crushed that she wouldn’t be able to show off her handsome new horse at the start of the foxhunting season. By the time PT was sound and ready to go, he had been out
of work for almost two months. He had been well fed and put on some considerable weight. Not surprisingly, he was a tad bit enthusiastic. After a few exuberant rides, Harriet was petrified. PT had lost his status as the horse of her dreams—now he had become her worst nightmare. Another local trainer, Jenny, offered to take PT “on the cuff”
and try to sell him. But with that healing quarter-crack, he couldn’t really be put into the kind of full time training pro- gram he needed to whip him back into shape, and he certainly couldn’t withstand the impact of a full day of hunting. So PT wasn’t going to sell for a premium anytime soon. Harriet turned down several “low ball” offers of $5000 for him, determined to recoup her original investment in Sam. Jenny, sensing that she was not going to make any money on PT anytime soon, came up with a plan. Jenny decided that the thing to do was to send PT back to
Mel. Harriet was on board with that idea since she had decided that PT was “simply unsuitable” and “not as represented,” and that Mel needed to “make things right.” Mel was surprised when Jenny pulled into his barnyard with
PT in the trailer. He spoke with her briefly and got the firm im- pression that she simply didn’t like the horse. Feeling badly that the fabulous PT was not being appreciated, he agreed to take him and try to resell him for Harriet. Unfortunately, once he got PT into the barn and settled, he saw all the problems Jenny had been facing: the horse was fat, unfit, had a quarter-crack, and had been out of a program for probably 100 days or more. Win- ter was coming on quickly, and there would be no market for PT until the spring. Without an indoor arena, working the horse on frozen ground was just not the answer. Mel shipped PT to a friend in Ocala, Florida, where he could stay in some degree of light work in sandy footing while the quarter-crack grew out. Unfortunately, PT was lame when he got to Florida, and so he spent the winter grazing under the palm trees—watching his hoof grow. By spring Harriet’s patience was wearing thin. She wanted her money back and she wanted it back now. If Mel couldn’t sell that wild (and now lame) horse that he’d sold her, then he was just going to have to cough up the $10,000 that she’d paid for Sam. Enough was enough. She called a lawyer. The lawyer sent Mel a letter accusing him of misrepresent-
ing PT. She accused Mel of failing to deliver Harriet the “perfect horse” that he’d promised her. PT was far from perfect, and now he was far from Mel. Where was the horse? What kind of mon- key business was Mel pulling here? Refund Harriet and Tom’s $10,000 or a lawsuit would be filed within the week.
☛ Turn page for the outcome.
Equine Litigation Consulting Certified Equine Appraisals Expert Witness
Your Sport Horse No Longer Competitive?
A viable alternative to euthanasia or slaughter is to consider facilities that take equine donations - Therapeutic riding programs, police departments, university equine programs, and horse rescue groups/retirement facilities. Always check out the facility, the surroundings, horses in care, and speak with management on how your horse will be utilized. In order to take a tax write off greater than $5,000 the IRS requires a certified equine appraisal.
David D. Johnson President & CEO
1-800-575-1669
www.NorthAmericanEquine.com Warmbloods Today 57
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