Trying to Survive.......

  Part 1

Even when I knew Kelly Panowicz had exploited my circumstances for her own gain, I was still influenced by some of what she said. The basis for that rooted in my own fears.

If I hadn't been worried in the first place about my horses and the amount of work Dave and Lindsay shouldered for me, Kelly wouldn't have been able to use those things against me. The fact Crystal Baker had reiterated them certainly added credence to those fears. Even though I now knew my horses were in good condition my concerns were still there along with the added fears that things could change at anytime especially if I was still sick.

Every waking hour and many sleeping ones were devoted to alleviating these worries. Even at that everything I did was colored by intense pain. The little respites I got from its ravages were used towards the horses in some way.

My concerns about Dave and Lindsay's workload plagued me. The only way I could see to fix that was to get some horses gone but after my promise to TF that meant I needed to be doing more to see that I got some sold. She was right I shouldn't be giving away horses when I really needed funds to care for the rest.

As fate would have it, my webmaster decided to retire right before I got was hospitalized the first time so I was forced to deal with finding a replacement. Considering that is my first line of marketing, getting that done was a priority along with some much needed updates.

I have always known that it takes more than a website to sell horses. Search engine optimization is essential for anyone to find you in a generic search. Other referral sources are equally important for a website to be productive so if I wanted to make any progress getting my numbers down I had to take care of those things.

Whenever I could tolerate sitting at my computer, I worked on those things.  Placing ads containing references to my website on various horse sites were done to drive traffic to Rising Rainbow Arabians. I dropped prices of the listed horses to a fraction of their worth hoping to get move some of those on my "must sell" list.

Getting an ad completed sometimes took days but I did eventually did get some done. Before long I had inquiries coming in but getting farm visits set up was pretty worrisome. Either the weather was too hot for me to tolerate farm tours or it seemed to be raining or there were scheduling conflicts. A lot of effort was expended with little results.

In addition I had multiple inquiries on a single horse. Supposedly that is a good thing but it has been my experience such interest rarely ends in an actual sale. That's certainly how it went that summer.

I got an inquiry from an agent on Echo that required video and more pictures. I have trouble getting that done when I am healthy so this was particularly tough. Don't recall how I accomplished it but I did and next thing I knew arrangements were in the works for payment and shipment.

Before the payment arrived I had other visitors at my farm looking at horses. Each inquired about Echo and was informed there was a pending sale. One offered to buy her on the spot but I refused because I believed it was the right thing to do.

When the payment did arrive it was a scam. The check was for a larger amount than her sale price with instructions to pay the hauler in cash as well as provide the signed registration papers to the hauler.

Dave took the check to a branch of the bank holding the account for verification of what I already knew. It turned out to be a counterfeit check but the account number was valid, as was the name, address and phone number on the check.

The bank called the branch in Florida that was the home of this account letting them know the client was a victim of identity theft. Then they gave Dave a copy of the check to take to the authorities....who by the way could not be bothered with the issue saying it happens so much they can't tie up their resources investigating when the banks must do it to protect their interests. What do you think of that line of thinking from our law enforcement?

I did call both parties that had expressed an interest in Echo but the moment had passed. I still had people looking at horses but for now, I had missed a real sale but dodged a bullet.

To be continued.....

A Prospective Buyer