Final Words on Solidare and DSLD

Over the course of the spring I posted a couple of blog posts Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis and then
More on DSLD, Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis
about the illness known as DSLD. The motivation of my posts had very much to do with people's criticism of my breeding my mare, Solidare, who had dropped fetlocks. It's been clear from the start that dispite information to the contrary many people assume any horse with dropped fetlocks is a victim of that disease and therefore should not be considered a breeding horse. I had hoped more information might educate people so I put myself out there but pretty much things did not change. Most kept a tight lip, their beliefs to themselves and continued to believe that Solidare was a DSLD mare.

As a breeder I take my job very seriously and would never consider breeding an animal I thought would contribute harmful genes to the breed or maybe even worse yet, produce animals that would be unable to perform the purpose for which they have been bred because of a heritable disease. Not only can I not afford to make such a mistake, I believe it is unethical to engage in such practices. My belief about Solidare was based on my experience with the mare and had nothing to do with some thick layer of denial shielding me from the real truth.

I remember my first encounter with that accusation that I wouldn't see something right before my eyes because of denial. It was about the condition of my daughter, Lindsay, after her brain surgery. Those doctors in the rehabitilitation division of Seattle Children's discharged Lindsay when she was still in a wheel chair and required 24 hour a day care. My insistance that Lindsay had way more progress to make was met with closed minds on the part of the professionals. I was the one accused of being closed off and unwilling to see reality. Yet today, Lindsay is my number one help around this place. She has so far exceeded the expectations of any of those "experts" they don't even know what hit them.

I guess the current question about my beliefs would have to do with Solidare's condition and my supposed denial about that as well. Were Solidare's dropped fetlocks really due to the ill fated pregnancy so many years ago as I believe, or were they because of disease? The only way to answer that question would be examination after death. DSLD which has been renamed Equine Systemic Proteoglycan Accumulation can only be determined by visual inspection of affected organs and tissues. For a diagnosis of the disease it takes the presence of excessive amounts of proteoglycans in affected tissues. "Abnormal accumulation of proteoglycans between collagen and elastic fibers rather than specific collagen fibril abnormalities is the most prominent histological feature of DSLD"

Being a person who challenges my own thinking as a way to keep myself on track, I felt I should have this question answered despite my beliefs. With three daughters of Solidare's that I very much want to breed and now a colt who looks like he will be stallion quality, it's pretty darn important I not make a mistake. I'd made the decision early on when the time came, Solidare would be examined to be absolutely sure I was on the right page.

Unfortunately on Solidare's last day, I was a basket case and the thought of examining my mare for this disease was the farthest thing from my mind. It was NOT, however, the farthest thing from my vet's mind who knows me well enough to know what I would want. Solidare was carefully examined to the specific cause of her dropped fetlocks.

My vet found that Solidare's achilles tendon had migrated. Specifically the achilles tendon is the combined superficial and deep flexor tendon. Not only can trauma occur to cause issues with the legs but the tendon is susceptible to luxation where it comes out of normal track and runs over the calcaneus (this is the back bone that forms the hock). Although this situation indeed happened at the end of the pregnancy where Soldiare went well passed her due date and was over saturated with the hormones responsible for relaxing the pelvic area readying the birth canal for the passage of the foal, it is hard to know if the relaxation itself caused the problem or some external force on the tendon in it's relaxed state caused it. Either way it is considered to be an injury. The luxation (movement) of the tendon from it's normal track is the injury responsible for Solidare's dropped fetlocks.

In addition the tissues were examined and found to be normal and healthy showing no signs of the disease. Thus further supporting the fact the dropped fetlocks resulted not from disease to any tissue but from injury.

Fortunately, in this situation with Solidare, I was there to experience what had happened to my mare. Because I saw first hand the changes in the mare's body from the excess hormones I was able to understand how she ended up dropping in the fetlocks, as was my vet at the time. I think this is important because had it been different, Solidare might have never had another foal. Considering the quality of those foals I think that might be considered a loss to the breed as a whole as well as a loss to my breeding program.

I doubt that Solidare was an isolated case. It is safe to assume if she ended up in this situation from injury, others horses do as well. I would hope that people dealing with individuals with dropped fetlocks but have no idea how or when the situation developed might be opened minded to the possibility that DSLD is not always the only answer. It would be a shame to lose some individuals from the breeding pool for something that was "assumed" instead of something based on fact.

I've known for years that it is not uncommon to find old broodmares dropped in the fetlocks like Solidare. Following along the development of their produce has revealed no recurrence of this phenomenon. Mostly it's occurrence seems to manifest in mares who have had many foals or gone well over term. Some of those over term occurrences have been even more dramatic than dropped fetlocks. I have seen mares lose the strength in the straps to their backs causing them to drop dramatically. Just another example of what can happen when Mother Nature over does her job but important to know when you're a breeder trying to figure out what is good stock to breed and what is not.

NOTE: I didn't do this post to vindicate Solidare. In my mind she needed no vindication. I always knew she was a great mare. Nothing has changed. I did this for her foals, they deserve to be valued as the individuals that they are and not condemned based on misinformation and fear. They deserve the opportunity to contribute to this breed I love so much. I hope they get the opportunity to do that.


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My Final Rant on Disposable Horses

I would be remiss not to mention that there are those owners who really don't care about what is best for their horse. To them it is about being successful to whatever degree their heart desires. Horses are just a means to an end. If the horses are "broken" in the process, they are discarded without a second thought.

Just like the culls from some breeding farms are easily loaded up by the trailer load and dropped off at auction houses without papers or any means of identification, the horses that flunk out from the school of hard knocks at one of those push 'em hard and fast trainers can be seen dumped off in similar manner. It may not be as obvious as those trailer loads the rumor mill talks about but you can bet over time the numbers are just as horrific.

Many trainers are not concerned about owners who really don't care about what is best for their horse. Why should they be? The trainer has pretty much free rein to do as they please as long as they produce results with some animals. Then there's the fact the more horses an owner goes through, the more money the trainer makes that you can bet affects how the trainer perceives that owner. It is the constant turn over of horses that assures the trainer a full barn even in this bad economy.

I couldn't possible forget to mention the trainers who are the ones behind their clients constant turnover of horses. They'll tell a prospective client what they want to hear about their horse before they get it in the barn. Then once the horse is there, the trainer decides this horse just isn't right for this client and the search is on to find a new one.

Most anyone whose been around the industry knows the more homes a horse goes to the more likely the horse will end up in a bad situation. Any practice intended to keep a client constantly moving through different horses can only be bad news for horses in the long run.

The thoroughbred industry takes a lot of heat about starting horses out early on their racing careers. Many critics believe it's the mindset that horses are disposable commodities behind such practices. However, thoroughbreds are most certainly not the only horses started early in their under saddle career.

I know particularly the American Quarter Horse and the Arabian breed both have futurities and maturity programs targeting those young horses. The horses I breed are not even mature enough to get on by the time many of these horses are showing at the national level. How long do those horses hold up when they've been started out so young? It would be interesting to track the show careers of such horses to see if they are still out there showing in their twenties like the horses brought on slowly can do.

I'm not criticizing those people who like to ride young horses, or the ones who are out looking for projects. It is not the practice of riding young horses that creates problems or finding horses with problems and fixing them only to put them back out there again. It is pushing horses beyond their limits mentally or physically and sometimes both that can causes of lifetime of problems for the horses subjected to them.

Lucky is the horse with issues who manages to fall into the hands of one of those saviors who give their hearts to rehabilitate such horses. Hopefully from there that horse will find the perfect home and stay put there to live out its days. Unfortunately there are far more horses with issues than there are people with the skills to fix them and there are far less perfect homes than any of us who love horses wish.

Even that rehabilitated horse is at risk if it end up in the hands of someone not knowledgeable enough to deal with its former issues. Once a horse has been scarred it does not take long to fall back into old behaviors when its not being handled correctly. Then the horse begins to get a reputation of really being a "bad *ss" Such a reputation makes a horse a likely target for the killers, that's for sure.

It's just not the horses fault, all of these things happen. Over and over it comes down to we, humans, and how we choose to deal with the horse. Unfortunately, rarely are the humans who have caused such problems for the equines in their life accountable for their behavior. I think if we want to see changes in the numbers of horses discarded each year, we have to figure out ways for those people to be accountable. Nothing will change until that happens.

Money and Disposable Horses

Of course, money is the motivator for trainers who engage in the practice of pushing horses to get results in record times but trainers are not the only ones at fault here. Many trainers defend their practices saying that owners wanting horses finished quickly is what's behind their behavior.

Working as a groom I saw enough owners complaining about the cost of training to know pressure is on most trainers to keep expenses down as much as possible. The questioning I've heard over and over about "how long it's taking" to get the job done definitely puts pressure on the trainers to hurry things up despite what is best for the horse.

Of course, there are trainers who will stand up to such owners and let them know training is a process. Unfortunately even trainers who don't really adhere to that belief with their training practices will usually balk at owners questioning them. For me a trainer that won't tolerate questioning from an owner is a red flag to run fast and furiously still owners need to be sure their questions are about what is right for their horse and not their pocket book.

The responsibility for pushing horses beyond what they can handle comes down to both trainers and owners. While trainers may seem to be the ones with all the power here, the power is in the money. Trainers couldn't do what they do, if owners didn't enable them to do so.

Those horses that can't hold up to quicky styles of training actually earn many trainers more money in the long run. There are those commissions the trainers get for buying and selling horses. The more horses turned over in a barn, the more commissions the trainer earns. Just another way the horse has no chance without an owner as an advocate.

There's another dynamic that can happen with owners and money that definitely affects the horse. As far as I'm concerned, I think those owners who are always out there looking for the best deal in horse trainers are a huge part of the problem of "broken horses."

The cheapest definitely doesn't always mean the best. There's a reason that some trainers are charging way less than others. If you find a trainer charging half of what the big name trainers are charging, the odds are something is amiss. Many times that reason has more to do with skill than owners want to believe.

Not that you can't find a real deal that is worth it in the horse industry. There are trainers, who for whatever reason, have talent, care about horses and people and don't charge four arms and a leg for training. Usually there is some reasonable explanation for why they are charging less but you can bet such trainers are few and far between.

I see time after time,small breeders, beginners and even old timers, making their way around the string of less than competent trainers on the fringes of the show community. With each trainer they leave they have a story of how they were taken.

Sometimes a half dozen horses or even more have been ruined before enough happened for the owner to even realize there was a problem. Yet, those owners rarely see how they contributed to things. They're still in search of that bargain and haven't made the connection between it and what's best for their horse.

Year after year I see the same people's horses in the show ring with the same issues. The horses may have changed but the issues are the same. Still the owners hang on tight saying they can't afford more while they've thrown away hundreds and even thousands of dollars on trainers who will never get the job done.

In the process lots of horses have been ruined but it's never the trainer's fault. It's always the horse who takes the brunt of it. The horse gets blamed for the problem and gets sent off somewhere while the owner finds a new victim to provide to the trainer. You'd think after a while the owners would get it figured out. More often than not, they hang in there with the trainer believing every word that's said.

It would be interesting to trace those discarded horses if it could be done. I suspect eventually many of the horses who have gotten off to such a start are the ones that end up in dire straights down the road. Neglected, discarded and broken by an industry that chooses not to see where the real problems lie.

Producing Disposable Horses

I suppose this is as good a time as ever to talk about at least part of the role that some trainers can play contributing to the problem of unwanted horses. In BECC's comment she made mention of thirty day wonders as the goal of many trainers nowadays. Any true horseman knows you can't put a time frame on a horse for training purposes. It's about the process for each individual that determines how things turn out.

Many horses do not adapt well to the expectation they will "get it" in a required time frame. Such horses are damaged by such a process. The extent of the damage can result in anything from lameness to bad attitudes and all manner of things in between. Trust can be destroyed to such an extent it can take years to heal such a horse. Some of those horses never heal. Others are too broken physically to ever be of use.

Such horses are easily discarded by unscrupulous ignorant trainers and sometimes owners who make the issue the horse's fault. Not wanting to take responsibility for their own failures because of the training process they use, it's just so much easier to make it the horse's fault. Unfortunately this situation is all too common in the horse industry. Many a good horse has been ruined in the horse industry by this type of training.

Unfortunately owners in their quest for ribbons will overlook the horses laid waste by such practices. They buy the justifications of the trainer and fall into the trap it really can be "the horse's fault. I know owners who say they don't condone abuse who live with it all around them. They're so brainwashed by the manipulations of their trainers they don't see what's right in front of them.

It's not always winning trainers that are involved in such practices. Many a young trainer trying to climb up the ladder of success has pushed too hard, asking for too much, way too soon. Wanting so badly to make it to the top, they too blame it on the horses, not searching for their contribution to the problem.

Over my years in the horse industry, I've seen more than my share of horses pay for the mistakes of people. So far none of the individuals I've known personally have been discarded to slaughter or abandoned somewhere but that doesn't mean they haven't displaced a horse whose taken their place in that demise.

Even the smallest stone causes a ripple on the waters. The practice of cranking trained horses out in record times is not a small stone. It's a huge expectation in today's horse industry and its ramifications on the horse industry is equally as enormous. Its effects on the population of unwanted horses may not have been measured but you can bet the ripple of this practice builds waves taller than buildings.

Mostly, no one wants to deal with the ill mannered horse. People who rescue such animals to fix them see far more pass by than they have time to save. When times get tough the horses with issues are the first to go.

Most of those ill mannered horses have humans in their past responsible for the behavior of such horses. If discarded horses could actually tell us their stories, we'd be appalled. You can bet the stories are far worse than the imaginations of those watching the plight of such horses. Just thinking about the bad experiences of a couple of horses I have bred makes me cringe at the thought of what others might endure. I can't even imagine, nor do I want to, my heart breaks so at the storied I do know.

Disposable Horses

There were many important comments on on Shocking Everyone has feelings on such a heart breaking subject. There are so many things to be said about it, it doesn't seem like one post is nearly enough.

I must admit that Brown Eyed Cowgirls made some great points in her comment I am just as frustrated by the circumstances of her points as she is and ever so tired of being blamed for issues in the horse industry that I have not caused nor do I condone.

I., too, think that responsbility is a big part of the issue. It's easy to point to the economy, to slaughter houses closing and to breeders in general when it really comes down to the personal ethics of the individuals invovled. People tend to look for scapegoats for problems instead of being willing to get in and learn what really is at issue.

Certainly the closing of the slaughterhouses has made all the more obvious issues within the industry but closing the slaughter houses didn't create the problems. There have long been issues in the horse industry caused by unscupulous breeders, sellers and buyers as well as those issues caused by outright ignorance.

As long as the slaughterhouses were open, we weren't having to see up close and personal, the number of horses that were being discarded each year. Horses that were bred in huge numbers to find one super star with the rest being discarded. Horses sold to people who were not qualified to deal with the animal. Horses purchased by people who were not serious about their commitment to take on such responsibility. The only ones who really noticed the discards from these practices were those going to the auction houses frequented by the kill buyers.

Those auction houses sold far more horses to the killers than were ever saved by those with breaking heart strings at their auctions. Kill buyers have made a lucrative living at it, that's why there are so many of them. Most everyone I know whose gone to such auctions has all kinds of sad stories to tell. Most I know have quit going because they can't stand the nightmares caused because they couldn't save them all.

Living here close to Canada, we have killers still buying at auction housesbecause they can still profitably transport horses to slaughter houses across the border.The circumstances at Joint Base Lewis-McCord have probably been directly affected by the closing of the local auction house in Yelm. That auction house closed down because Wal-Mart bought the property, not because of the laws forbidding the slaughter of horses in the US.

Anyone who could justify dropping a horse off at one of those auctions could easily make the jump to justifying dumping their horses on the fort or any kind of forest land. My guess those around here would go for the fort over hauling the additional distance to an auction house in Enumclaw or Centralia simply because of time and cost.

People who can dispose of animals in irresponsible ways are "victims." All you have to do is ask them and they'll tell you how life has screwed them. To their way of thinking, it's just not their fault that things have turned out the way they have. They've had no choice. They take no personal responsbility for their decision. That's how they live with themselves.......pointing the finger elsewhere allows them to sleep at night.

Society as a whole tends to enable such behavior. Instead of holding irresponsible people accountable, we feel sorry for them. Blame is pointed at the slaughter houses, the recession and breeders for there being too many horses.

BECC is right that the consumers have had a big hand in this. Money has fueled many of the abuses in the horse industry and society's view of the things we purchase being disposable plays a part in this as well.

If the irresponsible breeders didn't have an easy way to dump all of their culls, they'd have to think twice about producing so many of them. If irresponsible sellers had to be accountable for placing a horse in a situation that would never work, they'd be less likely to sell a horse that way. If buyers had to be accountable for the animal they take home instead of seeing it as disposable, fewer people would buy horses before they are truly ready to do so.

These are all complicated problems and I didn't even get into the part that trainers play in this nightmare. BECC mentioned trainers too but she didn't really touch the issues trainers contribute to this "disiposal horse syndrome." A post for another day, maybe. What do you think............about disposable horses? ...............and who contributes to the phenomenon?

Shocking...........

Yesterday I went to the open house of a small Arabian horse breeder around the corner from me. I like to go to these things because I think we small breeders need to support one another. It's tough enough in this industry without those of us trying to preserve the quality of the breed not sticking together.

It's also at the open houses of the smaller breeders that I tend to meet people I haven't met before. It seems like the open houses of the really big barns will draw the regular show folks that I've seen for years. For some reason the smaller breeders seem to draw a different sort of crowd, more local and more grass roots I'd guess I'd call it.

That's what it was like at yesterday's event. There were faces there I had never seen before and others that looked familiar but I had not names to put with those face. Then there were some friends of mine.

It was in the group of new faces that word of something very shocking. Rumors have been circulating throughout the horse industry of horses being turned loose out at combined base, Fort Lewis - McCord. One of the women sitting beside me had connections to those involved in the round up of horses the fort must do because of these abandoned horses.

When one of the other women heard of the connection, she began to ask much more direct questions. The resulting information makes me physically sick. I had no idea so many people could be so callous to their supposedly equine friends.

It seems the "normal" number of horses abandoned each year is somewhere around one hundred. The fort does two round ups per year. The people who help with the round up can pick horses to keep if they chose. The rest are sent to slaughter in Canada.

Since the decline in the economy the number of horses abandoned has risen just as the rumor mill said. The last four years the total number of horses dumped off at the fort has been nearly one thousand.

The first round up of this year totaled two hundred eighty head. If the rest of the year stays about the same, it will mean over five hundred head of horses abandoned in just one year.

I can't even imagine what these people must be thinking turning horses loose like that. If they think they are taking care of them better than they can, they couldn't be more wrong. The horses are pretty much guaranteed to be sent off to slaughter and before that time they must survive in a war zone.

That fort is a training facility. We hear the blasts of training clear over where I live. When troops are on maneuvers they are utilizing everything in their bag of tricks for practice. That means razor wire, trenches, bomb blasts, mortars etc. Who would turn a horse loose under those kinds of conditions? Who would abandoned a horse, period??

Quandary - My Arabian Horse Twins

The quandary I am in has to do with whether this is really appropriate. To explain my confusion here are the facts as I know them.

I first became associated with Mare Stare soon after my twin foals were born. The owner of the website contacted me saying she'd like to provide me with a web cam and host streaming for the twins on her site. (In actuality MS provided free hosting for me for a couple of years.)

Mare Stare was relatively new at the time and while I had never heard of it, I figured getting the name of my farm out there on the internet couldn't hurt, so I agreed. I knew that streaming the twins would help Mare Stare draw traffic to their site to build up it's readership. I figured that's what her motivation was for asking me in the first place. That was ok with me too, I figured we were scratching each others backs.

After we got the twins live webcam up and streaming, some of the Mare Stare people started the organization called Mare Stare Cares. At the time one of the foals featured on their cams had died leaving the owner with extraordinary vet bills. Then there were my extra ordinary vet bills with the twins. My twins and the foal known as "Lucky" were featured as the causes getting Mare Stare Cares off the ground. There may have been a third party mentioned as well but if so I'm blank on those details.

There were auctions, donations through PayPal and all sorts of things raising funds for this organization. Pictures of my twins were used as well as pictures of the other foal. Later in that year even a calendar was done with my twin foals featured on the December page.

I have no idea what kind of funds were raised but I can tell you I never received a dime from Mare Stare Cares. When I was recently contacted by them to provide pictures of the twins, I mentioned this fact to them because I think that people think their donations went to help paying my vet bills which just didn't happen. I am uncomfortable with that what people think happened is not what really happened.

The response from Mare Stare was they had provided me with a web cam and free streaming. While I'm certainly not denying that, I question it is appropriate to regard that as the help from Mare Stare Cares. It was done in the name of Mare Stare for the promotion of the web cam hosting site that is Mare Stare. I doubt detonators knew they were paying Mare Stare for hosting the twins' web cam on their site. Considering the founding of Mare Stare Cares came after that offer, it seems to me to be a misrepresentation of things.

I am all for helping out people who need help. My concern is about the way this has been done. As I said before people believe that I was given funds to help pay my vet bills not that funds were generated to pay hosting charges. The muddiness of this concerns me.

I realize that Mare Stare must pay for the volume of traffic on their site. I know the twins probably brought in a lot of volume and that affected the site's bills. But the twins being on that site benefited Mare Stare in terms of growth they accomplished. Using that growth correctly could definitely generate a considerable income to the founder of Mare Stare if she worked it right. So is it appropriate to raise funds under the guise of helping people with extra ordinary vet bills only to use those funds for the website?

I believe that Mare Stare Cares is operating now under a 501(c)(3) status. I'm pretty sure this "donation" as they call it towards my twins would not met the criteria for that designation. They might be able to write the hosting off under costs but I doubt they could say it was a donation made to my twins. If that is so, doesn't that make their use of my twins in their advertising as an example of those they've helped questionable?

I want to help IF and only if it is appropriate. I don't believe that Mare Stare Cares helped my twins in the manner purported by the fundraising efforts of Mare Stare Cares or the criteria set by the government. What do you think? If that is indeed the case, isn't it inappropriate for them to continue to use my twins as an example of "parties they have helped" so they can generate more funds? That leads me to another question. Are there others like me who never received any funds? And does this manner of doing business look like someone who is really above board?

I need to get back to MSC to let them know if they can use my twins in their advertising. If it was up to you, what would you do?

Life........and Its Lessons........Wrapping Up

After the post, The Final Straw, there's been some discussion on the facebook page where that post showed up. People have stepped forward to say their experiences with this trainer has been different than mine.

I have no problem seeing that and I'm glad for them that their experiences were successful. There were people at the barn getting along famously with this WT while I was there. He seems to have a full barn most of the time now so he must do ok with some people and their horses. Still that does not change my experience. It was as I posted. I can still hear those words in my head as clearly as the day he yelled them at me.

I was basically called a liar in one of those comments because of the afore mentioned words. That person's experience with this trainer was different than mine and she's sure the trainer would "never" use that word. All that means is she really has never heard him use the word. To her that meant I must be a liar It does not, however, make her assumptions true.

I would never accuse someone of being a liar because their experience was different than mine. I accept that people are very different and their relationships and experiences can be different as well. Just because some of the things I wrote were not the experiences of others does not mean they are a lie. Maybe it just means they've never seen the man as angry as he was at me that day.

I am not a liar. Believe me sometimes I think life might be simpler if I were. I'm not going to tell you that I was never a liar. The first thirty years of my life I was darn good at it. Therapy changed all of that for me. Now I no longer have to keep track of what I said so it doesn't come back to hit me in the face. The truth is just so much easier in that respect. Others might give it a try sometimes.

There are other comments on FB I have not addressed. I see no point in addressing them other than in this way. It's clear the mind of the commenter is closed to anything but her version of things. I have listened to what she has to say and even tried to open up a dialogue to resolve our conflict but there is no interest in that. I think that speaks for itself.

I repeat the point of the posts in this series including the one on my experience with this trainer were not intended to target anyone. If I had intended to do that people would not have been wondering who the trainer was. The post was about my experience and what I should have learned from it.

As for those lessons, I'm not going to tell you I did learn something at the time. Quite honestly it escaped me. All I could think of was how miserable an experience it was. Looking back now it's much easier to "get" what I could have done differently.

If I had it to do over, I would not have stayed when it was clear there were communication issues between him and my horse AND between him and me. Thinking I could hang in there and it would all work out was naive. We were not a good fit for whatever reason. It would have been better for all concerned if I had left early on. I get that....... but hind sight is always 20/20.

Also I really should have learned about writing things down. A written contract on what was expected, what things would cost, all those things. That's one I'm still struggling with today. That "friend" word can still get in there and common sense flies out the door. I really need to get over that.

Telling this story was about those pieces that made the whole, the things that happened that built up to the ugliness at the end. There was plenty of information there in those pieces of information telling this was not the right place for me if I had only paid attention to it but I didn't. I discounted my feelings and tolerated things that were not right for me. As a result the situation escalated.

At some time there will be others out there caught in the same trap. They'll be thinking if they just do whatever well enough it will work when it probably never will. Sometimes people just don't gel with other people. Sometimes trainers, farrier or vets don't gel with certain horses. That's just part of life. What's important is that we recognize when we find ourselves confronted by such situations and do what is best for ourselves and the horse.

The bottom line is all of this is really about the horses. As owners we are responsible for seeing our horses are in safe situations. No one starts out with enough knowledge to do that and some won't have that kind of knowledge or experience in their entire lives. Yet horses must rely on us to care and advocate for them whether we have those skills or not.

We have to be willing to look at the pitfalls in the industry and to examine our mistakes for the horses sake. Trusting a horse to a trainer, a farrier, a vet does not necessarily mean a horse is safe. There are lots of those people out there that don't have the horse's best interest at heart. They are in it for their own agenda.

We will never be able to compile a list of who is and isn't reputable or right for us besides that information is all subjective. What works for one will never work for another. But we can share our experiences so we can spot those warning signs and get ourselves and our horses out before real harm is done.

I can't tell you how many times a person has told me about something they knew that might have helped me. They kept it to themselves when I was wading in over my head. Only after I've drowned did they share what they knew. Yet maybe if I'd had that information ahead of time, I would have made a different decision and not made such a mistake.

This behavior of sharing after the fact is common every where in life, not just in the horse industry. We could save ourselves a lot of grief if we'd only share our experiences so others don't have to make the same mistakes. That why they teach history in school......so we can learn from it and move on. Yet there can be no history to learn in the horse industry if we don't share our experiences good and bad. Currently that rarely happens and frankly it's one of my pet peeves.

My mare, Scandalous, might be alive to this day if I'd only been told why we didn't turn geldings out with mares when I first worked as a groom. Yet, it was only after my daughter's gelding killed my mare that I heard the trainer's story of such a happening in her youth. Even the vet that came that fateful day had seen the same thing happen numbers of times he said. Yet he admitted it wasn't something he shared with his clients. Why is that?

A friend of mine had experience with this WT before he began to train Arabians. He didn't tell me his experience until after I had mine even though he knew I was taking my horse there. Had he shared his opinions with me first, I doubt I would have ever been in that situation. I have a lot of respect for this man's opinion and we share the same beliefs about how a horse should be trained. Yet I was not given the benefit of his input.

Nobody talked about the vet who mistakenly used alcohol when he was supposed to be oiling horses for the trip to US Nationals. The vet realized his mistake yet hid it from the owners and trainer. Those people watched in horror as their horses died an agonizing death still being treated by a vet who KNEW the horses could not be saved.

Those horses should have been euthanized immediately but they were treated for countless hours because the vet was trying to save his own *ss. Even when one of the owners discovered the truth, others in the community were not warned. Would you want to have this vet work on your horse? Fortunately he is no longer in the area but he was around for years after this incident. He was even at my farm a time or two. He sure would not have been had I known this story. Luckily he did no damage here.

I have a friend who stayed in a boarding facility for three years where she was miserable. Her belief system was that you look for a place that will take good care of your horse and everything will be fine. It wasn't fine for her. She stayed because she thought there was something wrong with her. It never occurred to her that it was it just was not a good fit and it was ok for her to move on. Doing so didn't make her a bad person or a bad horse woman. It just was not the right place for her and her horse. It happens to people sometimes but she didn't know that. No one shared their similar stories with her until after she moved and I hadn't learned my lesson about "fit" yet.

The woman down the road from me bought a horse from a well known breeder at the time. The horse was wonderful at the breeders. Two days later it nearly killed my friend at her farm. She was told after the experience this breeder was known for drugging horses before showing them to prospective buyers. The information came from a former employee of the breeder who was a friend of hers and knew she was going there looking for a horse.

I have heard stories of people who have left the horse industry because of their bad experiences. Instead of learning from the things that didn't work well and moving on to those that did, they gave up and left. Sure it was an accumulation of things over time before many left but others left after one incident with one buyer or seller, one trainer or boarding barn, one show season without success.

These people believed they couldn't trust the industry, it would scr*w them every time. Maybe in a way it would. Many of the things that happened to these people might have been avoided had others they came in contact with shared their stories. As I've said before it is this "don't tell" practice in the industry that sets people up. I'll bet many of you have your own stories about how this practice set you or your horse up.

A final note, yes, this series of posts is all about negative things that have happened in the industry. However, I have over 1000 posts here. A very small percentage of them are about the negatives. There have been plenty of posts about good things that have happened in the industry and people I have met with integrity and honor. Nearly all of these posts are about my experiences and what they were like for me and about my love of the Arabian horse. It is my web log after all.




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Life........and Its Lessons........Finishing Up with the WT

Part 1

Despite the ugly lesson with the WT, I got through the horse show. I kept my distance from the trainer and his wife so I didn't blow my stack. I still had hopes that my horse might do something in his classes at this show.

That, however, was not to be. The hunter pleasure classes were huge. There was no room for a horse that was not working properly. The trainer's ride was clean but the horse did not get a prize. My ride lacked the confidence necessary to be seen in a large class. I chalked this show up in the column of learning experiences and took my horse home.

This was not the end of my relationship with this trainer. As it turned out there still was the matter of the bill that he sent to me. There were items on it I had already paid for as well as amounts different from what I'd been told.

Me, I wanted to fight over it. My husband wanted it paid so the whole ugly experience would be over. My husband won out saying the backlash this WT could cause me in the industry just wasn't worth it.

Years later I can tell you paying that inflated bill did not stop the backlash. This trainer has taken every opportunity possible to trash my reputation. Even now things he says filter their way back to me. Although it might be interesting to note he is cautious about who he speaks to about me. He seems to carefully chose people who wouldn't know me or those he knows can't wait to get on the band wagon due to their own issues. All the while he avoids those who would not tolerate him running me down.

I hope anyone who thinks like Dave did, that complying is a form of protection, can learn from Dave's mistake. I know I will no longer go along with that notion. I will stand up for myself and what is right despite what those people who revel in wallowing in the mud think. Time is the true test of one's integrity not the twisted tales of those trying to cover their own tracks.

When my horse was still with the WT, I had pictures taken by Jeff Little. This was right before the horse showed at the Midsummer Classic so we took pictures of the horse in western tack as well as hunter tack. I was hoping to get pictures we could use for advertising.

When the proofs came there was one of those once in a lifetime shots of the horse under western tack. To this day that picture has never been used, nor will it ever be, because I won't do anything that might make this trainer look good.

It was not the WT's training that made Legs roll over in the bridle so beautifully. It was Mary Little in her infamous bear suit. The horse was worried about going towards her so he dropped his b*tt down and pushed deep underneath himself hooking over with the reins draped hanging in the bridle like a superstar.

The WT nearly got dumped when they tried to take the hunter pleasure shots. Those shots were beautiful too but just not that once in a life time look. I have used the hunter pictures when needed because I didn't think they would set the WT apart like the western shot would have......still, if I could, I'd have his face fuzzed out on both those shots.

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

Wrapping Up



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Life........and Its Lessons........The Final Straw

Part 1

Once we began riding the horse hunter pleasure, part of the plan for Legs changed. The original plan was for just the trainer to show the horse in the open and that was it. Now that the horse was doing hunter instead of western, I was to show the horse in the amateur division as well but only in the one region. The WT would show him in both regions.

Me showing the horse in the amateur division may not sound like such a big deal but it was. I hadn't been on the horse but a couple of times in his months of training and that was only when it was "allowed." (One of those allowed times just happened to be at that schooling show where the other trainers were watching and that was western.) Doing the hunter thing was a whole different ball game........and I'm not crazy about riding hunter.

If I was to show the horse, obviously I would need to ride him. Yet still that was kept to a minimum. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I rode before regionals.Like so many other trainers this WT wasn't all that happy about the amateurs "screwing" up his horses. There was always some reason for the lesson to wait.

That message you won't ride the horse unless I let you is all too rampant in the horse industry. That message "you'll screw up (my) horse" can only cause confidence issues with the rider. It also keeps amateurs believing they "need" trainers. I don't know if that's why trainers do it or not but it sure doesn't do much for trainer/client relationships.

It seems to me if the amateur is paying the training, it's up to them whether they ride or not. It's the trainers job to deal with any issues that might arise afterwards. And if a rider doesn't have confidence, time in the saddle is the only thing that will fix it. Telling them they "can't" will only make it worse.

Riding a horse that "feels" like a stranger is tough. That would be the single most reason I don't do the trainer thing very well. Not getting to ride my doesn't help me OR my horse one bit.

The problem I had with Legs every time I rode him hunter was the horse would break into the canter every time I tried to push him up into the bridle. At first I thought I was cueing him too strong so I backed off some with my cue using less and less leg. Then I went to just using my seat. Even that didn't stop the behavior so I just thought about pushing him up. The horse would still break. It took me a while (a while as in weeks later) to figure out the horse didn't understand the request to round up.

Now we are back to that frame versus function debate. As it turns out this particular WT was/is a believer in frame. His whole approach is about attaining that frame with little regard to function but then I actually heard him having the discussion with a BNT. The description of what he's trying to accomplish and how clearly fits frame focused training techniques.

Legs didn't get my cue because he had been asked to go in a given frame BEFORE he'd learned how to go forward as the means to round up. That's why his head position was erratic when he was going slow. The horse didn't have enough impulsion to keep his head steady. Even in hunter the horse was not rounding up off my legs or seat.

I did manage to get the horse qualified for Region 5 ath the Midsummer Classic in June. We placed third in a class of 6 even with a break from the trot to the canter. Since that didn't get me qualified I rode the horse in the championship. Legs won that class with 9 horses in it. There was a small break but I caught him before the judge saw the mistake.

From there is was on to the the Region 4 Regional Championships in Salem. I didn't get to practice between those shows because I wasn't showing at Region 4 only the WT was. They had what the WT considered to be a clean go but the horse did not place.

By the time we got to Region 5 I had not had a single clean ride on the horse. I was not the least bit comfortable riding a horse in the regional class when I couldn't be sure we'd be doing the requested gait. It is the most uncomfortable time I'v ever had showing a horse.

Regionals is where everything changed for me. I was taking a lesson on Legs in the outside "dressage" arena at the fairgrounds in Puyallup. I was wired with one of the walkie talkie ear things so I could hear the WT and he could hear me.

If I remember correctly I had just asked the horse to canter. Legs gave me a poor transition so I stopped him to do it over. This WT began screaming obscenities at me. "WHAT IN THE F**K DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" rang in my ear.

My response was "I'm asking him do this thing over because he didn't get it right."

"WHO IN THE F**K DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I'M THE F**KING TRAINER HERE! YOU ONLY DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO!"

I was mortified. There were people all around hearing this trainer screaming at the top of his lungs at me. I pushed myself through the lesson but I was fuming. I had had it.

That was it for me. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head. No trainer worth his salt would ever tell a rider NOT to fix and error. Heck, I've even heard them say it's better to do something wrong that nothing at all. Yet, here is this guy thinking I should be nothing but a passenger. Finally, loud and clear, I got the message this guy was not for me OR my horse.

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

Finishing Up with the WT



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Life........and Its Lessons........What to Do........

Part 1

There were a couple of other things along the way that suggested this trainer (WT) might not be the right fit for me and my horse. One of them was this guy didn't even know that Legs was a quality horse until he got him to a schooling show and the other trainers began asking him about the horse. He actually told me at the show how much attention he'd received because of Legs and that he was realizing that Legs must indeed be a nice horse.

I chalked it up to his background being in another breed. The same was true when he made a comment about the horse's conformation. The WT thought the horse should have straighter hocks and shorter pasterns. While there are things I would fix on this horse given the chance, his hocks and his pastern length are not on that list. His hocks and pasterns fit the breed standard to a tee. Straighter hocks and shorter pasterns would take away part of the great movement of this horse.

It was obvious this trainer didn't know about conformation in the breed he was training. That might have been why he made unfounded snap judgements about other horses in the barn.One of those horses was a half Arabian pinto mare.

Although the WT told the owners how lovely the mare was every time they visited, when they weren't around he did nothing but slam the horse. He called her names and wouldn't work her because he said she had a lousy withers so she would never amount to anything.

That mare's withers was like that of many Arabian horses. It's not stopped them from reaching their potential. Yet this WT did everything he could to be sure those folks kept that horse in training even though he knew he wasn't going to be working their horse except enough to get by. He blamed her lack of progress on the horse. Yet continued to tell them she had potential, he just needed more time.

That was not the only thing this WT did that made my question his integrity. During the time I was there, I saw the man work horses that were hurt. The vet would say "hand walking" and the trainer would ask if the horse could be lightly lunged. The vet would repeat "hand walking" and the trainer would come back with "it's OK if we lightly lunge." Finally the vet shake his head saying, "Whatever you say........"

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I didn't get these things figured out until almost the end of my time working with the trainer. It was difficult to see these different types of behavior and not say or do something about it. If I had trusted myself enough to train my own horse, I think I would have left at the first sign of such things but that's not what I did.

The hardest times were when clients would ask me questions about their horses. Fortunately it didn't happen often, but it did happen. The WT had told the client one thing while the vet had said another. I told the clients what the vet said and prayed I didn't lose my job. I don't know what the clients did with the information because it didn't come back on me.

Not long before show season the WT decided I should have to pay show fees even though that had not been part of our agreement. I figured he was probably right since I was getting both board and training so I agreed even though that was not our original agreement.

At one point I even brought Dandy in for training but it only took a couple of times seeing the WT riding him to know that was a mistake. Dandy is not an easy horse. Getting him to use that neck of his properly is difficult. At this time I was just beginning to get the neck lifted up at the base of his shoulder. The WT wasn't. I took Dandy home.

It wasn't until the first Arabian horse show when I saw my stallion in the ring that I began to worry if I was doing the right thing having my horse in training with this man. The horse was vertical in the bridle but he didn't know where his head was supposed to be. One time it was high. Then it was low. Sometimes it was actually in about the right place. But a good western horse should look the same whenever you look at him in the ring, no matter what gait. A horse changing the height he carries his head numerous times during a class would not be doing his job. Legs was clearly not doing his job properly.

The horse did place third in one class and second in another but it was not the picture of my horse I wanted people to see. The horse just was not right and nowhere near doing what he is capable of. He was not ready to be in the ring. I informed the WT that I wouldn't let him show my horse again in western as long as he was looking like that.

The trainer's response was he would show him in hunter. That's what we did at the next show. The horse was second in two different classes. Each had about ten horses which was much bigger than the western had been and the horse looked good as a hunter. Well at least in the beginning he did.

It was at this show the WT and I had a conflict because I asked a question. He again assumed the question was a challenge when that had never been my intent. He told me if I didn't like "it" I could take my horse home. That's exactly what I did BUT we had a talk later and decided to work things out.

Part of working things out meant I kept my horse at home and brought him over for the trainer to school each day. Then I worked only on Mondays when the trainer was not there. I was OK by me even though it meant I was stuck cleaning stalls. It was still better than working with this man.

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

The Final Straw



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Life........and Its Lessons........A Little More about Work

Part 1

When it came time to get Legs started under saddle after his recovery period was over, I began doing the work myself. However, I wasn't really confident that I knew enough about stallions to be doing it. I was afraid I would miss something I should have corrected that would later lead to issues.

When the halter trainer I was working for at the time suggested I take the Arabian horse to a relatively new local trainer, I was skeptical. I knew of this trainer and didn't really think he could get the job done. The halter trainer assured me this trainer was a good choice AND he suggested that I would ruin Legs if I did it myself. He also said he thought I would be able to work the training off.

I seem to be susceptible to suggestions that I don't know what I am doing. Despite the fact that I had my friend, Jean, telling me I should do the training. She is the one who started Legs in the first place. It was while he was there we discovered his injury and got the horse treated yet I didn't have the confidence in myself that Jean did. I let myself get talked into going the direction the halter trainer suggested.

I talked to this man (For future reference I will be referring to him as WT)
Since I really didn't have the money to pay for training I decided to see what he had to offer. That first conversation did not go well and I should have cut and run right there but I did not.

I must, however, take responsibility for the fact it did not go well. I told the WT about the halter trainer's recommendation including my negative response to it. I guess it put him on the defensive right from the start but it didn't stop him from telling me he would let me work off training and showing my horse. I was to work as a groom five days a week with the day starting at 8 am feeding the horses. We did not, however, put this arrangement down on paper. That was my second mistake.

Once again I agreed to hire myself out as "slave labor." This time was worse because part of the time I was expected to clean stalls. I never have agreed to this arrangement had I known stalls were part of the deal. I have an old neck injury that makes stall cleaning difficult and painful but I persevered wanting to get my horse trained and shown.

The WT didn't work horses on Monday. The horses were turned out in the arena or round pen one by one and some outside if weather permitted while stalls were cleaned and buckets washed and refilled. The process took the whole day. In the winter scrubbing all those buckets turned my hands purple on more than one occasion.

The rest of the week, the trainer arrived about 8:30 or so and marked his board for the day's work. He numbered the horses in the order he wanted to work them. All horses were also marked with either, R for ride, GD for Ground Driving or L for Lunging. Any horses marked with an L were to be lunged by the grooms. All other horses were to be tacked up appropriately for the trainer to work. After filling out the board, the trainer left to finish his breakfast I presume and usually returned around 9 to begin working horses expecting those first horses to be ready and waiting for him.

It would be good to note here the trainer had a particular methodoloy to the way he numbered those horses. The newest horse in training was number 1 and so on down the list. As a new horse arrived each horse dropped a position in priority. The only problem with that was when the WT was done for the day which was usually around 3:30, he would change the status of the unworked horses designated to be worked by him to an L for lunge. That left the remaining work for the grooms to finish up.

If your horse was farther down the list, it didn't get worked much by this trainer over time. He likes to visit either on the phone or in person and to go to lunch with visitors to the barn whenever possible. There were lots and lots of days the horses farther down the list were bitted up and lunged instead of being worked by the trainer. It was not uncommon for that to be how the most of the day went.

I was glad my horse was at the top of the list for the brief amount of time he stayed there. By the time he was down to fourth, I was glad I was there to assure my horse did indeed get the training I was working for.

It wasn't just that first conversation with the trainer that didn't go well. It seemed nearly every time I asked the trainer a question, he took offense. He seemed to think I was questioning his decisions instead of trying to clarify his instructions. I chalked this attitude up to the fact I had offended him by thinking he couldn't get the job done and tried to give him a wide berth. But this uncertainty about his reaction to me also caused me to not speak up about things I would normally have mentioned.

Legs seemed to get along with the trainer ok......... or at least that's what the WT was always telling me. To be honest I saw him have a lot of fights with my horse. One of those fights evem led to Legs falling to the ground with this guy still on his back. Luckily neither the horse nor the trainer were hurt. The WT insisted the horse caused the wreck.......and in my insecurity, I bought it. When it came to being a good advocate for my horse, this was the second time in his life that I had let Legs down.

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

What to Do



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Life........and Its Lessons........A Little About Purpose

Part 1

From the sound of the comments on this series of posts, I think I need to restate my purpose in these posts. While they may focus on the negative aspects of my time in the horse industry, these incidents are not the whole story about the horse industry or even the whole story about my time working as a groom. They are but a small wedge of information belonging to a bigger picture.

As I said when I first began this series, in the past I have applied a filter of sorts in posting about some of my dealings in the industry. I mostly wrote about the positive side of my experiences chasing my dream. I left out some of the more negative ones. When I did post about negative aspects of the industry, I only posted those things that were not so up close and personal to me with but a few exceptions.

The problem in doing that was I left out a part of the information that has sculpted who I have become in this process. How I treat both people and horses has been affected by all parts of my experience, not just the positive ones. The negative things I've encountered have influenced me as well. I want very much to never treat people or horses in some of the manners I have experienced.

These antidotes are not just information for others to learn from my mistakes. They are reminders to me as well of things I need to consider in my future dealings. Had I paid attention to some of these earlier issues, I might have avoided future pitfalls. Instead I stumbled right in up to my neck because I had not been paying attention to what should have been lessons from the past.

If I could go back and live these first years of my horse experience over, I would do it pretty much the way that I did. While the facility and the trainers didn't seem to appreciate what I did for them, I never would have had Scandalous had I not worked at that farm.

The first two horses I bought on contract were through the trainers at this facility. They certainly did the right thing when it mattered most. The trainers were very flexible in negotiating the terms of that sale to fit my needs as well as being lenient about me making payments when Lindsay got sick. I will be forever grateful to them.

I also learned a great set of horse keeping basics while I worked in this facility. I may not have gotten the benefit of direct learning on my riding skills but I did on lots of other things.

I sucked up tons of information by watching and asking questions. I took every opportunity available to convert the things I was seeing into workable knowledge. I never had problems with these trainers answering my incessant questions that helped me accomplish that task. The very foundation of my my riding skills I learned in those first years I worked as a groom even though I rarely saw the back of a horse.

This learning experience was worth every inconvenience. Again, my point in posting about those things I'd previously left out was for the value of the lessons. I should have applied that information to my future interactions with horse people but I did not so now I am adding that omitted information because it needs to be incorporated to avoid future pitfalls.

It was not and is not my intention to point the finger at anyone specifically. We are all human and we all make mistakes. We all do things we are not proud of in our interactions with others. Sometimes we get that and strive to improve and other times we don't. Horse people are no different in that way. These posts are no way intended as a slam on the horse industry.

What is my concern is to tell the whole story of my journey chasing my dream. I now see the error that avoiding those negative aspects has caused for me. Talking in generalities of what could and might happen is just not as effective a learning tool as talking about personal experiences....... at least that's what I have found to be true for me.

By relaying my personal stories as I've made my way through some of these obstacles I'm hoping things might get better both for me and maybe others travelling the same road. There are so many lessons in life, I sure hope not to have to learn them all the hard way.

I will continue on in this series telling more of those things that I had previously left out. I believe it is the culmination of these incidents that led me to my current predicament. How it all turns out, I guess only time will tell....

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

A Little More about Work



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Life........and Its Lessons........A Little About Work

Part 1

This would probably be a good place to begin the experiences I had either working for others in this industry or others working for me. Those situations have been laden with lessons.

Way back when I began this blog I posted how this dream of mine began. I mentioned I had worked as a groom but really didn't get into the details of how that came about or what our working arrangements were.

I worked for free up until the time I bought Scandalous on a contract. Grooms came and went, new ones were hired but I was never asked if I wanted the paying job even though I seemed to be the only reliable "employee" they had.

From the first day I arrived I worked six days a week and usually a minimum of 9 hours a day just because I wanted the experience. I showed up even when the roads were closed because of snow. I did the job even when the trainers were not there. I was reliable, willing and a fast learner. Before long I was as competent as most grooms who came and went.

I even worked a big sale they had just because they needed me. They didn't really ask me if I would work, they just assumed. It involved lots of extra hours and I did it without complaint. I was the only unpaid person involved and there were lots of people brought in and paid to help.

Yet, the daughter of the facility owner complained to a trainer about me because I hadn't dropped what I was doing to do her bidding . I got my *ss chewed by one of the trainers. When I explained that I was completing another task I had been assigned first that involved a hot sweaty horse and that I had come back to do the second job once I was done with the first, the trainer backed down. But I remember thinking at the time my efforts nor my loyalty were being appreciated much.

When I did buy Scandalous, I asked them if I could work off her board. The problems getting that worked out are here Despite all of the unpaid and unrecognized extra hours each day after that, not to mention, all the times I stayed at the facility to care for the horses when the trainers were gone to shows, you would think I might have earned some loyalty from them. That was not the case.

I remember at one point the trainers bought farm jackets for the paid employees. I was not included in that gesture. I told the trainer I felt like "FF's b*astard child." She sputtered as she tried to defend herself.........but her discomfort seemed to be more because I had said something than because she had forgotten about me.

It was another of those "ah ha" moments. There was no loyalty towards me at all, yet that certainly was not how I treated them. Granted we had no agreement that I would ever get paid but the fact they got more than double if not triple sometimes the amount of work out of me they were due, I guess I expected a little bit of something..........a thank you might have been nice......or that farm jacket.

You might think I would have learned from these things when it came to that contract on the third horse. I didn't however. I blindly went into it expecting the owner of the facility would do right by me.......yet she never really did.

She did, however, give me two aged ponies for my kids when we moved to our new farm. Both ponies had foundered so many times the owners couldn't even remember. Those ponies had lots of issues. Their feet were bad and the one probably had Cushings.........his hair grew continually. I had to body clip him several times a year so he wasn't miserable sweating underneath all that hair........even in the winter in the beginning.

I appreciated those ponies as did my kids but looking back I wonder if this gesture wasn't just about money too. With me taking over those high risk ponies, she no longer had to worry about them, nor pay for their illnesses.

The ponies did not live long once I got them.........but they did not founder either. Both died from colic. My vet figured it was from the years they lived on a sand lot so the owners didn't have to worry about them foundering.

My vet thought those ponies had the best years they had had in a long time living at my farm. They got to graze in pastures and were feed a proper diet.........not feed nothing but local grass because it was an easy way to keep them from foundering. Their feet got to be healthy again and their coats and teeth improved immensely.

Still both the job and the ponies were a situation of my making. I tolerated being "slave labor" so that I could learn. I took the ponies despite their issues because I knew my kids would love them. I probably would do it all again both for the lessons I learned about horses and the lessons I learned about some horse people.

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

A Little about Purpose




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Life........and Its Lessons........Buying....the Unexpected

Part 1

When we sign a contract to purchase a horse we generally think of that contract as an obligation. We tend not think about the legal rights a written contract give us when making decisions about the welfare of the horse. I would imagine that's because we don't think about "life" getting in the way and causing unexpected issues.

As I mentioned before this particular horse was Lindsay's therapy horse. He started off as my first show horse with the intention he would move on to Lindsay sometime later down the road. However, Lindsay's pony died during the first year of her cancer treatment and she needed another horse immediately.

Lindsay's desire to live and fight her illness were tightly tied to her connection to "her" horse. We didn't have the money to pay off the horses we were buying on those contracts so we sure didn't have the money to get Lindsay a new pony. Instead this third horse took over the duties of that pony.

Because Lindsay was already attached to this horse using him as a replacement for her pony was acceptable to Lindsay. Otherwise I hate to think what might have happened. Lindsay health was precarious and her survival still a big question.

At one point in this journey the horse injured himself and was on stall rest for a time. Lindsay's health was bad enough she wasn't getting any therapy riding anyway. At least she knew the horse was there for her in the barn. That connection was the thing that was important to Lindsay's well being.

One morning I went to the barn and found the horse standing in one corner of the stall looking at his food in the opposite corner. The horse hadn't touched a bite which was not like this chow hound at all. I immediately began looking for some explanation.

As I stepped into the stall my eyes scanned the horse looking for some explanation of the untouched meal. As my eyes travelled down the horse's back legs, I saw the problem. My heart sank into my stomach as I saw the horse's right hind hoof was rolled over onto it's outside and the toe was touching the inside of the left hind hoof. I didn't know "what" specifically the injury was but I knew whatever it was it was NOT GOOD!

I moved the horse's hay right in front of his face where he could reach it. Then I raced to the house to call my vet. I tried to stay calm not to upset Lindsay. I also called my neighbor to come sit with her while I tended to the horse.

When my vet arrived, he didn't know what to say. He had never seen such an injury. He recommended I take the horse to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital in Snohomish for treatment. I agreed so my vet stabilized the leg with a splint made from 2 x 4's and duct tape so we could make the trip.

That silly horse began kicking the walls of the trailer from the time we closed the doors. We hurried to get on the road so hopefully he would discontinue the kicking and not do anymore damage to an already frightening injury.

Before we left, I called the holder of the contract notifying her of the injury. When I arrived at Pilchuck I learned the woman had called the vet there and was insisting the horse be euthanized so she could get her money from the insurance I was contractually obligated to carry.

I was appalled at the seller's request. I was equally appalled that the veterinary hospital was actually considering giving her what she wanted. Luckily as the buyer on the contract I knew what my rights were in this case even though I didn't really "own" the horse yet. Washington State law gave me the right to make the decision about whether the horse got treatment or not as long as I paid for that treatment.

Even at that this veterinarian was more intimidated by the woman with money than by me. He told me I was putting HIM in an awkward position by not allowing him to do as this woman asked. I gave him an earful about how he would look to a jury in a courtroom having euthanized the horse of a child with brain cancer because a wealthy woman wanted her money.

Fortunately it didn't ever have to go that far. When the x-rays were completed the horse was diagnosed with a dislocated fetlock. The horse's colateral ligament had blown allowing all of those tiny bones in the fetlock to spread all over the place. This was an injury the insurance company would find reasonable to treat. That diagnosis gave the vet what he needed to placate the woman who thought more of money than my sick child.

I will never forget this woman's lack of compassion and integrity. I suppose I should have known that she was capable of this. I had other dealings with her that clearly showed money was her god.

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

A Little about Work



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Life........and Its Lessons........Buying

Part 1

Probably the slipperiest slope in the horse industry has to do with contracts, I would think. All kinds of contracts from the sale or purchase of horses to contracts for work can be difficult. I would imagine it is the nature of the beast such transactions require close attention. That is why contracts are important.

I have bought and sold a number of horses on contracts. . I've also managed to get myself in trouble with contracts for work. It seems like the biggest pitfalls in the horse industry for me fall into these categories. While, so far, I have managed to weather such things, it has not been without some wear and tear.

I find myself looking back at these situations and wondering what I might change. What can I do to assure I get from any arrangement what I expected to get when I entered into it? I imagine that is probably the $64,000 question to most people (for those of you too young to know, "the $64,000 Question" was the name of a quiz show back in the day.)

Obviously when I started out in the horse industry I made lots of mistakes. Some of those things bit me while others did not. Just because a mistake didn't get me in some way, doesn't mean I can't learn from it.

I would imagine everyone "knows" that contracts are important and they should be written. I certainly know that but not being an expert on contracts and particularly on those involving horses, there were lots of things I didn't know.

Expectations can be different though unspoken, any contract needs to cover all expectations or things can turn out badly. That is one thing I have learned the hard way.

The first horse I ever purchased was on a contract. It was a basic format provided by the trainer at the farm where the mare lived. There were, however, unusual payment terms made to accommodate my form of income. The requirements were not really spelled out at the time. Payments were scheduled at specific intervals while my income was more sporadic.

It was not a problem in and of itself but only because the party holding the paper did not turn it into something. The lope holes for abuse are evident looking back at that old document. The specifics of the payments involved really should have been spelled out. I am fortunate I was dealing with a person with integrity. She was willing to work with me and the fluctuations of payments instead of cashing in on my inability to meet the terms of the contract as written.

The second horse I purchased was a horse for Dave.That purchase was also made via a contract. The document was the very same format as that used for my first horse. The only differences were the dollar amount and the information on the horse. The seller involved was different but fortunately connected to the first party.

The payment issues were spelled out the same way as on the first contract and I had the same issues meeting those terms. BUT my life got way more complicated because my daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was unable to make my payments as I had with the first horse or anywhere even close.

There were no provisions for late payments or emergencies in that contract. Luckily for me, the party I was purchasing the horse from took into account what was happening with my daughter and allowed me to be late paying off that second horse. If I recall correctly she didn't even charge me the added interest the contract would have allowed. I paid no more than I would have had the horse been paid off in a timely manner. Again, I lucked out, I was dealing with a woman with integrity and compassion.

That was not the case, however, with the third horse I purchased. That horse, too, was purchased on a contract. It was purchased at almost the same time as the second horse. The party I purchased the horse from was more interested in her money than in the spirit of our contract.

There were terms of the contract that were not put on paper. Those terms specifically were I wouldn't begin paying for the third horse until the second horse had been entirely paid off. The fact that was not written came back to bite me. Instead the date the second horse was scheduled to be paid for was used as the start date of payments on the third contract. That put me into a very difficult situation when I didn't get the second horse paid for on time.

There was no way I could begin making payments on the third horse when I hadn't even paid off the second. My daughter was fighting for her life and her illness was eating up every cent we had.

That third horse was Lindsay's therapy horse and the major reason my daughter was still alive. Yet I faced the prospect of losing him because the holder of the paper was not honoring the spirit of our original transaction. I had really messed up by not making sure it was written into the contract the way it was agreed upon.

.For me, when I had negotiated the purchase of the third horse, it clearly meant that I would not/could not begin paying on the third horse until the second contract was completed whenever that might be. I never would have purchased this third horse had that not been the case. I made the mistake of assuming, because this was someone I knew, this was understood and would be honored yet that was not the case.

While the contract I had didn't guarantee me the terms that we had agreed to, it did afford me protection in another way. Having the contract did "save" me from something that could have ended quite tragically.

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

Buying........the Unexpected



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Life........and Its Lessons

Part 1

The easiest thing about horses is the horses themselves. The difficult part is the people that surround them. I hear lots of comments about the horse community and its people and most of them are not good. There seems to be this blanket acceptance by many that horse people are not worthy of trust and its reasonable to expect getting scr*wed if one participates.

I prefer to believe that horse people are like all other people. There are good ones and bad ones. I don't think we have any more than our share of the bad people despite the political bull and the unscrupulous ones that are out there. Just because I bump into those less desirable situations from time to time doesn't mean I want to blame the industry. Individual people and their principles are the reason, not the horse industry.

The thing that puzzles me about the industry and this notion is the unspoken rule we don't talk about what goes bad. Despite the belief of many that horse people cannot be trusted, many of those very people will support the notion of not talking. The belief is if a person talks badly about trainers, breeders, buyers, you name it, it will only hurt the person who does the talking.

Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows I am not a proponent of this concept. I believe we need to share what difficulties we have so others might learn from them. This industry will never get "better" if those doing the wrong aren't held accountable for their actions. Speaking out is the first step in accountability.

I have been criticized and even warned for posting about my less than favorable experiences with others. I have also been thanked for it. I'm glad to see that at least some are appreciative of my speaking out. As for those that say I will pay, I am undaunted by such threats. The horse industry's dirty little secrets will continue to be pitfalls unless they are out in the open. I refuse to enable such things.

While I have posted about a number of issues I've encountered in the industry, I have not posted about a few others. Up to this point I have kept a buffer of sorts in place determining what I talked about and what I didn't. I have decided it's only fair to my readers to let them know that buffer has been there.

That buffer had to do with how close the involved parties were to me. It also seems to be situational. I have posted about some difficult things close to me.......but I have definitely left out others as I struggled trying to figure out how I would tell the story. Honestly, I have reacted some to fear of repercussions.

With recent events being what they are, I can see my use of this buffer is about to be tested. I find it extremely difficult to write when an elephant is in the room.........if you get my drift. The current situation affects my life so profoundly it is hard to separate it from my every day life. That means I either stop blogging or...........I spill the beans.

I have decided that I will not let the behavior of others prevent me from blogging. As for spilling the beans, I've also decided I will probably do that too at some point. First I will address the generalities of those things I've avoided posting up to this time. I would like my readers to understand some of the pitfalls I've encountered and the lessons I have learned.

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

Buying



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MiKael Meets Richard..................Tested........... Part 3

Things were weird around here last Wednesday. The weather was ugly and unpredictable with scattered snow, hail, rain and high winds. Richard had gotten a new cell phone and the thing wasn't working right. He couldn't retrieve his voicemail, nor was he getting text messages. The lines of communication were down and tension was up...........bigtime! No one likes to be left dangling...........no one!

By Thursday we still had not heard from the party in PA. Even though Richard now had his phone fixed we had no idea if the horse had been picked up or if the people were coming at all. The weather wasn't co-operating either with predictions for the weekend not good for showing horses. We proceeded planning like things were still a go even though we didn't know anything for sure.

Friday was probably the low of the week. Richard found out sometime the night before his mother was in a coma. If that wasn't enough we had this thing hanging over our heads. There was a message for Richard to call the woman at 11:00 am. but no more information than that.

Again my instincts kicked in, I suspected that something was up and it turned out that I was correct. When Richard did call, the woman was in a meeting, so he called her house to speak with the sister. Talking with the sister it was clear the whole issue of price was still not settled.

While Richard was speaking with the party wanting the horse, the other sister patched through in a three way call. She told Richard the van was coming in an hour and asked if I was dropping my price. She pretty much threatened Richard. If he didn't get me to lower my price, she wouldn't send the gelding to him for training.

Penalizing Richard for something he has no control over just doesn't make sense. How did she think Richard was going to change my mind anyway? Lie to me maybe and tell me the horses are not as good as they are?? Wasn't integrity the reason she wanted to send the horse to Richard in the first place...........because she could trust him to be honest both in actually training the horse AND in his evaluation of the horse?? Funny how the woman wanted him to have integrity towards her but NOT me! She didn't care if he screwed me as long as she won. Nice woman, wouldn't you say?

Well, if she expected Richard to screw me, she expected WRONG! I heard Richard's half of that phone call. I could gather from it what this woman was saying.

She kept talking about the economy and how she had cash and we "should" need it enough to settle for her price. She just couldn't get over the fact that her cash wasn't going to sway this deal.

She told Richard she'd could get two horses with show records for the price she was offering. Richard told her she should hook up her horse trailer and go get them. It still didn't change what we wanted for these two horses.

This woman didn't really want those two other horses, however, she wanted mine but for her price. Funny she couldn't figure out that appeal that had her hooked was what made my horses different from the others. She was hung up on show records and totally missed what Richard was telling her about quality and disposition. She was comparing apples to oranges but she just couldn't get over herself. That feeling that being rich somehow entitles you to have whatever you want seemed to get in the way of her common sense.

The next line of attack was to ask Richard if he agreed with me about the price on these two horses. When he responded that he totally agreed, this woman replied Richard was blind to my horses. It couldn't possibly be because the horses were worth more as far as she was concerned. It must be some kind of ignorance on our part. Yet there's her sister still talking about how pretty Percy is when Richard tells them again to go buy those horses down the road.

The funny part about this is Richard and Angie both didn't used to believe in my horses at all. It's only been after working with them they have grown to realize how different their are from others. Richard and Angie are not fans because they are blinded by our friendship. They are fans because the horses have earned that loyalty. Definitely something these woman didn't understand.

So the woman made it clear she wasn't going to send the horse to Richard for training because he wouldn't "get" me to see the light. Then she had the nerve to ask Richard if he was mad. What did she expect he would be? She told him for six months this horse was coming for training in Feb and that he would stay for a year. He'd turned other training horses away because he had already promised her. But his word was the only word that counted because she didn't get her way.

I had to chuckle when I heard Richard say, "I guess I won't be seeing you at Nationals this year. We'll be qualified so we'll be there!" The implication was clear that with the decisions she was making she didn't have much chance of being qualified herself.

Even at that the other sister left off saying she'd come to see Percy at a horse show sometime this year. Richard made it clear once these horses hit the ring, their prices will go up...........a lot! If she waited for a show it was going to cost her.

That was the end of the "deal" from Pennsylvania. We went back to work and relished how fortunate we are to be working with great horses with talent and a great work ethic. Some people will never know what it's like to work with such horses..............but that's ok with me........and Richard. We're both pretty pleased to be working with the ones that we have.


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