Expensive business

But were problems they were warned about, they chose not to see him at home in his stable etc and I would imagine it is hard to argue that he is not fit for purpose as a jumping pony... As clearly not so dangerous that you can't take him anywhere etc?
 
annagain said:
This gets more and more curious. What if the judge had ordered him to be returned?
Click to expand...

There's nothing to stop anyone sellng a horse which is the subject of a civil legal dispute. The case is about money, the animal's value, not the animal's ownership. You need to establish what a 'fair market value' was for the horse, though. And of course if you've sold it, it can make it more difficult to prove your point if someone else is having no problem with it.

A friend of mine sold a point to pointer because it would not race other horses. He won his case. The seller never paid his costs, which were four times what the horse cost him. She bankrupted herself instead.

The owners of that pony seem more than a little crazy! I hope the seller gets their costs back.

Edit, I see the judge has put a charge against the buyer's farm, so that the seller will either get her costs paid, or own part of the buyer's farm and can force her to sell.
 
Last edited:
In esters post the show report says the owner is Faragher, the same name cropped up in Jemima's post of another news article giving more detail of the case, in which a Stephen Faragher was described as a trainer who had looked at the horse for the Waltons...
 
I can't help but think it's slightly bonkers to hand over £18k after one short ride at a show!

I've never spent more than £2k but would always want to see them caught, tacked up, hacked etc at home first.
 
I see the pony is also now jumping with a different Walton child in between jumping with the Hewitt's. Looks like a fantastic pony, what a shame it's all ended up in such a mess.
 
Steve Faragher is a well known trainer on the pony circuit and has been for about 30 years. I got the impression he was called on more as an expert witness. Jess Hewitt who's done most of the recent competing is a top junior and her yard I would expect to be pretty professional in how they handle their ponies. I get the feeling novice people brought a good jumping pony that wasn't simple to handle - not that unusual, I've seen enough that had to be handled correctly or they'd walk all over you. It does say they were warned the pony is territorial etc so maybe they thought they could cope and got a shock on arriving home.
 
annagain said:
This gets more and more curious. What if the judge had ordered him to be returned?
Click to expand...

She may have been sueing for damages aka the difference between price paid vs what he was worth which would mean the pony wouldn't need to be returned. This was what I did- I had the mare valued by two dealers and sued for the difference. Though how they could devalue a competition pony much based on behaviour I'm not sure.
 
jemima*askin said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-YD--EjYlg

There's certainly something odd, because it's been out and about competing since the sale and had a pretty decent record (to Intermediate) BE before it was sold to the Waltons. Just goes to show the dangers of pursuing a case blindly.
Click to expand...

I recognise the arena in the video and worked on that yard and was there for an awful lot of top level pony BSJA shows and the after parties. The owners had lots of top level SJers for their own children. In my experience no one would have batted an eyelid at something difficult to handle. So long as you could leg your kid up and have the pony perform in the ring then it was all well and good. We had a pony who was way worse than that one sounds on paper, to the point were most adults were terrified of a worse but similar sounding 12.2hh!. And with my other hat on, it sounds like a sore, angry ulcer ridden pony. But it wont be the first and almost certainly not the last to hate kids! You pay that sort of money for its performance in the ring, not the fact it hacks out quietly and gives you kids kisses
 
Interesting read on the HH sites home page with report about a fraudulent dealer Mark Allman - wonder if connected to previous owners of this pony?!
Reading article I think the buyer of the pony must have been somewhat naive - from my experience most of the good to outstanding performance horses have some kind of quirk - usually what makes them tick!
 
Mark Allman was found guilty of systematic passport fraud. I think it is libel to suggest that he is in any way connected with the sale of this pony, whose owner was completely innocent of any wrong doing according to the judge who heard the case.
 
I know the pony in question and it is a serious JA competition pony, with a very good record with a number of young riders, but can be a bit handy in the stable. Seller told them this but things got a bit out of hand after the purchase in that respect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top