Taken for a Ride

Taken for a Ride Dear VFH, Last year I bought a horse from a riding school.  I explained to the woman over the phone (and also in person) that I was a nervous, novice rider (I have actually ridden since childhood and am fairly competent but I am not overly confident now that I'm middle aged) with back problems and my husband was a beginner and we wanted a horse to suit us both.  We had seen an 8 year old hunter type on her website called Tom that was advertised as being previously owned by a vet and having "been there, done that, got the T-shirt".

When we went to view Tom, a 5 year old, very scrawny WB was shown to us instead.  I agreed out of politeness to try it but I also asked to try Tom. The WB didn't seem very happy and I was told that it was awaiting wolf tooth removal.  I got on it but got off again after half a lap of the school because I just didn't feel right riding a horse that was almost certainly in pain.  Also, I already had a WB which I was selling and didn't want another.

Tom  was ridden by a staff member who asked me to hold him when she mounted and she also had to discard her whip because it was upsetting him.  This should have rung alarm bells but, sadly, didn't.  She then held him for me to get on.  He seemed quiet and steady enough so I returned the following
day for another trial.

The second time he spooked in the school really badly and I nearly came off but I was told that the rain must have made a hole in the school surface. It was an indoor school and no hole was visible.  I hacked Tom  out with another staff member who rode a young horse who was being spooky so I took the lead and we encountered cars, a bicycle and a ford - all of which Tom coped with.  He spooked at a tub of flowers but was otherwise fine.

Ill-advisedly, I now realise, I agreed to buy Tom  for stupidly high price of £4,500 and was assured by the seller that he was suitable for a novice rider.  I was offered his saddle and bridle if I paid extra but I
declined to buy the saddle because it didn't fit him at all.  It was actually sitting at virtually a 45 degree angle on his back it was that bad. I couldn't wait to get him home and get some decent tack for him.  He also had a bit of roughened skin under his chin as though he had worn a badly fitting head collar at some point.

He travelled well on the 70 mile journey and seemed fine when he was unloaded by the professional transporter.  He was left to chill out for a couple of days then I hacked him out over private tracks with my experienced friend on her bicycle.  By this time I had been given Tom's passport and found that he was actually called something else. . After hacking for about 20 minutes we had a few small trots but then Tom  suddenly took off in an unasked for canter.  I am still not sure why. I tried to pull him up but he
stopped dead when I applied medium rein pressure and I flew over his head onto the road.  I was a bit dizzy and winded but I decided to remount.  Tom wouldn't stand still even with my friend holding him.  I eventually found a bench and managed to get on via that but Tom  felt as though he was going to
explode underneath me so I dismounted and we walked home.

I rode him in the school a few times and he began to get more and more tense when I mounted and humped his back as though he was going to buck.  At first I could calm him down by riding a few laps of the school.  Then another problem emerged.  Every time he was asked to canter he would do half a lap
or so and then violently slam on the brakes which invariably sent me shooting up his neck. I have never experienced this before and think it is unusual behaviour.  I persevered for another week but eventually he wouldn't let me mount at all.  He danced around and spooked at things in the arena and wouldn't go anywhere near the mounting block. I called a vet out to see if he had a back problem or something else that was causing the behaviour. The vet found nothing so I called a physio who was recommended by the vet. She couldn't find anything apart from a slight muscle wastage which we agreed had probably been caused by ill-fitting tack.

I had him re-shod and no foot problems were found.  I had an EDT float his teeth and no major problems were found there either.  I should mention that he was by this time extremely head shy and I had to build the bridle around his head.  He was very insecure when I tied him up.  If I even stepped out of his sight for a second or two or there was a noise he pulled back and he broke a leather headcollar and several lead ropes.  I had the saddler come to fit him a new saddle (I had been using my WB's saddle which the saddler had said was a good fit) but I couldn't get on Tom  that day at all which meant that I couldn't order a new saddle.

I then had an instructor come to help me but she spent half an hour trying to get Tom  to stand still for long enough for me to get on.  I can't be legged aboard because of my sacro-iliac problem.  I realised by this time that I couldn't cope with Tom  and e mailed the seller  who re-iterated that Tom  had been used in the riding school and had never exhibited any of these behaviours previously.  I asked for a refund and she refused, saying that she had sold him to me on behalf of a client and it was nothing to do with her.  I was amazed by this because it had never been mentioned at any point before and I tried the horse on the sellers  premises and the money was paid directly into her bank account.

I managed to contact Toms previous owner though a piece of paper which fell out of his passport and she said that she had bought Tom from the same  two weeks before I bought him!  The seller  had told me that he had been a riding school horse for 6 months and ridden and jumped by clients of all abilities.  That was obviously a lie because his previous owner said that she bought him on the very day that he arrived at the sellers property.  I asked why she had sold him so quickly and she said that it was because he had bucked her off 3 times just after she'd got on him.

I did some more investigation and found that he had gone to the seller  via a dealer in Wales.  Icontacted him but he said he couldn't remember the horse.  There didn't seem much point in pursuing it further.

I consulted a solicitor to see if I had a case against the seller  but I was told that it would prove expensive, could take up to two years and had no guarantee of success.  I then wrote a letter to the seller outlining all the problems I'd had and asking again for my money back.  I sent it registered delivery.  I got a letter back saying that I must have done something to the horse and that she had nothing to do with it because it was a private sale between me and the previous owner.  I couldn't afford to keep a by now unrideable 16.3 hh at full livery for two years so I decided to pay to have him re-schooled.

The lady that I chose is very experienced and she got on him whilst he was on a lunge line. She got off after a minute or two saying that she had never sat on such a tense horse and she felt as though he was going to explode.  I left him with her and she promised to keep working with him.  After a month she had got nowhere so I took him back to the livery yard until I found a selling yard willing to re-school him ready for sale.  This lady also had exactly the same problems as me.  Neither she nor her staff could get on Tom unless he was held by one or two people and every time he cantered (and also in trot with her but never with me) he stopped dead and the rider shot up his neck.  He was still very head shy and jumped at his own shadow.  He wouldn't jump even a cross pole and his behaviour didn't improve after 6 weeks so I had to make the decision to have him put to sleep or sell him cheaply.

I think I made the wrong decision.  I should have had him PTS but I couldn't do it.  He wasn't ill as far as I knew.  He had severe behavioural problems which may have had their root in a physical ailment that was causing him pain but no-one could find it and I didn't know what to do.  I sold him to a lady who came to the dealer's yard and I was told that she would look after him.  I sold him for £900 and the sales livery took most of that so I ended up with £200.  I don't know what happened to Tom  and I would like to know if he is ok but the more I think about it, I think that the lady I sold him to was another dealer.  I feel a lot of regrets about this whole thing and I wish that I had been rich enough to have my own land so that I could have taken off Toms's shoes and retired him at the age of 8.  I am sorry if I have added to the awful problem of horses being treated badly but I couldn't think what to do and I did the wrong thing.

I don't know if you have had any more complaints about this seller  but, if you do, or you can do anything to stop people like this dealer ruining the lives of innocent horses and endangering the people who buy them (I shudder to think that I let my young  daughter ride Tom  when he first arrived) I hope that you will.
Name Withheld

The horses name has been changed and the sellers details removed for legal reasons.

.....................................................................................................................................

Currently the equestrian industry has nothing in place to protect buyers and the equines being sold. Voices for Horses is running a petition to Licence Equine Traders and Dealers. Sign the Petition Here.

Read our June Feature called Stevens Story covering the same subject Here.

If you have had a bad experience we would like to hear from you please
email: emma@voicesforhorses.co.uk

If you have had a similar experience and want to talk to someone in
confidence please call 08452 24 24 52 - we are here to support you.

If  you want to share your views on any equine related subject please email our letters page: letters@voicesforhorses.co.uk
or write to:
Voices for Horses
PO BOX 11
Llandovery
SA20 0EF