Wednesday, March 16, 2011

TNJ......... BG's Accounting.......
Let's Talk about Dandy.....



Part One

Next on the list of inappropriate charges made by BG were those made for training Dandy. While BG mostly did not identify the horses he worked on his accounting sheet by specifying their names, he felt pretty comfortable with charging me for training for my 19 year old gelding who was used solely by his clients. The horse's name is clearly visible on that accounting although it is stated incorrectly.

This fact they tried to use his registered name in the notation screams at me this was WF's doing. Not only did BG not know the registered names of most of my horses, he didn't know the registered names those in their own barn. He really didn't care to know them either. BG's mind set just does not work in terms of registered names. He's not that sophisticated in his thinking.

I suspect the horse was actually named specifically as a way of sticking a tongue out at me or flipping me off. I had already stated in my last email to BG, in response to his email claims of how Storm had been paid, it was inappropriate for an assortment of reasons for him to charge me for training for Dandy or for lessons given "on my behalf" as he'd said. Of those reasons BG had previously agreed there would be no charge, BG had actually done no training of the horse at that time, and it was the kids riding the horse several times a week for lessons that kept the horse conditioned. Any charges for those lessons should be their parents' responsibility, certainly not mine.

I had proof that BG does not charge for lessons so the fact he had tired to claim them in his email as a charge against Storm certainly showed his malintent there. It also showed that BG had changed tactics to say how he'd paid for the horse. Not to mention it would be inappropriate for him to charge me for lessons given to his clients. Any claims against Dandy are bogus in a number of ways.

According to WF's own FB comment she didn't care about those details if BG touched a horse it counted. Now the statement on the accounting sheet this horse was included was pretty much saying we will charge you whatever we want regardless of what the agreement was. You have nothing in writing. We have the power here.

It's this blatant action that really speaks to WF and BG's intentions. They believed they really could get away with charges, not only for Dandy, but for any number of horses they wanted to state. It didn't really matter if BG had done any work or not and it really didn't matter if the horses were even there. What mattered to them was getting those totals up as high as possible.

While they were smug in their belief they could get away with such a charge, most people in the industry do not see it that way. A horse like Dandy is an asset recognized and valued. It was my belief to treat the loan of this horse in such a contemptuous manner would reap for them exactly what they deserved once the court understood what this all meant.

There were multiple witnesses who had seen Dandy worked during this time. I firmly believed some of those people would not be comfortable lying for BG and WF if asked to testify or provide sworn statements. It would be easy to prove there was no training, only lessons given to GD and the walk/trot rider. The inappropriateness of BG charging me for lessons for his clients would be obvious to even the court.

I also had a witness who was there when we discussed the use of Dandy for BG's riders. That witness heard BG agree there would be no training charge for BG's use of Dandy and more specifically Dandy would not count towards the contract. That witness would not be my only evidence about Dandy or BG's inappropriate attempts to have me pay for BG's use of the horse.

I printed out all of Dandy's show record over his 14 year career in the show ring to show how extensive and successful that record is. While the horse never won a national title (I only took him there once), he has two regional titles to his credit and an assortment of other wins in hunter pleasure, western pleasure and trail. The horse was rarely out of the ribbons except during his struggle with undiagnosed EPM and during that time he still took his fair share of ribbons.

It was important to convey to the court at this stage of his life Dandy was not the kind of horse that needed to be taught, Dandy is the kind of horse that is a teacher of young and inexperienced riders of any age. If the court could see that the door would be opened for the court to understand that charging training for Dandy was not only ludicrous but self serving.

I was prepared to provide multiple sworn statements from trainers and long time owners and riders about Dandy and his talent along those lines. Many had witnessed the horse actually save me in a bad fall, getting hurt himself because of his deliberate efforts to keep me from being injured. Years of seeing this horse in the ring and warm-up arenas at horse shows has earned Dandy the reputation of being the pure gold he is.



I hoped such information would help the court understand the valuable purpose of such a horse to trainers and what the loan of him to BG for his clients really meant. To help further this impression I was prepared with an assortment of pictures and video of the horse in the ring from that time frame. The huge bay gelding packing the small, for her age, walk/trot hunt rider makes for an impressive picture.

I also had the class specs for walk/trot which I hoped would help the court solidify the impression of the picture with the information that only the youngest inexperienced riders participate in that class. With plans to already use an expert it was a no brainer to have that expert testify on the subject of Dandy as well as on walk/trot classes and suitable mounts in general as a means to educate the court on the subject as well.

It would be equally important for that expert to testify training a broke to death horse like Dandy was not even necessary. Conditioning for the trainer's clients' use was what the horse needed and the fact both girls were getting multiple lessons a week to accomplish his conditioning would have been adequate to keep the horse in shape so he could do his job for them. Of course the expert could also substantiate that it is the riders who pay for those lessons and not the owner of the horse.

Any expert would also know it is common practice in the industry for owners to loan such horses and what the circumstances of such loans usually are. Owners are not charged for training for such a horse. To the contrary, all of the expenses of the horse are normally paid by those benefiting from the loan of the horse. In addition often time owners are actually reimbursed for the use of their horses in the form of lease payments or even paid for each time the horse is utilized.

The fact I was housing the horse and transporting him for lessons, paying for all his normal care AND not charging anyone for the use of my horse was above and beyond what many owners actually do in such situations. The terms of my loan of Dandy were quite generous by industry standards and the expert would be able to corroborate that.

The expert would also be able explain why the use of such a horse in a training facility is an asset to the trainer. The expert would be able to say my loan of Dandy to BG was a benefit to him and his business not to me, both in aiding his relationship with the clients and how he would be viewed in the horse community at large. Any reflection on the breeder would have been earned a long time before this by the horse's extensive show record.

It was important the court see my gift of the horse for what it was, as well as BG and WF's treatment of that gift as a means of comparison of my motives and intentions in general compared to theirs. They were routinely nit picking and manipulating ever single possible way to trump up charges against me while my method of dealing with things was to make decisions based on fairness or what was right. When I couldn't determine what was fair it has been my proclivity to always lean towards the side of generosity.

How or where I would tie this information into the big picture wasn't clear to me yet. I knew it was an important part of the final view the court needed to see if it was to make its decision based on the credibility, honesty, and integrity of the parties involved.

Charging me for Dandy clearly fit into the category of Unjust Enrichment as well as being within the scope of the other causes of action to be listed in my amended complaint. I had more than enough evidence to prove these things to the court so much for one raspberry from WF and BG to me. The fact they even did this, once again speaks to their ethics. Showing the court how ludicrous this was would go a long way towards establishing their pattern of manipulating the charges to drive the totals up and even to what lengths they would go to get that done. This would in turn help destroy their credibility.

There was another inconsistency about Dandy as well that was important to note. BG charged training for the horse from the very first month of Oct 2008 yet Dandy was laid off from that time through the middle of January 2009. I could easily prove that Dandy had not visited his farm during that 3 month period so BG had not only charged me for something he was profiting from but he had charged me for months the horse was never even at his farm and was not worked or trained by anyone. Just another piece to the puzzle building that big picture that statements made by BG and WF could not be trusted or believed.

These three days of posts have still not disclosed all of the secrets that accounting sheet of BG's held. There are still issues on the monthly accounting records and we haven't even begun on that final page of additional charges with it's inconsistencies and distortions. Then, of course, there is how I planned to expose those training numbers BG claimed as the fraudulent claims they were that is yet to be explained. I figured that accounting sheet by itself was going to be enough to make any judge or jury see red.

To be continued..................

The mare in the top picture is Dare with her half-Arab foal, Doc. Doc was bred to be a reiner and believe me the boy can get down in the dirt and spin but then so can his mother.

The second picture is Dandy with his walk/trot rider. This is one of the pictures I planned to use as evidence remembering the attorney's recommendations to use as many pictures and visual aids as possible.


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13 comments:

  1. Very cute picture.
    I will never be able to understand people like BG and WF. To misuse you in so many ways, not to mention your horses. You were more generous yet they still tried to take more. I really will never understand some people.

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  2. THis is amazing , charging to train a 19 yr old horse with 14 yr show carreer??? Dandy could have trained him!!!!! The accounting goes from "creative " to ludicrous on that point alone!

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  3. ha! I just about spit out my drink seeing that BG was charging you for "training" Dandy. I guess I better start charging my trainer for the use of her Arab school horse to teach my littlest to ride.
    Aparently little L is training her!

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  4. I did notice on the first post about BG's accounting that they had tried to charge you for 'training' Dandy and thought that was pretty funny. I knew the horse had a healthy show record...I just didn't realize how healthy.

    What's that line?...

    "Big Mistake! Big! I mean Huuuggeee!"

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  5. Amazing what kind of crazy stuff he tried to get away with!

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  6. Nicole, I don't understand them either but then I have a theory about that.

    fern, ludicrous is what I would call it but obviously WF thought they could get away with it or they wouldn't have put his name on that sheet.

    horsemom, if that works for you, let me know. It would be interesting to know if there really is someone out there as gullible as BG and WF thought.

    BECG, ya, I thought it was pretty huge too. But believe me, the mistakes get even bigger.

    Crystal, makes you wonder, doesn't it.

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  7. Beautiful horses and Dandy is a treasure. To have a horse with a career like his and to lease him out for the benefit of the younger set was very generous of you.

    Now about that accounting...I'm sorry but how stupid was that! I guess people get so caught up in getting their figures rolling they don't stop to think whether they will be found out or not.

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  8. Yep, that's kinda crazy. :/ What a great picture to show it for what it is. And, I agree, your loan terms were beyond generous. Usually when a horse is loaned in that way the person agrees to a care lease--ALL care is paid for by them: boarding, farrier, health, training, and whatever else comes up. Sometimes, beyond this, a fee is also charged for the privilege.

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  9. Wow, seriously. Out of the kindness of your heart you loan them your gem of a horse so their lesson kids have something to ride and they charge YOU for it? Mind boggling.

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  10. Arlene, I don't think being found out was ever on their minds. They knew I couldn't afford a lawyer so I think they thought they could get away with anything, figuring even if they had to sue me I would be unable to fight back and they would get the horse regardless.

    Linda, he was so sweet with her. It was amazing to watch the way he took care of her. I feel sad she's stuck in the clutches of those two. Nice little girl and I really like her mom too.

    I never would have left Dandy in his care because it would have been left to GD. We had already been down that road and my horse got a very bad rub from the saddle so I wasn't willing to do that. Keeping him with me, I knew he was being properly cared for.

    smazourek, I agree. It is mind boggling. Tells you how much power they think they have, doesn't it.

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  11. Hi Mikael! You won some Natural Hoof Spray...send where you would like it shipped to photogchic@hotmail.com and I will forward that to Absorbine. Congrats!

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  12. did BG make money off the clients at the shows dandy took the kids through? you said he does not charge show fees ...so the kids got the use of a horse and a lesson for nothing except the entry fee and perhaps gas money? wow, good deal.

    then to charge you for borrowing your seasoned show horse to give children their first ring experiences?!?!?

    you mentioned they wanted his head set differently so perhaps the adjustment of his way of going was put on the accounting list because of all that hard work...*lol* but this was for their own benefit, not dandy's or yours.

    WF: "Don't forget, you trained Scandal Sheet to go into a frame properly."

    BG, "Who's that?"

    WF: "Dandy. Tall. Bay. White socks, snip."

    BG, "You're right, his frame was all wrong for that walk trot rail class before I worked with him!"

    charging for the use of your horse (what they call training) ...that makes as much sense to me as you charging them per day for storm's time with them, because he trained their barn employees how to clean his stall by providing something for them to advance their shovelling skills with every day.

    logical to me; )

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