On a brighter note, a friend picked up her new horse from Jet Pets today. So they are releasing horses. And Hireno’s case is an anomaly.
OP is not trainer. I have met both IRL and seen them at the same time so it’s also not a Hayley Mills/Parent Trap situation in case someone wanted to go there. 😀
I was just being an ass since the OP decided to call me out as a key board warrior despite the fact that I am going to be in the area AND looking for trainers soon. Needless to say I’m not going to waste my time with the trainer in question. But if the OP really wants me to ask questions directly I’d be more than happy to make room in my schedule to do so face to face.
I wish everyone would just back down a little bit. The last couple pages are kind of nasty IMHO.
No one has to be at fault here. It’s just a sucky situation, an edgy edge case of unlikely events coming together, in a deeply unfortunate way. I doubt anyone involved had any nefarious intent or poor ethics and honestly I think the most likely situation is that everyone is making the best choices they have with the information they have and the constraints they’ve been given.
It’s really unlikely to get this kind of catastrophic event in quarantine. Even when it has happened, the horses have tested negative, eventually. Yes, we are all going to be a bit wiser that it might happen. But no one posting here would have imagined it as something they would need to plan for. And day by day - the choices were always bad ones. Bad luck to be positive. Bad luck to have it happen during the holidays. Every day a high stakes gamble, and they lost the bet every day. Lots of conflicting and unclear information, especially because they cannot see the horse themselves.
The lessons I’ve learned are:
And I still think that if the protocol calls for a biohazard euthanasia, that USDA should pay for it. That’s a change that could be made in the law, and it could be supported with a tiny uptick in fees on every import.
I have no doubt that if this happened to me that I’d be an irrational pile of goo potentially with thousands of dollars of unexpected expenses on a credit card. And if it happened to a client of mine I’d be beside myself, regardless of my financial stake.
So please, chill.
Best post on COTH In a long time.
Thanks for lightening the mood! I did literally laugh out loud.
Still hoping for the best possible resolution for the horse and the family.
The finger pointing and blame game is pretty disturbing. This is a horrendous situation for all parties involved. They’re reaching out for help. They’re desperate and trying to save the horse’s life. Have they gone about it perfectly? Probably not, but attacking them when they’re already this down and out is awful.
My heart breaks for them and their horse… I couldn’t imagine kicking them when they’re this far down already.
My family and I were in their shoes a year ago… I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. We reached out over social media as well, started a go fund me, contacted the “higher ups” who we thought could educate or assist us in any way possible… and we got a few negative comments similar to those that have been circulating on here.
Each one was like a kick in the stomach. We were just trying to save our horse and were riding an emotional (and financial) roller coaster all the while trying to do our best. Fortunately, we got our happy ending and our horse came home… but it must be exponentially worse for Waffles’ family and I can’t even imagine what they’re going through.
Thanks Peggy. Not sure how anyone could confuse me as a trainer. My profile pic shows I’m the epitome of an adult ammy!
My comment was tongue in cheek in light of you telling me I should question your trainer on Facebook. Cuz key board warrior. But [edit] I am moving to your area and yeah, your trainer was on my list. Not any more after this. But if you REALLY want me to ask her… I will.
I don’t remember if it was the mom or the trainer who posted WAY back about the offer to have the horse signed over to (Jet Pets?) after the very first positive and how irate they were that someone was trying to rip them off.
That bit of hindsight has to hurt.
I have had nothing but sympathy for these people because over and over again, I watch horses get imported and zip through quarantine like nothing. Before this thread, I would have no idea something like this could even happen. That said, posting to Gary Sinise’s page? Holy tone deaf, Batman.
I really don’t care what you do one way or the other.
I’m fairly certain the trainer and the family can access the coth forums, and if I’m recalling correctly I think Denali is a service member. I’m also fairly certain that since you brought this to the board, you were prepared for people to have different opinions. Otherwise it just seems like an end around fundraising???
I’m curious… the posters criticizing the last few pages of this thread… are you all also following the public thread on the trainer’s Facebook page, and have you read her posts there and the comments?
The family are not horse pros, and they relied on someone for advice and got in an awful situation, and I have a TON of sympathy for that. The fundraising attempts and related posts, and tactics used rub me the wrong way though. I’m not alone in that.
I hope people still update here for those not on Facebook.
Everyone seems up in arms as the trainer did not have enough experience importing.
How do you get experience without doing it? They had done it before by their post off it being different to what it is usually like when they arrived.
I bet if this happens to the trainer again they will be the first to say send it back.
Snipped.
Totally disagree. The USDA didn’t put that horse/cow/animal on a plane or boat and bring it here. They should not be on the hook for what happens.
If you sink a boat in the ocean, you also have to pay to have it pulled from the ocean floor and disposed of properly.
Question… I don’t see an answer on the FB thread. If they are going to hold the horse a few more days anyway… can they run the CFT again? The last test was a week ago I believe. Given that Jet Pets has dropped the day rate, and they said they couldn’t fly him back until the 30th… maybe trying the CFT one more time early next week is worth a shot? I thought it was down to 1 as of the last attempt.
Why not directly ask the trainer on the Facebook post since you’ve hunted her down over there and are actively reading her posts?
Definitely. Especially in the beginning I totally get the allure/reasoning of keeping him in quarantine. Like okay it’s going to cost 26,000 to fly him back and then who knows to sell back, etc vs okay 1 more week in quarantine I’m sure he’ll test negative on that one. You bargain with yourself well if I spend a little more now he’ll be fine. I can see how it all snowballs quickly. Especially when you’re getting info from the horse flight ppl, jet pets, USDA, people online, etc. And ppl online make you feel like shit if you’re thinking of euthanizing “a perfectly healthy horse” as someone on here said.
I still can’t figure out though if the trainer has a financial stake in this ownership though with some of her language.
Trainer was receiving a lot of advice from very experienced people and not acting on it, but instead tried to make an emotional plea to a government agency. It shows poor judgment. My concern about it all is how much is publicly on Facebook. Trainer doesn’t seem to realize she owes a fiduciary duty to these clients. Especially since she took the lead in this fight it seems. Trusted advisors do often get sued when their clients lose a lot of money… Overall public display of questionable judgment and some irrational behavior that has really had a terrible outcome for both horse and his family.
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