Re: RC: Fwd: RC: Buying a horse/WARNING

["B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>]

Oh boy, horse deals gone sour. An industry staple...
A while back, a "friend" of mine called me, unsolicited, and asked if I 
wanted to buy a foal she had in utero at her barn. She said she knew I had 
been trying to breed my mare for an Andalusian/ArabX and since that was what 
she had coming, did I just want to purchase her foal instead? After doing 
some research on buying horses in utero, my husband and I decided to go for 
it and we settled with my friend on a price for a live, healthy foal. When I 
told her I wanted to give a deposit and get a signed contract, she 
hesitated, saying "Why don't we wait until the foal comes, just to make sure 
it's healthy." That should have sent up the red flares, but I was so fixated 
on finally getting the foal of my dreams, yadda yadda... When the due date 
was still about six weeks off, my friend called and asked me if I didn't 
want to take the mare (a leased show mare from CA) and foal her out myself. 
I said I wasn't sure that would fly with the mare's owner and that I really 
wasn't set up to foal out a mare but that I would contribute to her 
maintenance if that was the issue. (Still more red flares, unnoticed) In 
early May, my husband and I went on a trip we'd been planning for a year. I 
had told my friend of the travel plans and we'd really thought the foal 
would come before my departure. It didn't. When I arrived home, I expected a 
message saying that the foal had come. No message. In the course of 
returning phone calls, I called a mutual friend of mine and the seller and 
she asked if I'd seen the new baby yet. I immediately called the seller and 
she asked me to come over. It turned out, the foal had come on the first day 
of my vacation. My friend told me that she and her family had "bonded" with 
the foal and she had no plans to sell him anymore. I might have believed 
that if I didn't know that this woman's pasttime if not occupation was 
buying and selling horses. That was when I realized she had strung me along 
for three months as her backup plan. Now that the foal was on the ground, 
healthy and gorgeous, she wanted more money for him and I was screwed.
Morals of the story: I no longer believe in the concept of "gentleman's 
agreement." I always get a contract when dealing with horse people—even 
those in my immediate family. I actively look for red flares in horse deals 
and heed them.

Bonnie in AZ

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=