My Perspective on the Troll.........and a Message...

First off, I want to thank everyone for their support and comments throughout this series and particularly on both the post about the troll and the betrayal post. I did not respond to comments individually on those two posts as I did the others. Words can't express my feelings about the overwhelming support I have received. It is truly humbling particularly knowing I have been breaking some taboos by talking about these things in such an open forum in the first place. It was validating to know I did not make this walk alone.

Then I really want to address the issue of this troll. While I respect the opinions of those who believe doing so is "feeding" the issue, I can't help but feel walking away from it isn't really productive either. I may never be able to change this person's mind but I think I should at least take on what she's said so maybe she might question it. After that if the troll chooses to continue on in her line of thinking, I guess that is her choice. At least I will have made an attempt to open her eyes to some dangerous ground she is walking upon.

I think it's unfortunate when someone gets sucked into something they don't really understand and behave in such an inappropriate manner as this troll did. To attack someone you don't even know either because others are and you want to be part of the group or because you have been manipulated into believing untruths speaks far more to the issues of this troll than they do to issues of mine. That really concerns me. I see either of these scenarios as a vulnerability that could easily be exploited and I would hope this troll does not leave herself open in this manner from this point forward.

Like several who stated in the comments, I , too, believe this came from a young person. It is not just her mention of showing against GD that leads me to this assumption but also her grammar, spelling, phrasing very much speak to many of today's youth. With that information and the IP information associated with this comment, I believe I actually know who this person is.

The comment certainly speaks to some sense of loyalty for all parties from BG and WF's barn. While I think loyalty is something to be respected when it is appropriate, I also believe it's very important it not be blindly given. I think loyalty needs to be something we give based honesty and integrity, NOT on what someone tell us they are, but what they truly are.

Unfortunately too many young people, and there are adults too, who freely give their loyalty to people who have not earned it and surely don't deserve it. Certainly bullying and gang violence are good examples of loyalty gone amok. Just because some one comes off as likeable or even charismatic does not mean they should be blindly followed. The fact this troll feels this sense of loyalty so strongly for people who clearly don't deserve it certainly concerns me.

I saw enough while working horses at that facility to know that young people are exploited there. To see BG go off on a kid because he was in a foul mood and they dared question him was a sobering experience. Teenagers are so vulnerable, their self esteems so at risk, watching BG laughing and playing with them on one hand like he is their very best friend and then ripping them to shreds on the other, screaming "Get TF out of my barn" for some imagined transgression they're never going to quite get was appalling. That is only the tip of the iceberg of the manipulative behavior done to keep their band of followers close to them.

Considering the fact the man annihilated my self esteem and I am an adult, I can only imagine what he does to those kids he claims to care so much about. I know the comment he made to me about a teenage girl needing to have her whohoo sewn shut totally blew me out of the water. The fact he felt comfortable enough to believe he could even make such a statement to me, was one thing and finding out he was talking to the girl about it too was beyond me. There is something very wrong there and I worry about any young person who might be putting her faith in either of them.

One of the things that was interesting to me about this troll's comment was the references made about me, as a person diagnosed many years ago with MPDl They very much mirrored the sentiments in BG's email and in the personal message sent to me on FB by YW. Since this person doesn't even know me, I know she must be making her assumptions based on what she has been told and maybe upon a stereotypical perception of what MPD is. It certainly cannot be from what she read on either of my blogs.

I might add that stereotypical perception is very flawed. It might make good copy for soap operas and tv dramas but it is not what the behavior of the typical person with MPD is. I can assure you of that and in all of my life I have only ever been accused of being different people and forgetting things in this manner these three times. That should say plenty about its untruthfulness.

It was clear from the comment that the troll does not understand much of what she speaks about. Although I was accused of blaming and not taking personal responsibility, I know that nothing could be farther from the truth. I have been very careful to take full responsibility for my actions and I have not blamed others for theirs on both of my blogs and in my daily life. I may have relayed what their actions were so that others could make their own judgements but that is not blaming, holding accountable to some extent maybe, but not blaming.

I don't know if the troll doesn't understand what blaming and taking personal responsibility really mean or if she is just repeating something she has heard. Either way those statements were nothing but a manipulation of some very appropriate psycho talk to support a not so healthy perspective. Something I might add, that is very easily and commonly done by those who chose to exploit others. They know how to say all the right things, they just don't know how to live them.

This troll commented early on in this series of posts. I didn't address it until now because I hoped maybe she would follow along to see what really happened. I posted emails and BG's accounting in their entirety so it could not be said I edited them to manipulate the truth. The truth is right there in those posts and I have the hard copies of those documents to prove it. The owners of the two horses can easily be asked if they support my version of their transactions if one wonders about those things. There is plenty of evidence to support my claims on all counts.

There were those comments made about my training abilities and the inference I couldn't know what happened with Storm because I didn't see what they did. My training abilities I guess will speak for themselves over time. As for Storm I have repeatedly said I did not see him worked but that doesn't mean I can't tell what was done to him. All one has to do is look at the way he was moving to know that. Also I did have the benefit of seeing what was done with other horses to know what happened with Storm. Then there is the clinic I took the horse to so the training that had been done could be evaluated by Wendy Potts. It was pretty clear that she agreed with me the horse was very messed up. If Wendy Potts doesn't have the credentials to determine an improperly trained horse for this troll, then she is in big trouble.

I'm hoping with all this information the troll will question the two extremes between their story and mine. Maybe along the way she might pay attention to their behavior and the lies they so easily tell from very little things on up the line. Lying is second nature to them and it is something I abhor. It will be easy for her to see if she looks for it. Maybe she will be able to look outside their group for the impressions of others about me and my standards and ethics, not because I want her to trust me or support me, but because I hope she can learn not to blindly trust them. I know from personal experience placing blind trust in people who don't deserve it can get you into a lot of trouble.

With that being said I want to say I did not take anything this troll said personally. It was very easy for me to see that this information was more a repetition of something either overheard or said specifically to the troll than some conclusion drawn based on an interaction with me or anything read here or on my other blog.

That doesn't mean that I am not concerned that such untruths are being circulated. For those behind such malicious untruths, I do have recourse if they do not desist. I learned enough in my journey through the legal system to know how to deal with such slanderous and libelous activities AND I have no qualms about putting that knowledge to use.

I hope this is the END of this journey.




This is another picture of Scandalous Chance. This shot shows the animation in his canter. The first time I saw him canter his feet were over the top of his head he was so animated. I didn't know what to think of it. It took me a while to even figure out what I had been looking at was a canter at all. Truly an amazing horse, how I would love to see him reach his potential some day.


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

\a Troll's Perspective.........

It's my belief the story cannot be told without telling all aspects of it. From those things behind the scenes to those more obviously up front and in the open, all of the things related to the story exert pressure of some sort and add to the stress involved in living through such an event and recovering from it.

To understand what it was like to have lived this journey, I've tried to represent everything that affected me along the way.. There are a couple of things I am still struggling with whether I will post or not and I guess we'll just have to wait and see where I end up. For now the one piece of undisclosed information is that comment left by a troll on my other blog. The specific blog post, A Little Bit of Clarification was the place the comment was left but you'll see from it's content, it really address the story I was telling here about the lawsuit.

A comment such as this, I don't think really can just roll of the back of any reasonable person even though it's way off base. I'm posting it because it's affected me and in a way continues to affect me but I'm also posting it because there's something about anonymous comments being hidden away at the bottom of posts under a cloak of secrecy that seems to give some people nerve they otherwise wouldn't have. Putting their comment up front in a post directed straight at them seems to diffuse some of that power they think they have and make them feel just a little more vulnerable. To me that sounds like leveling the playing field a bit..........and believe me..........I'm all for that...........so here goes with the perspective of this troll...........


I have been following your blog for a while now and i've been keeping my mouth shut when it comes to your posts but i cant any longer...it seems that if your daughter really is the way you describe her as she learned it from you.... your whole blog blames someone else rather than yourself for any bad thing that has happened or is happening to you... as for your most recent post in your horse blog how can you blame someone for something that you weren't even there to see?! i think you need to learn to take responsibility in your own actions and decisions rather than blamin everything on other people....and have you even though about why your daughter or her children may of gotten the impression that you hate them? you sit there and trash talk them on your blog and make them out to be horrible people what kind of mother or grandmother would do that to her family...maybe you dont have a handle on your personalities because it seems there are hole in your storys that you just cant fill or your mind has decided to fill them with fiction and thing that didn't happen ... i've competed against your grandaughter and know of the barn you trash talk you make them out to be animals or monsters when in reality they are not its just what you see them as and you post it all over the internet how they have screwed you over but maybe you did it to yourself... you say you have a handle on your personalities but when you go from one to another in the middle of a situation and then write about it later and that isn't what happened or there are things you left out or missed is it just you lying or you getting old and losing your mind or is it you losing control... when your pushing a point or telling a story and not just one or two people are telling you your wrong but everyone involved is doing so maybe they aren't ganging up on you to make you the bad guy maybe your actually wrong...you talk like you know so much about horses and how they have to be taught to be able to compete in the shows and you trash talk every trainer you've been with why dont you just do it yourself and put your words into actions and save yourself the trouble and save everyone the headache and trouble from having to put up with you and listening to you do the "oh poor me" routine, it gets old.

I'm still digesting how I feel about this comment and all it's interesting little jabs. If you have thoughts about it feel free it express them.


The description of yesterday's picture was incorrect. That was Andy but he was out with his mother, Krugorrs Heiress. This is the picture of Andy visiting with Legs.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

More about the Horses.........

I've already told the stories that caused the issues with Louie because he was taken to two shows before he was ready. Had the horse made it into the ring at the first show he would have never gone to the second one.

It was when I got to see the horse in the ring at that second show that I was able to see the horse was not using his shoulder properly. Then once I rode him after regionals was over and BG was cancelling many of our work days I got the chance to really ride him myself. Then I could see the horse didn't really understand going into the bit properly either and that's why Louie had not maintained a proper frame in the ring. The horse didn't really understand despite the fact BG and WF had said he was ready to be shown.

From what I have been able to tell in the limited work the horse has had since that time, I'm not sure if Louie's forward has been compromised by gimmicking him into a frame with those apertures of BG's. The obvious issue with the horse is the nerves he gets when he's taken to a strange place. Unitl the weather clears up enough for me to expand my work day to include Louie, I won't be able to know if there are other issues there as well. For now I can say the thing with his nerves is serious enough it's going to take some time. Whether that's time off or time working, is unknown yet.

The next thing I'm concerned about has to do with two horses, Vee and Percy. When we originally began working with Vee, the mare was already started under saddle but had not been worked on a regular basis. She knew enough to walk, trot, canter and had a pretty good whoa. She did not know her leads and had a little trouble picking up the left one.

We had people coming to look at Vee and so BG decided he wanted to keep her there to spend extra time working on that lead. Now that I think of it, that's an interesting concept for a man that couldn't tell if he was on the right lead or not but still Vee stayed to be ridden by BG. Instead of getting better, Vee got worse.

By the time I quit taking Vee over to be worked the mare had a chronic issue picking up that left lead. We had gone from maybe missing it on the first request and getting it on the second to maybe not getting it at all with multiple requests. The only way I could get the correct lead at that point was to bring her out of a very small circle and up into it.

Percy was started by BG. While BG pushed him to hard that first day, he had backed up when I'd told him to. Percy really looked like he was coming along just like the others.

However, I noticed in January when BG all of a sudden decided he was working my horses again, that Percy was struggling with his leads to the same extent as Vee. Watching BG try over and over again to get that left lead, I decided I was going to get BG off of Percy before the problem got worse.

I have no idea what caused this problem but it's clear both horses have it. I have started a number of these horses under saddle and never had such a problem. Each horse that has started off with a difficult way had come around with no issues except for these two worked by BG. Maybe when I figure out how to fix this I will have some kind of clues as to what caused it. In the meantime, I have two horses that started off like any baby horse getting the correct lead and have not gotten chronic about getting the wrong lead to the left.

The last horse with issues related to the time with BG is Tag. He was the first of my young horses that BG started and it went the smoothest. Issues with Tag didn't really start until about the time MD and GD added their second horse at the barn and began with the cross ties.

It was during that same week that BG went to put the crupper on Tag and the horse freaked out. BG's way to handle this was to never use the crupper again. I also began to notice if we took any kind of break with Tag he freaked at having the pad placed on his back and then, of course, the saddle too. It would take a few days before Tag would get comfortable with being saddled again. Part of his freaking out was pulling back and since then if anything startles the horse he pulls back when tied.

It's important to note the issues this horse has are probably the simplest of all to fix. I began working Tag exclusively without any help from BG before we ever quit working together and I've not seen any sign of these things since the first days. I'll post about what I did to fix them in a later post.

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


This is Scandalous Rhythm calling to his mom outside the ring. The horse got injured somehow having to do with this photo shoot


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Lets Talk about the Horses.....

Hope

I suppose the best way to start with the horses is to go through the list of horses that BG actually worked. Part of those horses he started under saddle with the aid of an assistant and part of them I started before they ever got to BG's facility.

The horses that were already started were Reflection, Hope and Vee. Although I had started all three of these horses at different times, they were at about the same point in their training. The horses started by BG were Tag, Percy and Louie. There are two other horses that were started by BG but those horses have very few rides on them, I will get to their stories as well but only after I have dealt with the issues of the other horses.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you know the story of my accident on Reflection. That happened with very few rides on the horse and it was a couple of months before I even got back to riding. I was scared enough by that incident to get some help and the horse went off to Amy for a couple of months. The plan had been for me to take lessons from Amy at one point to get my confidence back up so I could go back to training the horse again.

By the time the horse went to BG he had as much time on him as the other horses in this group and should have been safe to ride. However, when BG went to get on the horse it resulted in what he called Eight Second Rides Because I did not see this incident or any of those that followed I can only presume to guess what happened. All I know is that every time I questioned BG about Reflection, the horse was still unpredictable under saddle.

It wasn't until after I took Reflection home and was hauling him to BG's to be ridden that I got the opportunity to see what the problem was. Whenever BG rode Reflection he allowed the horse to swing his head from side to side. With this particular line of horses such behavior is really what I would call stallion behavior. The horse is tossing his head stating his intentions and flipping the rider off sometimes literally.

Who knows what would cause Reflection to leap or jump sideways but something wasn't to his liking and the horse would respond with very inappropriate movements. At times like these BG would begin frightenedly screaming "Whoa.........whoa.........whoa!" while grabbing at the horse hoping the horse would stop.

It was not a pretty sight and most certainly not an effective way to train a young stallion. By the time I actually saw this demonstration BG had been riding Reflection in this manner for months. Needless to say the horse has some pretty bad behavior that's been reinforced by BG's lack of knowledge in this area.

At this time I told BG he had to stop allowing the horse to swing his head from side to side whenever he felt like it. I had to explain to him why that was not appropriate behavior for a stallion and that the horse would never get fixed as long as he was being allowed to behave in that manner. I informed him he would no longer be able to ride Reflection if he allowed that behavior to continue.

This, of course, was after regionals and BG really was not doing much with my horses at that time. He was doing more cancelling than actual work days so Reflection didn't get ridden enough to fix the issue. I saw several more incidents where Reflection jumped or leapt sideways and BG screamed like a girl so it would be pretty safe to assume the problem still wasn't fixed.

In December of that year, I began working some of my horses myself at BG's facility. Reflection was one of those horses and I did ride him a number of times. The horse literally threw temper tantrums when I made him stop swinging his head from side to side and more than one time I ended up in the dirt.

On one of the occasions that BG stopped by the arena while I was working my horses, I told BG about the trouble I was having and insisted he spend some time helping me with Reflection The end result was BG worked him 6 times in December and then another 6 times in January before he decided he was no longer going to work horses for me.

Obviously that was not enough time to fix the problem he had created by allowing the horse to swing his head from side to side while being ridden. Before I can even begin to train Reflection for the show ring, I will have to fix this misbehavior that BG allowed for approximately 9 months.

It's not going to be an easy fix and it's really a shame. Reflection is not the kind of horse that likes to be in trouble. Had he every realized what he was doing was wrong he would have stopped. I swear I can yell at that horse and hurt his feelings. It wouldn't have taken much than firm scolding in the beginning to nip this behavior in the bud. Because the behavior was allowed, it's now a major problem.

Stallions, certainly my stallions anyway, will not tolerate what they believe is unfair. If you have allowed them to do something for so long they think it's normal behavior, then you take it away, they feel it is unfair. Treat them unfairly and they will fight. That's all there is to it. Reflections temper tantrums are his "fight" for the injustice he sees because suddenly he'd not being allowed to toss his head as he pleases.

What bothers me the most about this situation is what kind of horse trainer allows any horse, let alone at stallion, toss it's head from side to side while it's being ridden. For the life of me I cannot figure out what BG was thinking. Without a doubt I can say this problem was caused by BG's idea of horsemanship.

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

More about the Horses....

This picture is Scandalous Hope with her mother, Lilly. This mare is affectionately known as the midget mare because she's not 14 hands but she has beautiful babies and they are always bigger than her.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ......... The Ultimate Betrayal..........

Part One

With the fate of the lawsuit decided everything about The New Journey been pretty much covered except for the status of the horses themselves with the exception of one other bit of information still left untold. I said right from the start that there were some things that might not look like they were a part of this story that did indeed have bearing on my journey through those months.

My readers may have wondered at times why I was including situations surrounding my relationship with MD and GD into this mix. Where those situations part of my personal journey? Of did they, indeed, have something to do with the situation with Storm? Certainly they were all wrapped up with WF and BG right smack dab in the middle but did they have anything directly to do with Storm?

MD claimed from the point that BG decided I was no longer welcome at their facility that she was not taking sides. Why she would even want to continue to do business with someone who was literally trying to steal a horse from me is beyond me but it seemed to make sense to her. I tried to give her the room to live her life on her terms so I left it alone.

She did say that she would testify in my behalf if need be but there were items among BG's claims that she seemed to support like that charge for a horse in a full care stall for 9 months. I had to assume because she hadn't been there much of the time she was remembering more along the lines of what BG said instead of what had actually happened. Her memory might just be BG's conversations about what happened instead of what really did. I was willing to give her that.

Still I found myself confused a lot of the time. It just seemed to me that we were growing farther and farther apart while they were growing closer and closer to BG and WF. Something about it just did not make sense to me especially knowing spending any time around BG is not good for the self esteem, not mine nor any of those kids. The man plays some pretty powerful head games and I saw enough evidence to know it affects everyone around him. It was a scary thought GD was living in their home on weekdays at the mercy of that kind of treatment.

As the stories of MD's behavior began to leak back to me through my friends who had found themselves in business transactions with her, I began to see that maybe MD had not experienced the personal growth I thought she had. Dramatic differences between her ethics and mine were beginning to show themselves and to be frank, really caught me off guard. None of this was what I expected from MD.

By the time it was discovered that she had forged a lease document to show a horse, I had to admit that MD's behavior more resembled that of WF and BG than anything she learned from me. Between that and the odd behavior of telling people I hated GD and other stories painting me as the bad guy with that relationship really got me wondering. Was this the behavior of an insecure teenager or was something more behind it? Considering MD's part in continuing those stories, what were they up to?

With all of these things and others I haven't even mentioned, I began to see that maybe, just maybe, MD was not the silent onlooker she pretended. There was the chance she was really a co-conspirator of sorts. Maybe she had not been responsible for the initial assault on my being but one of those sharks smelling blood and circling the water. Why would MD do such a thing?

I didn't really have to ask myself that question. I have known for much of her life. MD has always blamed someone, anyone, for her life not being what she's wanted and her primary target has usually been me. I thought there had been some healing between us. Now I found I must question that in a pretty big way.

I began to see the game that she'd played on me so many years ago only in a little bit different format. The assault she made on my heart in a suicide note saying she was doing this (attempting suicide) because she wanted to hurt me. There was no other explanation than she wanted to cause me pain.

Since then I have always known she was capable of inflicting such pain again. I knew right from the start she was capable of using her children as weapons against me. For some time I tried to protect myself from that possibility but I had opened the door when I tried to help my GD into the world of horses.

I had hoped that horses for her might be what they had meant to me. She had loved them so as a toddler. I thought that yearning would be as strong in her as it had been in me. I threw the door to my heart wide open in my attempts to help her find some comfort in her life but it was not to be. Who knows? Maybe GD could not see my vision because she had not come into this of her own accord but driven by the vengeance of her mother. I must consider that possibility.

Whatever the reason, GD had chosen to reject my attempts to share my world of horses with her. While MD first seemed interested in joining in that endeavor, she also rejected that relationship but joined BG and WF. Instead of horses becoming a healing thing between myself, MD and GD, somehow it had ended up as the horses being used against me as a weapon.

As the months passed on and the wounds piled up I found my one form of comfort was compromised. Every time I was around a horse, I thought about the pain of my relationship with MD and GD. Was that just something that happened? Or was it a deliberate, calculated plan of MD's?

Maybe I will never know the answer but I can tell you what I do know and then you can decide what you think. I know that shortly after I got Storm home, I had a friend ask me what I thought had/or would happen between WF and BG with MD and GD now that Storm had been returned to me?

I must admit it seemed like an odd question to me. Why would it matter that Storm had been returned? Knowing the answer to that question made her original question more understandable, "Well, they were partners on that horse."

My immediate response, "What do you mean? Who was partners on Storm" The answer, "MD and GD."

I will admit back when I first heard that MD had bought a partnership on a horse with BG, my second thought was about Storm. I dismissed that thought thinking it just didn't make sense or maybe I didn't want it to make sense. Whatever the reason, I dismissed it and barely gave it another thought until I was asked that question on this day after Storm was returned.

Now that the possibility of this betrayal was exposed, I just couldn't digest it. There was just not enough information there for me to compute this. I had to ask how my friend had come to this conclusion. The response I got was GD told her very excitedly several weeks before that they were partners on Storm. When the words fell from GD's mouth, immediately, MD joined the pair and shushed GD up. My friend had no doubt that MD did not want GD talking to her about it and the subject was dropped. BUT my friend heard from other friends of GD the very same thing. MD and GD bought into a partnership on Storm while we were involved in the lawsuit to get him back.

Looking back at some of their behavior, it actually makes sense in the context of this new discovery. If they wanted to justify why they would do such a thing as buy into a partnership on a horse that was gotten at my expense, portraying me as the bad guy would certainly be important. Still it makes me just shake my head in disbelief.

Was this as big a blow to my heart as that suicide note twenty something years ago? You're darn right. Has it changed me forever? Yes, that too. Is this the end of this story? Well, it's the end of a very long and difficult year and it's certainly the end of the story of Storm's time with BG and WF.

Where do we do from here? The story of Storm's return home is here.
Next I will post a brief accounting of the status of each horse that BG worked with during the course of our contract. Then I will begin posting about the rehabilitation of Storm and the other horses as those unfold. And I'm going to post the comment about this series and my relationship with MD and GD left by a troll on my other blog From there I'll be posting about the rest of my life with Arabian horses, something even these four people can not ever take away from me.

What do you think? Do you believe it? Or did you see it coming?

Let's Talk about the Horses.....

This picture is Scandalous Chase (the horse bought by YW) and his mother, Bey Aana who is Storm's mother. That makes this gelding a full brother to Storm.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ........... Little Glitches..............

Part One

I must admit my trust was so fractured at this point, I really didn't trust the settlement offer. Being the first ones to sign that paperwork and then trust that BG and WF would sign it too screamed at my sensibilities. Only knowing that their attorney could be disbarred if the thing was not honored was enough to get me to sign on the appropriate line.

Dave and I signed those papers and then hand delivered them to their attorney's office where we got a copy signed by the receptionist verifying receipt. Even at that my stress did not subside, as I knew it wouldn't, I wasn't going to believe it until the horse was finally home.

It was not one of those things where the papers could be signed and the horse was ours. There was a process to it just like every thing else in this lawsuit. The processes of the law do not flow quickly. The date we were to receive the horse was Sept 15.

The papers had been signed on Sept 7 and the eight days in between seemed to pass at a snail's pace. For days we knew nothing. I had to be content to sit and wait and hope things went as planned. The whole time my stomach flipped and cramped. There was nothing to say the stress was over yet.

It was Sept 11 before we received the first communication from the attorney. The signed and executed agreement and the stipulation filed with the court were included along with a copy of a vet check and an estimated time for delivery on the 15th.

The vet check had been done to protect both parties from claims about the condition of the horse. However, there was a glitch as I saw it. I didn't think the check was done properly because the horse had not been checked for soundness. I knew they had received him in a sound condition and I wanted to be sure the horse was sound now.

Trying to get their attorney to understand that a horse not checked for soundness has not been properly vetted was an interesting task. All she knew was what BG told her. That was the check was done and the horse was fine despite his own remarks that suggested otherwise. I informed her there were no notations for soundness on the vet certificate and when I called the vet to ask they confirmed the horse had not had a soundness check.

I insisted soundness be determined and had to explain to the attorney why that was important to get it done. Once she realized that soundness is a pretty important standard in the industry she made sure that the horse was rechecked to determine soundness.

On the first vet check Storm had a small sarcoid removed from the edge of his right jowel. He had stitches and was on medication. In the paperwork, there was a comment saying "assume you will continue to give him his medications, if needed, and have his sutures removed" which I think was totally designed to be a jab at me and speaks to their "amicable" resolution.

The horse did get checked for soundness as I'd insisted and again BG said the horse was fine as did the letter sent by the attorney who was only listening to what BG said. This was despite notations by the vet Storm had distension in his hind fetlocks and hocks and he had flexed a 2 out of possible 5 on his right front with 0 being totally sound.

Dave and I talked about this situation because we could have cancelled the agreement because the horse was not sound according to the vet's own paperwork. Not being able to see the horse made it hard to know what to think. A 2 was not horrible but it could be only the tip of the iceberg or it could be nothing but a improperly done flexion. There was really no way to know without seeing him or having him examined by my own vet.

I made the decision I would go ahead and take delivery of the horse despite this situation because I wanted him out of there. Even if this did turn out to be something more serious and Storm turned out not to be useful for anything but a trail horse, I still wanted him here. I wanted Dave to know right up front what the possibilities were even if I planned to ignore the vet's findings and take delivery of the horse.

It would be important to note here, their lawyer made a notation in her letter that contents of the vet check were covered under the confidentiality agreement and as such should not be disclosed to anyone not party to the lawsuit. This is another one of those things that shows the woman knows nothing about horses or equine law because there is a section of law that states a settlement offer can not include anything that is not legal.

Since laws these days require full disclosure about lameness AND lameness history in the sale of horses, this report is not covered under the confidentiality clause because the horse was not sound despite what BG claims. The fact the horse had distention in his legs all the way past his hocks and flexed off on one leg are things that must be disclosed to prospective buyers not to mention my vet and farrier (and a trainer if I used one) who need the information to care for the horse properly. I have added both copies of the vet check and BG's emails to his attorney to Storm's file so the information is available if I need it.

What was important to me about this was BG's reaction in both cases. On the first vet check he made a comment to his attorney about the horse's edema in his legs and wrote it off to possibly being caused by confinement to the stall but he didn't have a soundness check done. Then in the second one with a flexion score of a 2 on one leg and detail about the distention in his legs, BG still says the horse is sound and flexed a score of 0 and ignores the information the vet provided.

Anyone who might have read all of this series and still thinks that BG is the horseman he claims might just want to consider his reaction to these vet checks before ever leaving a horse in his care. If the man doesn't think these things are issues, I feel for the horses in his care. For me it's just one more thing that says the man isn't honest and he sure isn't good for a horse.

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

The Ultimate Betrayal........

This is Scandalous Chance and his mother, KG Phadra Rose.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ............. The Motivating Factor in the Decision...

Part One


For me the most important aspect in considering the decision about this settlement offer was always the horse. My concerns about his situation began not all that long after I'd traded him to BG and over time they just continued to grow. With a settlement offer on the table I found myself looking back at that history to aid in my decision.

Once I'd realized how WF was really taking care of her show horse I was very sorry I had made this deal. I was not happy I had put Storm into a situation where he would not see proper work, once his initial training was accomplished, or turnout. Most of his life would be spent standing in a stall or at the end of a lunge line if he was lucky enough to even be lunged on a regular basis.

Then as things progressed. I realized that Storm probably wasn't even getting proper training but being "trained" just by kids in the barn. Even if BG or WG was riding him at all there was nothing to suggest that would be adequate for what the young horse needed . WF's show horse does well to the regional level but his initial training was not done by WF. It was done by a very competent trainer who finished the horse properly. That was not what was happening with Storm. I was very worried for him and for my business. Here I had another super star type horse that wasn't going to shine in the ring. That wasn't good for Storm or for Legs.

I'd been told that once this question arose about Storm's ownership, the horse was not being worked at all. He just stood in his stall for weeks with no exercise. GD had asked if she could work the horse in the lines and been given permission to do that. How much of that was being done, I did not know. All I knew is that GD schools horses as she has been instructed by BG and that's just not adequate enough to finish any show horse, despite what they say. The way GD's own horse goes in the ring is proof of that.

The longer this thing drug on the longer he would be in their grasp. Although MD and GD had promised me they would let me know if the horse wanted for anything, I wasn't trusting that much at this point. As things had declined with them, I didn't know what to believe. Was the horse getting exercise on a regular basis or not? Was he being wormed and getting his feet done? I had no idea. All I knew was what to expect from past history will all of these people including MD and GD. That was enough to be unsettling. I wanted that horse out of there as quickly as possible.

In the beginning Dave was not so sure he wanted the horse back which was surprising to me because it had broke Dave's heart that I'd traded the horse. Now all he could see was how many horses we have and how much work it is. In his mind the last thing he thought we needed was one more horse adding more work no matter who that horse was. We were at odds.

Obviously that didn't stop me. When I get it in my head that something is right, then right will win out every time. I don't care about hard or inconvenient. Doing what's right is much more important to me and it seemed to me the right thing was to get that horse out of there.

I knew that Dave would come around if we got the horse back so I was willing to deal with him being mad. However, it didn't take long for BG's claims to make Dave so angry, I no longer had to worry about him being mad at me. Before we ever even got into the actual lawsuit, Dave and I were firmly on the same page. Getting Storm home was number one on our list.

Before I ever got on the phone with the attorney Dave and I had discussed in length the settlement and it's elements. We'd also discussed the likelihood we probably would never see any monetary compensation from BG or WF for damages. Both of us had been adamant we would not settle if the confidentiality clause was a glorified gag order designed to protect BG and WF. Now that I knew that wasn't the case, there seemed to be only one thing left to do.

Even though the settlement offer was nothing like it should have been considering the kind of damages done, there just seemed to be no point in proceeding further. If there wasn't much possibility of collecting on those damages, continuing would only drag out the stress, the expenses, continue to take my time from the horses, and leave Storm in that untenable situation longer. It just seemed to be better for us and our horses to take the deal and get Storm home.

Once the attorney had assured me the confidentiality clause only covered the actual settlement, I told him Dave and I would take the offer so we could get Storm out of there. We briefly went over the steps to get that done and I thanked him for his help. He told me he'd tallying up what he'd done and send me a bill. To date, I have seen no bill.

There was one thing that really frustrated me about signing this agreement. They were never going to get to see my case. All the work I had done that was now sitting on my dining room table was just begging to be sent to their attorney. I wanted them to know what I had against them. I wanted them to know I had done my homework and I was fully prepared to win in court.

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

Little Glitches....

This is Scandalous Storm at about 6 weeks of age.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ.............. A Little Expert Perspective.......

Part One

I worried all week end long. What was the right thing to do for me and my business? Would sticking by my principles hurt my long term goals? If I held out for trial would it end up any differently other than a piece of paper in my favor? Should I just let go of this thing and get on with my life? Those and many other questions whirled around in my brain as I tried to make heads or tails out of the best thing to do.

At this point in time, we were now nearing the two year mark since Dave has been without a job. There was no way to think about this settlement offer without thinking about the possibilities of Dave's unemployment benefits running out and what that would mean. If ever I wanted a crystal ball to give me a glimpse of the future, I wanted it now. I wanted to make the absolute best decision for me, my family, my business and my horses and I had no idea what that was.

Knowing exactly how my attorney felt about my case might have eased the weekend's upheaval some. Because I hadn't spoken to the man since he got all my "stuff" I had no idea what his opinions of it were. All I could do was hope he believed in it's merits as strongly as I did but I must admit my insecurities were taking a toll on me. It was one thing to believe right should prevail and another to trust that would be the case. I rode that roller coaster all weekend long.

I know you've all been wanting to know what the attorney thought of how I'd prepared my case. I imagine the best way to answer that is just to tell you what happened next. You'll have to draw your conclusions as I drew mine.

I called his office first thing Tuesday morning only to get forwarded to his assistant. I remember my stomach rolling at the thought I would be leaving a message and guessing at what to do. Once I conveyed I had a settlement offer that needed to be answered that day, she patched me right through to my attorney.

When I heard his voice, the words began tumbling from my mouth, "I'm so sorry to be calling before you've had time to finish looking over everything I sent to you, but I have received a settlement offer and it needs to be answered today." The words almost choked me as they clamored to be heard. There was no relief in getting them out.....just a dread of what all this meant.

From the other end of the line, I heard laughing. That's right, laughing followed by, "That doesn't surprise me, MiKael. YOU are a defense attorney's worst nightmare." and more laughing, " Your attention to detail is the last thing any attorney on the other side wants to see." and more laughing followed by " Let's hear about your offer."

I must admit I didn't know what to think about that laughter at first. What did it mean? My brain was so muddled with the weekend's stress it just didn't compute. It wasn't until later I'd realized he laughed because he could see WHY they'd offered to settle at this point with only those admissions in their hands. He even made reference to them and how that attorney would want to monitor each and every answer trying to prevent them from incriminating themselves.

Still struggling trying to compute his frame of mind and that laughter, I blurted out the answer to his question about the offer. I told him I had emailed the paperwork to him so he could see it first hand. It's a good thing I had sent him the paperwork. I felt like I was about as effective talking at this point as I had been in court. The stress was palpable for me.

My attorney hadn't even logged on yet for the day, let alone opened any emails so he had no idea I'd sent him anything new. While he booted up his computer to retrieve my email, we talked a little bit about my case. I don't remember the exact content of our conversation but the gist of it began to calm my fears.

At this point the lawyer was no longer talking about IF you win. I could imagine with all that information he'd probably only been able to get an overview, yet the man was now saying WHEN you win without the slightest hesitation. Evidently he'd seen enough to understand how black and white the errors in BG's accounting sheet actually were. While I guessed he didn't have a complete grasp of the content of all that material, he'd come to believe the court wouldn't be able to miss the big picture either. There was no doubt he saw my case as rock solid and absolutely winnable. Something I definitely had not gotten from him or any of the other attorneys to whom I'd spoken before now. This new perception held some comfort for me although the looming decision still churned at my gut.

He made it very clear the big issue he could see was going to be about collecting on a judgement. He expected my damages to be well into six figures (which meant we would have to transfer the case to superior court among other things) but there was the very real possibility that I would never be able to collect a dime of it.

Even though it is possible to file liens years after judgments are made, with people as deceptive as BG and WF, the chances of ever pinning their assets down would definitely be an issue. I knew this about them before he ever brought it up. Now the fact he'd come to the same conclusion only made it clearer that might very well be the case.

Once he'd opened up the email documents I'd sent, we talked about the specifics of the settlement. While I was offended at their continuing claims of innocence he brushed it aside as typical. I realized as I listened, even with a judgement against them, BG and WF would still be claiming their innocence but that didn't make it so. It was important for me to remember nothing I did was going to make them take responsibility. It's not who they are. If that's what I was seeking, I just needed to let it go.

As far as the settlement was concerned, he did not try to pressure me in any way. As I'd expected he would do whatever I wanted. Most certainly he said it might not be worth the effort if I couldn't collect a judgement but if that's what I wanted he was in. He was willing for me to push for trial as long as I knew I would be taking my chances on collecting on any damages awarded in a judgement even though he was adamant I was entitled to every dime of a large settlement with all the damage that had been done.

Listening to him talk, it was clear that the best course of action would be taking the settlement but there was that confidentiality clause I was not comfortable with. I asked him specifically if it pertained just to the settlement or if it meant the entire case. At first he answered me like I wanted to push it to cover the whole case but I assured him that is not what I wanted at all. I wanted to be able to talk about all aspects of this case. Looking it over carefully he explained it was a poorly written offer and there were no provisions for non compliance of the confidentiality clause. Even if I didn't comply there was little they could do but sue me again. Even that would be pretty futile since there were no provisions for non compliance and establishing some kind of harm under these circumstances would be pretty difficult.

While that information was good to know for future reference it really wasn't my issue with that clause. His answer to my specific issue, once he understood it, was as I expected. The way the confidentiality clause was written specifically stated the settlement. He told me if sometime in the future I wanted to write about my experience and this lawsuit, I was certainly at liberty to do so. The big question was where did I go from here?

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

The Motivating Factor in the Decision.....

This is Aana with her foal, Patriot. This is the first time I ever caught Aana in the process of foaling. Doing so definitely made her more comfortable with me being around he foal. Although when it was all said and done he was still nearly as aloof as the rest of her foals. Those genes sure do play a role in that too.


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ........... So What's This?

Part One

So there it was staring up at me, another one of those envelopes from BG and WF's attorney. Dave had come straight to me when he'd retrieved this thing from the mailbox. Even though it's addressed to both of us, he would never think of opening it. This thing was mine to deal with....... whatever it was.

Dread filled my heart as I stared at the manila envelope in my hand. It was easier to look at it and speculate than open the thing. So much of my heart was wrapped up in this case, anything new from them felt like an assault on my very being. No matter how prepared I was, their denials and counterclaims felt like a huge burden weighing heavily upon me.

I had an idea in my mind at where I was in this process. I figured right from the start I was going to have to put enough pressure on WF for her to realize it was going to cost her to get my horse. Only if she knew she really had to pay what the horse was worth, would she back off. This had been, after all, about getting something for nothing, or nothing to her anyway. BG has been the one doing the work, what work there was done.

To my way of thinking, I had not done that yet. I expected we would not reach that point until they had my discovery in their hands. Only when they knew I was prepared and really had a case I could prove would they do the right thing. I figured once their attorney got the chance to look over all of the material, that my attorney was now studying, would she understand the magnitude of this case. Then I expected things would change, but not until then.

That left this envelope screaming at me. It must be their discovery requests, or maybe something resulting from that phone conference with the judge which would still be discovery related. I could deal with that. I just didn't want anymore curve balls thrown my way.

I took a deep breath, braced myself and opened the envelope. I was not prepared for what I read. "I write to propose an immediate settlement of all claims outstanding in the above case."

Scanning down the page I read the expected disclaimer "While my clients continue to dispute that you are entitled to the horse, and you have admitted to receiving the boxer puppy and several thousand dollars worth of services from BG for which my clients will receive nothing if they give the horse back to you, they desire an amicable resolution rather than protracted litigation.

While my clients are confident they would succeed in their claims and defenses, I assume you have the same confidence in your position. We will most likely have to go to trail to resolve the outstanding issues and there is risk to all parties in proceeding further. For you, as plaintiffs, if my clients succeed, they have requested their attorney's fees.

I understand you claim that you have been damaged monetarily, but return of the horse should be more than sufficient as a compromise of that claim.

Please give this settlement proposal your immediate consideration and communicate your acceptance, or rejection, by phone to myself, at ---, or in writing to my office on or before close of business on September 7, 2010 After that time my clients will have to pursue their own discovery requests, responding to yours, and additional costs will be incurred which will of course be avoided if the case settles........"

There it was including all the usual BS. I can't even tell you how many buttons all that manipulative bunk pushed for me. If they wanted me to relax, all they did was fire me up. As long as they continued to take no responsibility for their actions, I wasn't buying anything they had to say.

Then there was that deadline, just one more manipulation. The letter arrived late Friday afternoon and the deadline was for the following Tuesday. It didn't even dawn on me until Sunday that Monday was a holiday and they had given me exactly ONE business day to respond. How's that for sincere and amicable?

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

A Little Weekend Stewing...

This is another picture of Reflection. Looking at it, I should probably be running some kind of a contest for a caption. Maybe I will save that for another day.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ.............. Working the Final Pieces.........

Part One

I must admit I did a better job of sending everything for my case to the equine attorney than I did posting about the process here. I left out of my post some components that were pretty important to the case.

Of those items I forgot to mention were the facts my new friend had turned up in her search of public records. There was BG's arrest and the quit claim of that house from WF to her son in the fall of 2009. Also there was the information on the legal owner of the property that is the facility of BG and WF.

I also sent the man a detailed witness list. It included not only the three friends who knew my story right from the start but there were an assortment of others on there as well. I sent him contact information for each person along with specifically what pertinent information each person knew that affected this case.

I also addressed the matter of witnesses for BG and WF. I compiled a list of people I thought could possibly appear on their behalf. For each person I named there, I told him how they were connected to the pair and anything to discredit them I might know.

Of course on the subject of witnesses, I knew I must address the situation with MD and GD. While they had told me they would testify in my behalf, their behavior seemed to suggest otherwise so I made sure the attorney knew that each of them could turn out to be hostile witnesses. Just in case that happened, I armed him with the information he would need to impeach any lies told by them as well.

Sending off all of this information to the equine attorney really did make things clearer for me. As I worked through trying to present it to him in a way that wouldn't confuse him, I began to see how even the smallest pieces of evidence fell into place in the puzzle of this case.

I knew it would take more than a couple of days for this attorney to make heads or tails out of all this stuff so I focused on working with what I had here. Armed with this new awareness of how these pieces fit, I began to work on putting all of these hard copies into the format required for the court.

I'd known for sometime each item must be marked as an exhibit. With as many exhibits as I had I thought it was important to assemble them in a manner that flowed with the story as well as having easy access for later reference since there was evidence there that would need to be verified by witnesses and such too.

I also began working on some graphs to show BG's figures next to mine. Nothing would be more dramatic than to see those stark lines running across white paper indicating the highs and lows of the two stories told. Then BG's accounting stacked up next to all my evidence should make short work of the court being able to see which story was supported and which wasn't.

I'm not going to tell you I was getting more confident at this point but I was beginning to feel at least prepared. I still didn't know what to expect but at least I knew whatever came my way I would be ready for it. I tried to be patient as I waited for my attorney to get a good enough grip on the information that we'd be ready to make some kind of decisions about how to proceed.

The couple of days turned into more like a week and I hadn't heard anything from the man. We were going into the labor day weekend. although to be honest that hadn't dawned on me yet. All I knew was the weekend was coming and I hoped he'd be ready to talk to me after it weekend was over. In the meantime I was hoping to give myself a short break and relax through the weekend. That is until Dave picked up the mail.............

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

So What's This?

This foal is Scandalous Reflection and these pictures were taken when he was a little over a week old. I'm not sure he knew quite what to think of Mary Little jumping around in her "bear" suit but he studies her pretty diligently.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ.................. Getting to the Evidence............

Part One

Once I got done with all of the court documents, I began on the actual evidence I had gathered to that point. I wanted to send them off in some semblance of chronological order but that didn't really work in a way that wasn't confusing to me so I knew it wouldn't work for someone who had no idea what all this stuff might be. Instead I ended up going with the most important pieces first. From there, it was how a piece fit into the case.

I began with the calendar I had created. Since it was done in a Publisher document, and not everyone has that program, I scanned my calendar in first. In the email I made sure he knew that supporting documentation was following and would be identified as such in each emails. Then I set about scanning in copies of all of those supporting documents with the exception of the blog entries. Those I informed him would follow shortly.

I was still working on finding all the links for my blog entries, using that as my "cool down" work for the scanners respite. There were so many blog posts with important information and as I located each link I double checked the post for content just in case something I hadn't realized before turned out to be pertinent too.

In the meantime, I scanned in all the emails I had received from BG and WF since some of them were evidence for my calendar while some were evidence of other things. Still I figured it was better to keep all emails from them grouped together for ease in locating particular evidence.

As I sent off these documents, the message to the attorney explained the purpose of each attached email and why that was significant to the case. I tried to send those in an order of the calendar evidence first, followed by the other emails from them. I ranked the remaining emails in order based on their importance to the case with BG's differing explanations of how and when the work was done coming next, followed by emails they sent to others that had direct bearing.

Once I was past the emails I went through all of the copies of bills, statements, repair quotes, cancelled checks etc that I had that supported either me or my truck was someplace else than working horses. By the time I had those all scanned in and sent with an explanation of how each fit the case, the work on the links for the calendar was complete and sent along with the journal I had kept at the beginning of our venture.

With the information on the calendar complete, I sent him the documents I had created using that calendar. There was a excel spreadsheet showing the horses and the number of days those horses were worked in each month and then a total number of days for each horse. There was also a document where I converted numbers of horses credited to BG into actual training dollars. These were done by month so I could show BG's claims per month versus actual work done.

After everything surrounding the calendar was done, I was down to the odd items appearing on BG's accounting sheet. I tried to go down the sheet page by page and address the anomalies there. I would define the issue in the email and provide the supporting evidence as an attachment for each inappropriate charge beginning with the charges for board.

The proof about charges for a pen instead of a full care stall came down to pictures of my horses actually living in the pens at BG's facility, blog posts about horses coming and going from those pens and not always staying there, and bills provided to other clients for board charged for horses living in pens. I explained in the email how each piece challenged in a different manner the authenticity of those charges.

In addition as a question about board, I had my cancelled checks and the invoices from the feed store where I had charged their hay to pay my board bill for Reflection, as well as documents proving Dave's unemployed status along with an accounting sheet showing how those bills were paid each month since individual feed bills did not equal board bills. It was a combination of them that added up to the appropriate total and that document made it clearer for everyone to see.

I had the USEF rules on showing in owner classes and on amateur status and to help with a couple of issues. The rule on owner classes had to do with the transfer of the paperwork so I included the copies of those documents at this time with appropriate explanations.

The amateur status had to do with determining groom duties that should have been part of training fees AND that lunging is not considered training. To go along with that I had articles on groom duties and responsibilities of trainers to support BG either should have done the grooming and tacking etc of my horses or he should have discounted his fees because I did it. When I sent the emails off with those items, I explained about BG's training charges for lunging my two conditioning horses and his credit against TK that gave him half that amount for conditioning that horse.

From there I went onto the issue of training for Legs. There were all of those show records of each horse that BG had worked with in the entire time I'd known him as well as the show records of both of my horses. In the message of the email I explained how I planned on using these with my expert to show why I never would have agreed for BG to do anything but remedial type work with Legs and why BG's charging me for the use of Dandy was totally inappropriate. To go along with this I sent him copies of the pictures of both kids riding Dandy. I also let him know there was video evidence of the kids in the ring if he needed. I just needed to know what format to supply them.

For that last page of the document with all of it's additional charges, I had prepared a document countering those charges. I sent that document with an explanation and all of the supporting evidence. I told him where to find that information in the emails he'd already received and then I included what had not already sent like an email they sent to another client that stated they did not charge their clients show fees.

By the time I finished all of this, I was two weeks into the process. I called the attorney to let him know I was indeed finished so we could make a plan for what came next. The attorney told me that he had the time to look over my paperwork at the beginning of the following week. Once he was done with that, he would call me so we could set up and appointment.

I could tell from that conversation he hadn't really looked at my paperwork yet. He'd just filed them into a folder in his mail program. The reason I knew this was because he thought he would be ready to set up that appointment in a couple of days. I figured in a couple of days his head would be spinning and he wouldn't know which end was up.........but it was all good. I had an attorney and he now had my entire case sitting in his lap.

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

Working the Final Pieces......

This isn't a baby that was born here but he is one of Leg's babies. Can you tell from the picture that this foal isn't a purebred? He's considered to be a half-Arabian although his mother was 3/4's so that makes him 7/8's Arabian. Meet Nugget.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ......... Transmitting Court Documents........

Part One

When I hung up from that phone call, I immediately kicked into high gear getting my paperwork ready for the equine attorney. I began with the legal documents starting right at the beginning with each and every single piece of paper that was involved. That included the documents of service and the document saying what the sheriff had done attempting to serve WF and why those attempts were unsuccessful.

I worked through all those legal documents in chronological order scanning each page. Then I created a file for each complete document and set up a folder for legal docs. Because of the size of these files, I sent them off in emails sometimes one by one and with the smaller ones I could send a pair. As I got enough scanned for an email, I sent them off so I didn't clog up his email with the bulk of my files.

Because of the large number of pages, I had to pay close attention to my scanner. On more than one occasion I could smell the heat of it. I didn't want to burn the thing up so I had to back off and take a break allowing the thing to cool.

During those times the scanner was cooling down, I worked on getting other things ready to be sent to him. Plenty of my evidence still had not really been categorized yet as to the "where" or "how" it would be used. I used my time to go through the sorted piles again and refining how those documents fit into the bigger picture.

There were all of those blog posts that I'd printed out for evidence that needed to be dealt with. I went through the document I had created that gave the name, date and pertinent content of each post and I added the appropriate links to those pages on my blog. Those blogs posts alone all printed out represented a 6" stack of paperwork.

Instead of sending him all that paper, I just sent him the document with the links so he could see any of them he wanted without having to deal with all the paper. I let him know when the time came he needed the paper for court I had it all printed out here in triplicate and I could provide it when needed either at our meeting or I could take it to court.

Each email I sent him had a message about the attachments. Whether it was to explain what I was doing in my progression or to point out some particular piece of information I thought was important, nothing went without some explanation. I also created a file in my mail program where each email was filed after sending so I didn't have to search through all of my records in case one should get missed or not arrive.

In the email with the service documents attached, I included my concerns about the fact WF had never been served. Just in case that might be a loophole for them, I didn't want it to be overlooked. I knew this was the man who would know for sure and I would finally be able to quite worrying about the thing that had haunted me from day one.

It was about 4 days including cooling down time for the scanner just to get all of the court documents scanned into pdf files so they could be emailed. The only things I did not scan of the court paperwork were those documents that had been created on my computer and did not require a stamp of receipt by the court clerk.

That was limited to the items that were attached to other documents but still represented a lot of work time. Not having to scan in each page of those Verified Admissions, Verified Interrogatories, the Amended Complaint, and the Request for Documents accounted for cutting off a big chunk of work. I wouldn't even venture to guess how many days that mess would have taken.

It was nice just to be able to attach my Word documents with the explanation in the email that each document had been attached as exhibits to other documents. Then I included the name of the document each had been attached to and the exhibit label of each, so he knew exactly what they were about and where they went also.

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

Getting to the Evidence........

This is another picture of Doc. The foal in yesterday's pic was indeed Rhythm. Lytha needed no clues, she just knew his pretty litte face and Laura figured out it because of his irregular markings on his front legs. His irregular markings all around is how Rhythm got his name. It's said that irregular markings on the diagonals make it difficult to tell if a horse is moving correctly. Scandalous Rhythm seemed like the perfect name for the pretty moving colt with the irregular socks.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ............. Some Legal Hope.............

Part One

After I got off the phone with the equine attorney, I did not follow my first reaction to curl up into a ball although I certainly felt like it. Instead I called and talked to a couple of my friends and we went over my conversation with this new attorney. They agreed as much as he had tried to discourage me, he hadn't said "no" either so they thought I shouldn't give up until I knew for sure.

By this time I had bought a copy of the NOLO publication Represent Yourself in Court -- How to Prepare & Try a Winning Case and I'd read a lot about the new trend of hiring a legal coach if you can't afford an attorney. I'd read enough and done enough with the case myself to see the benefits a legal coach could be if this attorney didn't want to represent me. I decided if he told me "no" I would see if he would be interested in doing that or maybe even just working for me at trials. Ideas I had not even thought possible before reading that book.

I thought about it most of the day. I ran the scenarios I thought possible over in my head. What I would say to him. How I would ask about legal coaching or a role of partial counsel. I just kept running it over in my mind until I felt I was prepared enough to make the call.

I got up my nerve and called the attorney back that evening after 6 as he'd suggested. When I reached him the man was on his tractor haying his fields. I have to admit knowing that made him all the more "real" to me. He seemed like a down to earth kind of guy and I really hoped he would come through for me.

I had decided I was going to beat around the bush when I talked to him. Now that I had him on the phone I asked him straight out.

"Have you decided whether you can help me or not?" I questioned.

His answer was immediate, "Yes, actually, I've thought about you a lot today and I had decided if I didn't hear from you, then I was going to call you."

I knew when I heard those words, "I was going to call you" this man had decided to help me. I didn't really know "how" he was going to help me yet, but I knew he was going to be there for me in some fashion.

To be honest, that really wasn't the answer I expected. I was really prepared for an outright "No" followed by a "I'd like to but this case will just be too expensive."

From there the man went on to say something like this , "I realize this is a matter of principle to you. You're the kind of person that would do this even knowing it might take you the rest of your life to pay the bill. "

Then he added, "and you would follow through and pay the bill even if it really did take you the rest of your life whether you won or lost."

As I heard his words, I realized he really did understand what this case meant to me and he had a pretty good picture of me too. I would pay whatever it took and I would honor my commitment to pay the bill no matter how long it took or how the case turned out so I told him he was absolutely right about me and my principles.

From there he proceeded to tell me what he needed me to do. He wanted me to send him everything I had on the case. He wanted copies of all of the documents I'd received from their attorney,
all of the documents I'd filed, and all of the evidence I'd gathered. Every last thing I thought relevant to the case, he wanted to see as soon as possible.

This attorney's office is two counties away from me. Because of the distance involved he wanted to be sure neither one of us spent time commuting we didn't have to. There was no point in running up billing hours that weren't really going to be all that productive. We would make sure we got as much bang as possible for our buck by corresponding through emails and not meeting until we had real strategy to decide.

The documents he wanted I I could either send him hard copies or I could scan it all in and send it to him email. Whichever way worked best for me was fine for him. Once that was done and he had the opportunity to look it over, we would talk again and see about formulating some kind of plan.

In the meantime I wasn't supposed to do anything with the courts. I told him about my concern about deadlines for discovery and he told me a decision about that could wait until he'd looked over all the documents. I asked about my amend complaint and the admission and he told me not to do anything until he'd had a chance to look those over as well. I was to sit tight and wait to see what OUR next step was going to be.

We did not talk about retainers or fees or anything like that. After our phone call was over all I knew for sure was I had help. Just exactly what that help was, I really didn't know yet BUT for the first time, I had a real live equine attorney on my side. To me it really didn't matter what the capacity was. Just knowing he was there gave me hope.

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

Transmitting Court Documents.....

With the foals we've seen so far, which one do you think this is?


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

TNJ.............. Talking to Another Attorney........

Part One

First thing Monday morning after the Daffodil All Arabian Horse Summer Show, I called that equine lawyer I had been referred to by the friend I'd run into at the horse show. I knew the odds were against me getting an attorney at this late date but I felt insecure enough about the process I figured I'd better check things out. I wouldn't know for sure unless I asked.

My friend had used this attorney in an equine case too, but it was for considerably less that my suit. Still she had been surprised at what he had been able to do for her. He saw so many things that affected the case that she had not seen. She ended up getting way more money than she ever expected because he understood the damages that had been done to her business etc when all she had seen was what she had been owed.

I knew that whole question of damages and how you compute those was going to be the difficult part for me. My experience with the car accident had taught me that. I knew there definitely were repercussions that affected my business but how to figure what they were and get the court to accept them seemed to be beyond the scope of my understanding of the law.

Of course, the attorney was not in. I needed answers with that deadline for discovery fast approaching but I had to settle for leaving a number. I hoped he get back to me soon. I still needed to file my amended complaint and my requests for amendments. They had been granted but I think it was still up to me to "officially" request them. I figured I probably shouldn't be doing anything like that if I was going to be taking on an attorney.

It was late Tuesday morning when the attorney called me back. I was outside turning horses out so I missed his call. Then we played phone tag until I finally reached him on Wednesday. The week was half gone before we ever had a conversation. I was so relieved when I finally heard his voice on the other end of the phone.

There was something soothing about his voice. A disarming kindness came through that I had not expected. The man had 35 years of experience in equine law and he, himself, breeds horses.

When I finally did get this attorney on the phone, once I told him who had referred me and we'd had our bit of small talk about how she was doing, I told the man up front that I had no money and I had been turned down by two attorneys because I did not have what they wanted for a retainer.

Once that part was out of the way, I began imparting the usual information about my dilemma. I told him how I had traded Storm for training so I could get my young horses started under saddle and that we had no written contract. I explained how they'd gotten the registration papers and BG had cut back on how much work he was doing and then the work finally ceased. I went through how I'd blocked them from being able to negotiate those registration papers, Dave and YW's meetings resulting in BG's accounting sheet, and the threatening letter from the attorney I responded to by filing the lawsuit.

Then I went through the facts about my work pro se from which court I'd filed in to what kind of action I had taken. I gave him the clearest picture that I could.

All through the conversation his response was much the same as the two other lawyers had been. In some ways it felt like deja vu so much of the conversation was the same. The case was complicated because essentially it was a he said/she said thing. Because it was complicated it was going to be expensive to pursue. There are no guarantees when you got to court. Anything can happen regardless of how good you feel about a case. Even if we did win, the odds were we would never be able to collect a judgement.

We did have quite a discussion about what this case meant to me both in terms of what I believed Storm's situation to be and how I felt about my reputation. Throughout this conversation there was one thing he did not say......that was he wouldn't take my case.

While we were talking, he kept getting interrupted by other phone calls or someone in the office. He kept apologizing but he insisted he needed to deal with the interruption. Through the course of our conversation we were interrupted by an opposing attorney he'd been playing phone tag with for a week with a deadline of the following day, an emergency call from his farm and the final interruption was from a judge calling from his chambers about another case with a deadline looming.

Instead of putting me on hold for that last call, he told me he really needed to take the call. . He'd already given me his cell phone number but he double checked that I had it before telling me if I still wanted to talk with him, I could call him at home after 6.

I must admit I got off the phone feeling very defeated. There seemed to be so much stacked against me and while he hadn't said he wouldn't take my case, he hadn't said he would either. I didn't know what to thing but my first reaction was to curl up on a ball and cry.

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

Some Legal Hope.......

For those of you who may have missed this story last year, this picture is Solidare's foal, Tango . He looks pretty innocent in that picture but he's got as big an attitude as any of her foals. Put that together with the attitude of Legs' babies and you have primo attitudes and tons of presence.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY