Completely shattered by people in the horse world *RANT* V Long

wizoz

wizoz

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In the last 15 months I have been in a dispute over a horse which I had swapped in good faith with my lovely event horse, I was totally honest and up front about all that my horse had been through, warts and all.
The horse that came to me had issue's, what horse doesn't? But I tried to work through them but he only became aggressive and harder to deal with and unpleasant to be around, he wasn't the sort of horse you could tell off as he'd strike out at you with whatever leg was closest!!
Throughout all of this, I had kept in contact with his previous owners, by her wishes and kept her up to speed with everything. I decided he had to move on as he wasn't suited to me and my mum didn't like having to deal with him as she had not long had a nasty accident where my horse got zapped by the electric fence and pushed her over and Boo galloped right over her and broke her ribs and nose!! Anyway, a girl became interested in purchasing said horse, came and tried him, got on well with him and wanted him on trial, she took him away leaving me a small deposit and promosing to pay the rest when she'd put him through his paces and had him vetted. Vetting failed but she wanted to get his body parts put right so decided to keep him but no more money was exchanged. We now enter a dispute because she wants to keep him but she won't pay me, I don't want him back so have to sit here and lump it. I go to a solicitor who basically tells me to get the horse back but before I do this I want an up to date report from woman's vet to see exactly what he's being treated for and why.
Anyway, my vet is sent horses pre purchase xrays from 2005 by previous owner on my request, and yesterday he tells me that from those xrays alone, the horse should not be doing ANY jumping or dressage
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I emailed the new owner and told her what the vet had said and she is really mad at previous owner for witholding the xrays as her insurance company wanted to see those xrays and previous owner wouldn't let her have them.
I send an email to previous owner just explaining what the vet said and this morning I get a short email from her partner telling me I'm dragging them down and they no longer wish to hear from me
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I've never once blamed them for anything and I trusted them implicitly
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That email has upset me very much. I am now so sick of the whole thing, I confess I emailed the new owner and told her that I no longer want anything more to do with any of it, that she keeps telling me SHE owns the horse but how come, since she never actually paid me for it? But I no longer care and I want her to delete all my contact details.

At this point in time, I will find extremely hard to trust anyone in the horse world who is selling a horse and thank god i'm not actually looking to buy one.
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I've had horses/ponies all my life and have NEVER ever had to deal with anything like this and I hope I never do again.

*Rant over and am now crawling back to shell* Well done if you managed to get through this and understand it fully.
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How awful
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I really think you did all you could, bt i think thats why i didnt want Millie to go out on trial as you are jung over a barrel really
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until you get all of youyr money
 
Eek, such a difficult situation to be in. Think you have done the best thing by just cutting all losses, but
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At the people you brought the horse from.
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Which is why I would never let a horse go on trial.

That was your first mistake;
The second was not getting it back the minute no money was forthcoming.

Sorry.
 
The only thing i can advise is to leave the horse where it is now, and look into taking the previous owner to the small claims court for not disclosing the damage shown on those xrays, which they must have been aware of, they are a dealer and therefore they have obligations - so that you can at least recoup some money and start again.

Not everybody in the horse world is this bad, I promise.
 
Shan't be taking anyone to court, not least because the very reason I was selling the horse in the first place was because I needed the money
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Am walking away, extremely bruised, feeling extremely bl00dy gullible and an absolute fool.
 
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why why why would you let a horse go without getting the full amount up front???

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Because I'm an extremely trusting but stupid person
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What a complete farce of a situation - the girl who has the horse now can't own it unless of course you have signed over his passport to her, like I assume his previous owners did for you?

Sounds to me like the horse has major issues (not supposed to do dressage or jumping!!) which is possibly why it was being so nasty - he was hurting somewhere perhaps?

You're better off cutting your losses and keeping out of it...
 
That's awful
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But I don't think you could have done any more. It's really sad but I think it's better for you to have cut all ties now, it's not worth the stress it puts you under.
 
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What a complete farce of a situation - the girl who has the horse now can't own it unless of course you have signed over his passport to her, like I assume his previous owners did for you?


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A passport is not proof of ownership and has to stay with the horse anyway.
 
Well everybody makes mistakes and there are very few (if any) people who have not lost money in the horsey world. Don't be too hard on yourself, it was an expensive lesson to learn I'm afraid, next time you will be wiser.
 
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Well everybody makes mistakes and there are very few (if any) people who have not lost money in the horsey world. Don't be too hard on yourself, it was an expensive lesson to learn I'm afraid, next time you will be wiser.

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I don't think there will be a next time
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I now don't have a horse to sell!!
 
Oh poor you. I do understand. I sold a lovely mare very cheap because she had a history of low-grade colic. The girl I sold her to was a very good friend of someone I know and trust implicitly she STILL tried to screw me out of my money. I got it eventuallly though but it was so stressful and I couldn't take her back because I was coming to Argentina...
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The small claims court does't cost much. But it depends how much you would be claiming.

YOU don't have to actually go to court. Just fill in the paper work and pay the fee I think its about £25 if they loose their case you also get this refunded.

I'd take previous owner and the lady who has got the horse now.
 
I am sorry you have been through this. You have my complete sympathy. Talk of taking people to court is a waste of time and money and will only make you more stressed and unhappy. Private sales and horse swaps are not covered by the law. I think you have to at least be grateful that you do not have the ongoing expense and displeasure of looking after a horse that you do not like.

It is a lesson learned. Many horse people are very unscrupulous when it comes to getting rid of a horse with problems. I was ripped off by a so called friend. You have to be wary and then more wary of anything you are told about a prospective horse.
 
I think what makes it worse is that I would never treat anyone the way that both parties have treated me, I have a conscience and I have been brought up to be honest and truthful, you could say I wear my heart on my sleave and what you see is what you get.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The small claims court does't cost much. But it depends how much you would be claiming.

YOU don't have to actually go to court. Just fill in the paper work and pay the fee I think its about £25 if they loose their case you also get this refunded.

I'd take previous owner and the lady who has got the horse now.

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If you don't turn up to court I think they will automatically rule in favour of the other party, assuming they turn up
 
As far as I can see the woman who has this horse on deposit has no right to get it treated by a vet without your total knowledge of the fact and the horse DOES NOT belong to anyone but YOU.

Go and get it back now, give the woman her deposit back. She cant just hang onto the horse and not pay you for it.

The dispute with the previous owner is a seperate thing and is something you are going to need to either walk away from and accept or persue further with your solicitor.

Either way the horse cant stay where it is, it belongs to you and ultimately you are responsible for it.
 
I would do the same as you - draw a line under the whole thing, cut your losses and move on. Still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth though.
 
Think I would also just go and take the horse and post her the deposit as a cheque by signed for post or something. Although is it becuase they actually paid something it means they purchased him outright.

Went through something similar some years back, swapped a horse for one who apparently good in all traffic went and got itself killed by going ape at a motorbike. They then said they were keeping my horse even though they had insurance on thiers. They lied about him being traffic proof.
Eventually after getting Solicitors involved we got him back, but never again. It does bug me though how the few ruin it for others who are genuine.
 
I'd be heading down there with my horsebox if I were you! Sounds like a rubbish situation, but at the end of the day, the horse is yours. They haven't worried about upsetting you, so go get the horse!
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He can't come back because we have no room and in my original post I put that we didn't want him back because of my mum. She knew this and this is where I really come unstuck. I can't afford to put him in livery somewhere, therefor I have to lose out, it's not nice but that's the fact of it.
 
Perhaps turn it around to think that the horse sounds like it has medical and behavioural issues - even if you got it back it doesn't sound like it would be the type of horse you could sell on easily.
What goes around comes around - let the girl that currently has him pick up the vets bills
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And why would you want him back anyway? He can't do anything as he's crippled according to the xrays.

You should be happy that you aren't stuck with him and making a trip to the potters
 
Then all that can be done is you sign the horse over into her ownership and walk away. Whatever happens make sure that legally on paper you do not own this horse anymore otherwise she could become fed up with him too and either isnsist you pay the vets bills or you could evn find him being brought back home to you in the future. Remember to backdate the ownership to the day she gave you the deposit.


You cant just walk away Im afraid....it is still your horse.
 
This is ridiculous, that horse is rightfully yours. She hasn't paid for him so is therefore your property. What she is doing is theft.
Tough sh!t if she has spent money on him. That's her loss. and she is a mug. It is your horse and she has stolen it.
I take it you have a receipt for the deposit? I would have my backside down the police station and report her as having stolen your horse. I know you don't want him back, but when a horse is involved in a theft case, he will go to police custody stables whilst they decide who he belongs to.
I wouldn't walk away from a case you can so obviously win!
 
Some people are horrible aren't they and there seem to be a lot of them in the horse world.

When I was 12, my mum's BEST FRIEND sold her a pony for me. My mum knows nothing about horses but this woman was an AI so she trusted her implicitly. She was sold the horse as being 14 but sound and good to go. Very wizzy but had evented in the past and knew her stuff.

Later we discovered the pony was closer to 18 than 14, had an ongoing tendon problem which meant she was never 100% sound and her schooling was practically zero (i rode her in a cheltenham gag and still had no brakes - several times she bolted on the roads with me). Bearing in mind this woman knew that we didn't know anything, had no access to a school and that a 12 year old girl would be the only rider... and she was supposedly my mum's best friend, she still sold us the horse with no apparent qualms
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So sorry to hear about what happened to you. I agree that cutting your losses may be the easiest way forward now if you are able to do that. [hugs]
 
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