold there for something likely LOWER than the purchase price paid for it back in the fall ($36,000) as really hard to follow. Why in the world would Jet Pets and Horseflight agree to such a proposal?
Last but not least, the trainer continues to focus on the other horses who were also held in quarantine for an extended duration as a result of Hireno’s problematic CFT test. She seems to be equating the REVENUE collected for those horses given their extended stays (it apparently totals close to $100,000) with straight PROFIT for Jet Pets. I might be wrong, but I think there must have been a substantial expense and headache for the company to have gone through that. The day rate on each of those horses was likely not pure profit. Additionally, they probably fielded MANY angry and anxious phone calls and worked MANY extra hours trying to deal with the whole situation. Possibly, they also coordinated to reschedule other incoming horses because the facility was tied up. Just a hunch. Regardless, the trainer seems to think that because Jet Pets netted some kind of profit off this situation already given the other horses staying an extra 15 days to make sure no one had contracted glanders and was bringing it into the country per USDA protocol… Jet Pets and Horseflight should now be ready, and willing to consider paying the owners $50,000 for this one horse, the horse that the clients pad $36,000 back in November for. And on top of that, Jet Pets and a Horse Flight should then deal with paying to ship it back to Europe on a private flight (quoted as costing $35,000) and assume all risk and expense associated with rehabbing it (after the extended debacle with US quarantine) and selling it over in Europe. If… and this is a major if… it can EVEN be cleared to re-enter Europe at this point in time. Which is unclear at best
I’m just laying out what I am seeing from public posts.
Call me crazy, but I think caution is wise before piling onto Jet Pets about this particular situation. Much less accusing them of extorting anyone, or executing a horse. I have no idea about what their track record is with other cases… but this one doesn’t seem to be all their fault to me.
And last but not least… they seem to have shut down their Facebook business page because supporters of this trainer and family were mobilizing to give them a bunch of scathing reviews.
