advice please paid £2800 horse breaking and not seen result

we did ring her she made us ring her partner who doesn't ride nor run the business as she didn't want to speak to us. we rang everyday with no replies, and i messaged her and then we went down there was no answer at the yard as she was out and they were on someones private yard and you need to get buzzed into enter. we did refuse the last £100 until we seen her being ridden but she got the yard to keep asking us and posted it on facebook stating 'should i ride a horse if person owes money'

i told her at the time my business is busy and thats why she said she would take pics and vids. eveytime i asked to see the horse being ridden or to ride i had no response or il sort it out. i couldn't get into the yard as its private and the gates are 7 foot tall and you get buzzed in unless you have appointment. she is grand prix dressage rider so i assumed she wouldnt be like this to be perfectly honest. amazing how its ok to charge for riding and not ride but its not ok for me to see results of something iv paid for. seems that your views of horse world is quite opposite to trading standards terms
 
Last edited:
I'm still confused. Your grammer and lack of punctuation doesn't help!

So you've handed over (eventually) nearly £3K and still no idea if the horse is even broken or not? Why on earth did you let this situation get to this stage? Is the horse no near by? Why did you pay so much, even in arrears, without any evidence of progress? This all sounds rather dodgy.

Take a day off, go and see the horse. If she won't ride for you, take it away then go through small claims court for her being fraudulent (charging for something she hasn't done).
 
Goldenstar said:
Mental! these are buisnesses that operate on tight margins Why should anyone keep a horse and have it costing them cash flow causing their buisness issues ?
LOL ! I am glad you think owing people money Is funny it must have made it easier to sleep at night .
We charged short term liveries ( ie horses we did not look after all year ) fortnightly if they not pay they where out and he pursued them for the money.
Click to expand...

Are you for real????? my god "Lynch comes to mind"

The original poster made an agreement to pay the outstanding money to the trainer and has done so!! No where in their
posts have I seen them mention that owing the trainer/people money funny.
 
bubblesgrooming said:
we did ring her she made us ring her partner who doesn't ride nor run the business as she didn't want to speak to us. we rang everyday with no replies, and i messaged her and then we went down there was no answer at the yard as she was out and they were on someones private yard and you need to get buzzed into enter. we did refuse the last £100 until we seen her being ridden but she got the yard to keep asking us and posted it on facebook stating 'should i ride a horse if person owes money'

i told her at the time my business is busy and thats why she said she would take pics and vids. eveytime i asked to see the horse being ridden or to ride i had no response or il sort it out. i couldn't get into the yard as its private and the gatesK are 7 foot tall and you get buzzed in unless you have appointment. she is grand prix dressage rider so i assumed she wouldnt be like this to be perfectly honest. amazing how its ok to charge for riding and not ride but its not ok for me to see results of something iv paid for. seems that your views of horse world is quite opposite to trading standards terms
Click to expand...

Now I do have some sympathy for you it's not professional to post comments like that on FB unless of course you where posting comments in which case she has the right to answer.
But OP you need to see your horse pronto you need to prioritise making an arrangement with the pro to see this horse and bring this to a close .
It's winter you must must check your horse never trust anyone not even the archangel Gabriel to care for your horse without keeping a check it's your job as the horses owner to do this .
You need to try to put your anger behind you and seek to find out what's been done with the horse so you don't put the next person who tries to get on at risk.
Do you have a horsey person you know or you both know who could act as intermediary if you can't speak to each other .
For the horses sake you need to sort this now.
 
Zebedee said:
Hang on a minute. If I'm reading this correctly when the OP explained that monies due were delayed (& I've had that happen on council contract work too) the 'professional' refused to release the horse but continued to charge £150 per week (£30 less than the £180 agreed) but discontinued the work. It now seems as if OP has handed over £2800, but has had no feedback regarding how the horse is now going under saddle, & no pictures or video evidence to prove the horse has even been broken. People who know the yard & rider where the horse has been refuse to get on it saying it's to professionals place to do it?
What a mess.

OP - if you couldn't get up during the week as this person doesn't ride at weekends (Really? For clients that pay that much money?) couldn't someone have gone on your behalf?

It's a huge amount for you to have paid, but if you are really unsure how much work has been done the simple answer is to tack her up & lunge her. See how she reacts to working in tack & to being tacked up. If she seems settled & happy try getting on as if you were backing - ie have someone leg you up & lean over her first. Obviously you'll need a helper (preferably someone who is used to working with young horses) & also someone to video what happens.

If you're not happy with the result then it may be time to play hard ball. Send a recorded letter threatening her with the small claims court as she hasn't supplied what was agreed, & has charged you handsomely for not doing so. Tell her that unless she provided the pictures & video evidence that she has in fact done what she has been paid to do then you will have no option but to sue for the return of the fees charged. She sounds a bl00dy nasty bully who needs standing up to.

For those who say the professional was entitled to behave in this manner because the OP had fallen behind with the agreed payment schedule I totally disagree. No reputable breaking yard that I know of has ever behaved in the rude & uncommunicative manner that the OP has described, & plenty of them will have had clients over the years run up a bill for a few weeks.
Click to expand...

At last someone speaking some sense
 
Hecter said:
Are you for real????? my god "Lynch comes to mind"

The original poster made an agreement to pay the outstanding money to the trainer and has done so!! No where in their
posts have I seen them mention that owing the trainer/people money funny.
Click to expand...

OP made the comment mental and LOL.
 
When we take horses in for backing/training the owners are invoiced prior to arrival and they pay monthly upfront on the day of arrival. We don't do work unless it's paid for upfront.

OP if I were you I'd get a paid rider to get on the horse to see what stage he's at and go from there.
 
bubblesgrooming said:
i lol'd at the fact that your saying its ok to sell someones horse after 2 weeks. that is mental and your obviously not in this real world?
Click to expand...

He did not sell them he chucked them off the yard he was not into selling other peoples half broken horses he was a professional who trained horses for money for a living he kept no non paying guests .
 
i am sorry if my dyslexia has offended anyone too. she is at present on the new yard in which this lady works for so i see her after work everyday. the yard was 5 mins away from me but had no way of access after the person had finished for day or if she was out and about because it was private yard and the gates needs a code to access.

but im having a meeting with the new yard owner to see if she can get one of her instructors to ride my horse before she leaves and then i can progress. just never assumed someone at this level of riding would do this to someone. but there was rumor she left the old yard as she owed allot of money herself so the private yard in which she was riding the women horse and able to use her facilities told her to leave. now this grand prix dressage rider works for riding school. im no way to judge anyone els as you can get into some sticky situations but it seems unfair to do to me what she done if she herself owes other money too :S
 
Goldenstar said:
He did not sell them he chucked them off the yard he was not into selling other peoples half broken horses he was a professional who trained horses for money for a living he kept no non paying guests .
Click to expand...

but i had an agreement to which the trainer agreed and its not like i just didn't pay with no contact i made it up within weeks of the issue while still paying the the occurring charges. he cant be that professional if he just kicks people off without at least trying to resolve the issue and they are genuinely trying to pay it? surely! there is being professional and there is being plain nasty! and you also did state in the same comment about selling horses did you not?
 
You can only move forwards OP. Start afresh on your new yard and get a professional rider to assess your horse. Be involved with any future training, pay bills on time and always keep a small emergency fund for times when your cash flow is not flowing.
You did mess up with the working relationship of the original trainer which has resulted in you now not having any idea of how the horse progressed. You may need to sort out some time for seeing your horse being schooled, its not easy for any of us.
With horses in hospital or training, many of us take time off work and travel stupid distances when the need arises. You do need to be actively involved with the backing process, not necessarily riding, as you're expecting, but watching and discussing. Video's are great but being there in person is a 2 way dialogue that you missed out on.
 
I'm still struggling to see why you can't just get someone to ride the horse so you can see how well it is going? It's then obvious from there if you need to take it up with the lady who hasn't done what she said or wether it's just a case of the lady not being very cooperative but has still done her job... If you are pregnant it's understandable you don't feel comfortable getting on yourself but you must know someone who'll do it? In fact where abouts are you and ill blooming get on it!
 
Last edited:
bubblesgrooming said:
but i had an agreement to which the trainer agreed and its not like i just didn't pay with no contact i made it up within weeks of the issue while still paying the the occurring charges. he cant be that professional if he just kicks people off without at least trying to resolve the issue and they are genuinely trying to pay it? surely! there is being professional and there is being plain nasty! and you also did state in the same comment about selling horses did you not?
Click to expand...

He was a very good sought after person we where full all the time he wished to be full he never kept any horse whose owner did not pay up on time he just sent them back no messing , he could not afford to be used as an over draught facility by owners and he has staff to pay rent to pay and a family to keep.
He never sold the horses it would have taken time and cost him money he sent them home pronto we had horses waiting to come in all summer
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
Good grief...what a mess.
When my horse goes to be started in a few months the trainer is going to have a hard job getting rid of me..!!!!
Click to expand...

Yes, do. I was there as often as I could, lots of half day holidays from work (they thought I was mad) but rider was happy for me to be there. I wanted to see as much as possible to help me when I had to take over :D :D it really helped and I made sure I arranged the dates beforehand.

OP sorry you have landed in this mess, what's done is done. Take your mare somewhere good at backing - being a GP Dressage rider counts for squat in this context, sounds like you need a person good at starting horses and bringing them on to help you from here.

Maybe if you post your region/location on HHO you could get some recommendations.
 
Last edited:
Sounds as if it's at stalemate, you need to break that and move this all forward ASAP.

The young professional event rider who broke my youngster was recommended to me by a few people - she asked many questions regarding what I wanted to do with him and backed him accordingly. I also rode him out from hers - with her, in a group, and a few times on my own, and I did a longer road which included cantering along woodland tracks and riding along the main road - this gave me confidence to continue on when he came home.
 
So you've paid £2800 and have yet to see it ridden? Tbh I wouldn't be riding a horse who's owner was in arrears, but surely after 4 months and nearly 3K she could show that the horse been worked? How bizzare. Do you want any more breaking in? lol
 
As someone else already said, tack her up and lunge her. You will know quick enough how she reacts. And go from there.

Could someone else not have videoed her riding if you couldn't see it in person? Very bizarre.
I have collected horses from breaking yards and not seen them ridden, but was given info on what to expect when I got on. And thankfully the description exactly matched what I got. And this was paying a fraction of what you spent. For that amount of money I would expect a 2 minute video at the very very least.

Nothing you can do about it now, so lunging her will give you a starting point.

I have used a variety of people to break in horses, from dressage riders, eventers etc. And the very best was a young college girl with zero facilities. She had max 2 to break in at a time so she could really put in the time. She knew what she was doing and she was fearless. It would have saved me a fortune over the years had I found her first. Look for somebody like this to test your mare for a week.

Good luck with the mare and congrats on the pregnancy!
 
I 've sent ponies away to be broken, paid up front, and seen the people ride and they have been recommended and I have been very disappointed with their lack of customer care and the result.
Often riders can be very good a riding but absolutely s*** at listening to what their client wants and being realistic at what taking someone else's needs into consideration. If the trainer could not be available to show you the horse working they should not have taken it on.
I think you get the horse back, whether you were in arrears or not at this point you are up to date with the payments. Then send it to someone for a week to asses it. If its unrideable take her to the small claims court. Save and screen shot all texts and messages to support your case.
You do not need this stress, think about your pregnancy. If the woman has done a good job, great and if she hasn't you have some good weather coming up,( it will come honestly) to sort things out long term but you need to take control now before you spend more money with this person.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top