This whole thing is hard to really form specific opinions on as the family and trainer have never posted here on COTH and we really don’t know what contracts exist, how they are worded and don’t know what is or is not covered on the insurance.
Seems trainer is still at the wheel decision wise as the bills continue to grow, and grow, IMO that’s another mistake.
@Virginia Horse Mom 100% agree with your post. TBH, one thing that struck me was the fact that such a large percentage of these additional expenses are being funded on credit. Again, we can only base it on the game of telephone via Facebook posts, but it does sound like the trainer represented the import as a way to save a great deal of money for a family already stretching its budget. While ultimately the family must make decisions about its own financial welfare, to present importing a horse as relatively easy and inexpensive seems unwise, to put it mildly. Even if this nightmare scenario did not occur, what if the imported horse needed additional training or incurred other medical expenses? I know all too well myself that spending money on horses is never rational, but it does seem as if the trainer was not helpful in enabling the family to make a good decision about importing in the first place, to put it mildly.
I’m completely with you.
I’ve hesitated to post this opinion as well, but since Denali already got push back from others who didn’t seem to understand why using the “military family” angle in the go fund me pitch to help raise money to “save” a horse who might “lose his life” because of this unfortunate situation with quarantine and glanders testing REALLY rubs people who are either in the military, or have close family and friends in the military the wrong way (to put it mildly) I’m going to do my best to inject a dose of perspective. In the interest of public education on a sensitive subject.
As of January 20, 2020, according to the Department of Defense 4,419 members of the US military have lost their lives as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (essentially, the conflict in Iraq post 9/11)
As of January 20, 2020, according to the Department of Defense 2,351 members of the US military have lost their lives as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (essentially the conflict in Afghanistan post 9/11)
Many of these people had spouses and children who would give ANYTHING for their loved one to have made it all the way to 30 years with their chosen honorable career, and then retired and spent time with the family. Please understand that neither Denali nor myself nor anyone else who mentioned the impropriety of bringing up the military service in the go fund me plea was trying to beat up on this family or be mean. But some of us do actually know people and families who have lost loved ones, or have lost friends ourselves… and that Go Fund Me account rubbed us the wrong way.
This family is fortunate to have their father home with them after his many years in uniform. It’s honestly that simple.
They can fund raise for the horse all they want via go fund me and Facebook… but the military service part of the public pleas for financial assistance should have been edited out days ago.
Seriously- using the military aspect by them has been beaten to death by you and others. As a member of a military family (I am) - let it freaking go.
To be fair, lots of people import horses all the time with few or no problems. So it probably seemed like a perfectly rational idea at the start. Unfortunately, like so many things involving horses, when there are complications, the bills start to add up in a hurry.
I am so sorry for the horse and the kid, as well as the whole family. I hope they can come up with a solution.
To be fair it’s the trainer mentioning the military everywhere and its people on CoTH giving me the push back. That being said, the trainer playing the military card also adds to my distaste for how she has handled all of this. I’m assuming not immediately suggesting to the family to send the horse back has to do with her inexperience and/or the commission.
As the actual service member… it’s not something we take lightly and service members who play the card are frowned upon. At least in my branch.
ETA: As well as their friends and family who do the same. It’s just not cool.
I respectfully disagree that it has been beaten to death. I have sat on my hands for days not posting any number of things I could say about this.
And thank you to your family for their service.
Based on the FB Update - seems like a no brainer - there is such a thing as throwing good money after bad and this trainer seems very good at it. Yes of course it’s heartbreaking, yes of course you want to try to save this animal - but again at what cost to the owners? Why on earth are they even contemplating spending additional cash to ship the horse back? I just read some of the comments post Update - trainer says they might send the horse back, pay board and Training fees so it can be resold. Common sense has to override emotion at some point. It’s hard to tell how much the owners are actually involved - and at some point when the expenses are mounting you eliminate the 3rd party and take over, take action. There is no way I would not be the 1st point of contact and decision maker in something like this.
What is the status of the horse ? still ongoing fever? positive tests etc.
Both the trainer and the mother posted about it. And the child’s older brother is currently active duty, and that was also brought up in comments on Facebook trying to drum up sympathy.
Furthermore, the trainer specifically wanted the go fund me plea to be shared to military families… presumably because she assumed that military families would be inclined to sympathize with this family and donate money. And brainstorming on social media included sharing the go fund me with Gary Sinise… because he does so much fundraising for wounded vets and their families. They did actually share it to his public page.
For the record… I have immediate family who closely follows some of the fundraising that Gary Sinise does because they are also double amputees (like his Forest Gump character). Sinise does GREAT work. Sharing this GFM to his page… it’s inappropriate.
Oh I missed all that. Holy moly!
OMG - they shared this on Gary Sinise’s page? I skimmed thru the FB posts and honestly tweets to the President, wanting to get news/media attention so celebrities would pitch in - pitch if for what? This is a horse that potentially has or is a carrier of a once eradicated disease and these screwballs want to drum up cash from people ? This is considered a luxury item - it’s not a home or a car for a disabled vet. They want to sympathy and funds to help cover bad decisions they or the trainer continues to make on the owners behalf. It’s one thing to set up a GFM for a trainer who’s barn has been hit with EVH-1 and they’re doing everything they can to save their horses but this. SMH
Sharing with Gary Sinise is the epitome of disrespect. His foundation and good works help so many veterans and their families. It’s not to help a family that over spent on a horse purchase due to being ill advised by the professional they trusted.
I sincerely hope they aren’t funding this with credit cards over the long term. I hope there is a practical plan to repay the debt owing, because putting it on credit cards is such a terrible idea with their typical interest rates. I hope there is at least a plan to shift to a low-interest rate credit line… or some way to raise funds that doesn’t rely on internet charity. The thought of them sinking in this far financially gives me heart palpitations. They need an intervention by a pragmatist (e.g: legal or financial expert) that can really help them deal with this mess.
One of the trainer’s recent posts and I quote " the seller will not give us anything back. I will have to find a place to send him to, pay board and training and hope they can sell him. Mind you he has been standing in a stall for two months so a little time and conditioning will be necessary for poor guy". I just can’t even after reading this…
Of course the trainer is going to beg people to dig them out of this financial mess because she sounds like the one who got them into it.
This family needs to walk away from this trainer like yesterday. Also I agree what others have said about hiring a lawyer to represent the family and not the trainer. I’m no lawyer and I’m not saying the family needs to sue the trainer but somebody needs to look at her role in this…
This! @Temecula Jumper please pass this advice along to the family.
Pretty sure OP is on the trainer’s side or at least loyal to her. Once this thread started pointing out how poorly the trainer was handling this, OP wasn’t happy. I’m guessing OP is also a client of this problem trainer which is why she can’t understand that people in this thread were being rational and not nasty. It’s such a shame how people can be so loyal to crappy, toxic, and incapable trainers because they just don’t know any other way.
Yup. The trainer shared their own client’s financial information on Facebook in WIDELY read public posts about the client carrying large amounts of credit card debt.
I have no idea if it is true or not… the client themself claims to have used credit cards to fund some of the expenses related to this horse.
Perhaps it’s another poorly thought out strategy to gain more public sympathy… and more donations to the GFM account. Maybe it’s a temporary situation and the client has some sort of plan to manage all this in the long run.
One thing is for sure though… it is completely inappropriate for ANY trainer to post publicly about a client funding horse related expenses via credit card debt.
Frankly, there can be very real professional repercussions for people in the real world in a variety of occupations if you carry large amounts of credit card debt like this, and it is actually revealed in public posts on social media… and your employer gets wind of it.
I tagged her with the slim hope of “when CoTH agrees…” etc etc.
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