Tuesday, March 15, 2011

TNJ.......... BG's Accounting....... Perspective on a Credit..........




Part One

One of the next things that really jumped up and smacked me on BG's accounting was the credit he gave me for Totally Klear. Now you must be wondering why would I complain about a credit? Once again I will say the devil is in the details.

Totally Klear was that yearling BG had in for training to show halter. If you remember I had agreed to do the training, as a favor to him, while BG did the conditioning on that horse. This was the horse he couldn't take in for training unless I helped him because he didn't know how to train the horse to stand up to show got halter classes. Considering that BG was paid $300 for conditioning and training the horse, when he gave half of it to me for the training in the form of that credit that left the other half of the amount paid, which was also $150, to be what he was paid for doing the conditioning part. I figured that meant he was saying the conditioning part would be worth $150. Does that make sense to you?

When Rhet, Scarlet and Gypcy had turned up on BG's list of horses he worked in that email of his, I had reminded him in my responding email http://risingrainbow.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-journeymy-response.html that I had done the training on the horse, TK. I said BG shouldn't be charging me for Rhet, Scarlet or Gypcy. The man only worked one of them at the exact time I did his training on TK for him. Occasionally he worked one of them and there were times the young woman who worked for BG lunged these horses for me. During these times that my horses were being lunged by BG or his assistant I was engaged in doing something else that was his to do. I was prepared with witness testimony to substantiate that most times I was the one who lunged those horses and that when I wasn't lunging I was doing other groom type duties or the training of the horse, TK.

It's important to note there was an exception to me usually being the one to lunge those horses but it was right at the beginning in January because BG thought only he could teach them how to lunge. That exception only lasted long enough for me to get him pushed aside and doing the work myself which believe me did not take long.

I did not want him lunging my horses. The purpose of our contract was to get my young horses started under saddle. I had no intention of taking up that money paying him for something I intended to do myself. However when he did lunge them in the beginning, I got the next horse ready for him while he was in the round pen and put the previously worked horse away, whatever that entailed like cooling out etc, so it still was a trade off as far as I am concerned. I was doing his work, he was doing mine. Other than that I worked those horses on my own with few exceptions. Many, many days BG never touched any of these three horses unless, of course, that was to pet one as he walked through the barn aisle.

I think BG figured he could get away with charging me for Rhet, Scarlet and Gypcy if he gave me that credit for TK. The only problem was he charged me $300 a month for each horse for something his own figures stated was worth $150. I was pretty sure the court and a jury would be able to see the inequities in that as well as get a clearer picture of the lengths to which BG would go to pad his numbers. This behavior also fit the criteria for Unfair Business Practices as well as violating the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Practices.

I really didn't think then nor do I think now there should be any charge for the horses that were lunged. Giving the man any credit at all for doing work with these three horses is a stretch from what he actually deserves based on work done. I did, however, include those horses in the totals I reconstructed because I didn't know how to determine how much of the work BG actually did so for the sake of argument, I added them into my totals. However, I adjusted those totals allowing for the $150 that BG used for lunging in his accounting for TK instead of the $300 training charge he applied in his records against me because his double standard is grossly inappropriate.

In those totals I did not allow any credit for myself for the training of TK because I had told BG I would do it for him as a favor. He had offered to pay me but I had declined because it is against the rules of USEF for me to get paid for training and still show as an amateur. The fact that BG was now charging me for things he had originally told me were "friends helping friends" didn't mean I would stoop to his level and do the same thing, nor would I ever accept anything for training that was against USEF rules .

I will admit that BG thought he needed to have a small round pen up to teach these horses how to lunge. He carried that thing panel by panel into the arena or had one of his kids do it. He'd construct it in the morning for the lunges and then took it down again once the lunges were done. I don't remember how long specifically that went on but before long the round pen was left up at the near end of the arena and that unnecessary work of moving the round pen in and out was stopped.

While BG might contend all that work of assembling the round pen entitled him to training fees for each horse, those horses didn't need that round pen to learn how to lunge, nor did they need BG for that purpose. I was perfectly capable of doing it myself as I clearly informed BG on more than one occasion. I have taught plenty of horses how to lunge AND done so without the use of a round pen.

To be sure the court could grasp the difference between lunging and training horses, I printed out the USEF rule describing what constitutes an amateur. It clearly states in that rule working as a groom is acceptable for an amateur to do without messing up their status. Then I located websites with articles about groom duties that included specifically lunging within the exercise duties of a groom and printed those off too. Both items were to be included as exhibits for my case.

While I understand that teaching a horse to lunge is within the terms of what most horse people would consider training, it is not within the level of work determined by either USEF or many training barns to be something a trainer mush teach. I suspect that teaching horses to lunge has been within the realm of groom duties for hundreds of years and I wanted to court to clearly understand that aspect of my dispute over BG charging me training fees for lunging my horses.

There's my explanation on why I thought that credit on BG's accounting sheet jumped out at me. The man had used that $150 credit to justify charging $900 a month for working three horses, and $600 for the months that two were worked. That manipulation was pretty bad. Over the course of his accounting sheet I figure those charges came to a total of around $6300 when in actuality, the man really deserved very little considering I was working those horses most of the time and doing his other work on those occasions he did work them.

On my accounting I'm guesstimating he received somewhere around $900 which was more than generous considering the amount of time the horses were actually at his facility to work, the adjustment in the rate charged, and that little issue of work actually done by him. That total includes NO adjustment for me working my horses at all. It is based solely on the $150 rate per horse and the true number of days each horse was lunged at his facility.

Personally I think BG's manipulation of those fees says a lot about his character and that of WF. While she may not have been the one writing in the numbers or doing the math, she was clearly at his side reinforcing he could charge full training for any horse, no matter what the man did with it. Her FB comment clearly leaves her out there on that limb. I was wondering what it would take to get her to cut that sucker off.

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

Let's Talk about Dandy........

This is one of my favorite pictures of the twins. There is something about these sweet faces tucked under their mom this way that pulls at my heart. I wish Surprise wasn't wearing that neck bandage but it is an important part of their story so I guess it's meant to be there. I can't help but remember what an awesome mom, Vee was to these two little hellions but then she was a hellion herself when she was a foal. Picks of that will follow. Hope you're enjoying revisiting these pics of my foals. I'm not sure if posting them makes me more sad or less sad I have no foal arriving this year but it sure does help me appreciate the foals I've had. Sweet babies, all of them.


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18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous babies. So many miracles that they even made it, considering that even while pregnant with them mom had that unfortunate sewage episode.
    It's appalling the lengths some people go to, just to be dishonest. My god it would take much less energy just to be honest! But some people really do only take what they see as the easy way.
    I'm very glad that you got your horse back in the end. Though this journey and the lengths you were made to go through to do it are insane.

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  2. Great post as usual, keep up the good work!

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  3. The twins are too adorable and so special. Great picture.

    It always amazes me how much time it takes to be dishonest. If he would have just put all his efforts into actually doing the work he contracted to do there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place and everyone would have been satisfied. His accounting is ridiculous, but you do have to give his some sort of credit for being inventive.

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  4. Adorable babies. As to the rest , applause to you for managing to sort through that mess and maintain not only your sanity but also your integrity

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  5. I promise to post as many pics of my foals as I can this year, it wont be the same ,but if all of us that have 'em share it might ease the longing

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  6. Wow, what a mess! I just don't understand the mentality of some people!
    Love the picture of the babies!! Adorable!

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  7. Nicole, it is amazing the twins came through so many obstacles especially the sewage episode.

    I guess insane is probably as good a description as any for this trip.

    Arlene, I, too, think it takes a lot more energy to be dishonest than it does to be honest but obviously BG and WF didn't think that. I still can't get over the fact they thought they could get away with such behavior.

    fern, thanks, it was tough but worth it.

    I'm counting on lots of baby pics from your neck of the woods and I think I'm going to spend some time searching through my archives for more foal pics. I might even have to resort to telling baby stories to feel more connected to foals this year. It's been a long time since I've had a year without a foal.

    Paint Girl, I don't understand some people either. Doing something like this just makes no sense to me.

    As for twins, you know that a set was born were you work a few years before mine were born. You might ask about them.

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  8. Amazing - twins! that is a special story unto itself!


    And I never used a round pen in my life to train, nor to lunge. Any classically trained horseman can do without a round pen...

    Your writings are soo intriguing; thank you for taking the time out to explain in detail!

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  9. Oh what a tangled web we weave ... The deeper this goes, the more obvious it is that he/they just assumed you would do nothing. It does my heart good when the good guys actually win one!

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  10. I've been wondering about WF's relationship with BG all along while reading your posts. If he could get that angry with you when you were supposed to be a good friend, I have to wonder how he treated WF. She could have been protecting him because she had a similar belief system as him, or because he had some kind of hold on her.

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  11. I didn't understand the credit when you posted the accounting sheet in a previous post. But after you started talking here about how you had refused payment so you could keep your amateur status, my first thought was he was trying to mess up your status so you couldn't show. Petty. Mean spirited.

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  12. I avoid lunging at all costs, it makes my physically ill. Once the horse gets around me 3+ times I'm ready to throw up. Gait doesn't matter. I'm not looking forward to the lunging I need to do to get Coriander on a voice cue for canter.

    Anyway, looking forward to reading about what the court had to say about their "interesting" record keeping.

    PS- also loving the babies :)

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  13. Twins! Wow! That is a miracle.

    Yeah, it's too bad you had to do all this--the time you had to put in to counter the trumped figures. I'm amazed at how you did it, but sure wish you wouldn't have had to. That was time you could have been spending enjoying your horses.

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  14. I am loving all the baby pictures! I think they should make you happy because, for one, think of all the gorgeous Arabian foals you've raised and also, there's ALWAYS next year! (that's me, peeing rainbows again, I guess ;)).

    I am loving how your story is coming together, I anxiously await more!

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  15. feralwoman, yes, the twins really were an amazing story. They are 5 this year. That's hard to even imagine after their rocky start.

    As for the round pen, BG was very good at fussing at things that took up his time instead of actually getting things done. He claimed the round pen was the only right was to do it and that he is a perfectionist but I can tell you the neglectful things I saw while I was there, he is no perfectionist nor does he really care about the horses. They're just another thing for him to manipulate so he gets what he wants.

    LF, I really think they believed they could say whatever they wanted and would get away with it. If they'd understood me at all they would have know all the extra garbage they tried to foist on me only motivated me to fix this.

    NuzzMuzz, I can understand why you would think that only it was my experience the one with the power in that relationship was WF. I don't know what the hold was she had on him but she gets whatever she wants despite his feelings. As big a bully as he is, he gets totally submissive around her AND really p*ssed off about it later. I have stories about that too I haven't even told here.

    If I did ever write a book about this story, I would include the dynamics I saw of their personalities much more fully and their relationship as well. As I saw those things unfold I suspected I was in trouble before I ever began to see the troubles over the contract.

    laura, you're so right about the mean spirited part. I think that's why they went to the lengths they did to destroy my family. When the credit showed up on the paperwork, I also thought it was used as a way to discredit me along with it's use to justify him charging me double for lunging horses he rarely even touched no less. The whole thing makes me mad even today. It's no wonder my stomach was a wreck.

    smazourek, I'm not big on lunging either. It makes me quite dizzy. I have to walk with the horse when I lunge to counter that.

    You know, I'm loving the babies too. It's taking some of the edge off this stuff. Thanks goodness something does.

    Linda, my twins are definitely miracle babies in a number of ways. If you haven't read their story, it was an incredible journey.

    You're so right about the time it took to do all of this. It robbed me of so much time with my horses. That's the part that really sucks.

    JJ, LOL obvioulsy with a name like rising rainbows for my farm, I do a lot of that myself. When I saw that euphamism, I actually wondered for a moment if it came from someone I had p*ssed off. Not that I have p*ssed off a lot of people but when I do, it's a real doesy like this thing with BG. I figure anyone with that big a chip on their shoulder is pretty sad.

    I must admit it's hard for me to see why anyone would want to know about this story. It has been such a burden but my readership numbers say I'm not driving anyone off so I just keep posting. Actually the numbers are so good I'm beginning to think maybe dinkleberries is right and I should write a book about it. There's plenty enough stuff to fill it.

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  16. I have to agree with many of the others. If they would have just done the work, there wouldn't have been as much effort required on their part in fabrication.

    I was wondering about the hold one of them had over the other. It seems like WF had the money and BG wanted it. Which would make some sense as to why he submits to her wishes. P*ss her off and she shuts off the $$$. Makes sense to me.


    I move with my horses when I lunge them too. It helps to increase the size of the circle putting less stress on them, joints, muscles, etc. and besides- it gives me a bit of a workout too. Also when I stop- the horse stops, it teaches them to look to me for cues and signals as to what they should be doing.

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  17. Interesting. Now with your response to my comment I wonder if BG might have just been a nice guy without her influence? He offered you so much at no charge and then WF added it in to the accounting sheet later. Or maybe they are both bad apples who found each other. I don't know them. Your posts do make me wonder, though.

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  18. CNJ, according to BG he has retirement that they don't touch to live on but he told so many lies, who knows. There is something that keeps him there under her thumb.

    I like to walk with the horses for those reasons as well. They learn to watch me for cues and I get extra exercise.

    NuzzMuzz, she does a pretty good job of playing a role of an innocent. People buy into him as the bad guy and see her the innocent she pretends to be but they are really a pair bad apples. There's plenty to say they colluded together on this and other things too. I could get into the barn dynamics and how they keep their loyal clients. It's pretty much based on the same kind of techniques he used to exploit me.

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