Cadillac Crash

I wanted to mention...you don't even need to buy the horse, just trying them out can be scary enough!

A few years ago, I was boarding my horse at a very nice private barn. One of the other boarder's mother decided to purchase a horse for herself. Let's call her Jenny...she had a long-standing back injury and needed a very quiet horse that was gaited. She went out and visited several horses that weren't the right fit, before finding one that sounded perfect in the ad. The palomino mare was described as dead broke, a "cadillac smooth ride", quiet and go anywhere type of horse. Jenny called, discussed her situation and what she was looking for, and decided she wanted to try the mare. Jenny, the barn owner, Robin, and I decided to make a day out of it and all go out and take a look. The horse was located at a barn that advertised gaited horse sales and training.

We got to the place...just a pasture full of horses, a makeshift riding ring in the front of the pasture, and a few very rough stalls. The mare had already been brought in, and we spent some time tacking and going over her. She immediately seemed agitated when the saddle went on, but we chalked it up to being a little girthy. When the owner was asked to ride first, she claimed she was working a difficult horse the night prior, was thrown, and was too sore to ride right then. We brought the mare to the ring, and Robin (the owner of the boarding barn) decided to ride her first and make sure she was okay. The mare was extremely difficult to mount. The owner claimed that once someone was in the saddle, she would calm right down..mounting was her only issue. We managed to get Robin on board and indeed, the mare settled right down...for about 5 seconds, until she bolted across the ring like the best rodeo horse out there. Bucking, twisting, crow hopping..there was no stopping her. Robin tried to emergency dismount and hit the ground hard before the mare crashed through the fence and flew into the pasture. Robin was okay, very bruised...and the owner assured us that this had never happened before, and would we like to come back and try her another time...maybe she was having an off day. We couldn't get out of there fast enough, and the woman is lucky she didn't have a lawsuit on her hands. If Jenny had tried to ride the mare first, no doubt she would have been seriously injured.

I have doubts the mare was even broke beyond wearing a saddle and I'll always wonder if the woman had tried to ride her the day before, when she had been thrown. We seriously ignored all the warning signs of this being a bad experience, and I hope others can learn from this.

Hackneyed Phrase


I have owned and trained horses for many years and yes..I was burned at an auction by a horse trader who was also an auctioneer, and the horse sale owner himself. I bought a hackney pony at this sale that was supposed to be broke to ride and drive. Knowing most Hackneys are not kid's ponies, I bought her to drive. After getting her home I contacted her former owner.  She told me she had sold the pony at another auction as a broodmare only; the pony had never been broke to ride or drive . She was a kicking machine.  I have permanent nerve damage on my left arm/ wrist from one of her kicking episodes. I thought to myself, "how incredibly selfish that was of the auctioneer/ trader and owner, that they would pump this pony up knowing very well ( the auctioneer had bought and brought her to the sale ) that this pony was not broke to ride or drive.  Someone with a small child could have just as easily bought this pony for thier child.."  It saddens me that someone would risk a child's life for a few bucks. 


Disappearing Trader


A few years ago, I wanted to get back into horses and buy one of my own; one that my boys, ages 6 and 8, could also ride. I traveled about an hour to follow up on an ad in a newspaper. The seller, Otis, stated that he had a 17-year- old Quarter horse mare that was great with kids and super easy to ride. He said that she was Appendix registered and also registered with AQHA and the Jockey Club.  The mare’s name was Easter Rock. Otis was asking $1,000 and said the mare was for sale because his daughter went out-of-state to college and no longer rode.  When I arrived at the property, I found a vacant lot with a small shack.  The shack was the mare’s shelter. She was skinny; you could see every rib, but she seemed friendly. I got there an hour earlier than our scheduled time, but Otis pulled in right after. I brushed and tacked up Easter but made Joe get on first. As soon as he got on, she bolted off into a canter and then quickly into a gallop. He managed to stop her and pull her back down into a prancing, impatient walk. She was excited and throwing her head in the air. White foam flowed from her mouth and slathered on her chest. 

He only rode for a minute or two and got off. He said that he didn’t really ride and that the horse hadn't been ridden in over a year.  He assured me that she would calm down when ridden on a regular basis. He told me that his daughter used to show her quite a bit and that a lady had come out just the day before, and was looking at her for a hunter/ jumper horse. 

He held her as I got on. She took one step at the walk and immediately started to trot a few strides, then broke into a canter. She darted quickly between the pine trees on the property, which was scary. I was able to hang on and I noticed that she was doing flying lead changes, so I could tell that she did have some good training in the past. She was a hyper mare for being 17, but I was glad that she had some life in her. Joe was only feeding her pellets and grass hay once a day, because he was too cheap and too lazy to drive out to feed her twice a day or buy good food. I also believe that he did this to try to make her calmer. He told me that he wanted her to go to a good home and that, if I ever sold her, he would have first right of refusal.  I thought it was odd that he said this, because her condition showed that he didn't care much about her. 

She wasn't the children's beginner horse that I had hoped for but I felt sorry for her, seeing her poor condition. I just couldn't live with myself if I put the car in reverse and left her there. He said that he didn't have her vet records with him and that he needed to get her Coggins. He also said that he didn't have her registration papers because he moved and they were in the storage unit but I could look her up online. He said he would have her papers for me when I picked her up.  I paid a deposit on her and made arrangements to pick her up the following week.  


When I arrived to get the poor mare, I gave Otis the balance of her purchase price.  He handed me her Coggins certificate, but didn’t have her shot records or registration papers. I asked for his vet's name and he said he recently started using a new one and didn't remember the name. He promised to get them and mail them to me the next week. I believed him. 

I was prepared for battle when I went to load her, but she practically ran me over to get into that trailer. I guess she wanted to get out of there that bad! I got her home and backed her out of the trailer. My barn buddies gasped when they saw her bony body. I put her in her stall with some fresh hay, and boy, she loved to eat. I came out the next morning and I was shocked to see her back left lower leg swollen like a softball. I called the vet, and the farrier, since she had a quarter crack in her right front hoof. The vet said that she had an old injury and that her leg will always swell.  He said it wasn’t swollen when I looked at her because her previous owner always had her turned out.  Her teeth had not been floated in years and it took two sessions to get it right. The farrier had to put special shoes on her and use epoxy to fill in the cracks and gaps of bad areas that he had to cut away. 

My vet and registration papers never arrived. I tried to call Otis to ask him about her swollen leg and her teeth, as well as her registration and vet papers, but he did not answer.  I left him a message, but he never called me back. I called a few more times but always got his message machine. It dawned on me that I never got his address and he didn't live at the property where she was kept. Finally, about a month after I bought her, his phone number was disconnected; my connection with Otis was cut permanently. 

I looked for Easter Rock's name online but there was no horse listed. She did fatten up but she never became a calm, quiet horse. She loved to go and would rather be ridden than eat. It took me months to get her worked down to an acceptable demeanor.  I did finally show her but I always had to talk to her to keep her calm and hold her back… to keep her from breaking into a trot or canter when she should have been walking. I put her on MSM for her joints and never worked her too hard. Things turned out okay, in the end, although my sons never could ride her on their own. After reading your website, I realize that Otis was a classic example of many of your famous HTT lies. He didn't have the papers, had the horse at a location away from his house, lied about her vet work, and didn’t return phone calls after the purchase. I wish that I had your website back then!


Erm...Yes


Is this a horse trader? 

I got a horse from this man that was NOTHING like he said. The mare is a Paint/Morgan cross and the dealer said that she was used as a therapy horse but was starting to bite and kick at the children because she was "overwhelmed." The dealer said she was usually a "no bite, buck or kick horse" and knew dressage.  She could go any direction but she just needs time.  The mare was sitting in a small pen away from all the other horses. She was somewhat skinny and had chunks out of her feet, even though the seller said he had just got them done.  He also said he'd just had the mare's teeth floated and the vet said she was 9 years old. She was supposed to be a dream to ride.  He said a dressage expert had come out and ridden her and she side passed across the round pen. I thought the mare was a bit pushy and didn't have good ground manners when I worked with her in the dealer's round pen.  She tried to bite me twice, but I thought it was because she had not been out in awhile. The dealer said her last owners abused her and that's why she had a long scar on her head and was hand shy. I felt sorry for this horse. The seller didn't have time for me to ride until the next day.  When I arrived the following day, the mare was already bridled. I said I'd just hop on bareback, which surprised him.  I asked if I could ride in the field, but the dealer said no because his Arabian was out there and didn't like other horses.

I rode the mare in the round pen and she was amazing.  She neck reined and collected nicely but I wanted one day to think it over before I committed to buying her.  The seller said he had others interested but gave me one week to come up with the $1,000 or he would sell to someone else.

I bought her. The first day at home, she tried to buck me off. I figured she needed time to settle in and would be fine soon. I was wrong.  About a week later I took her out for a ride and she was really spooky.  When we came upon another horse, she started to bolt. One day she started bucking, then reared up. When she did, she head-butted me and knocked me out. I fell and was dragged. She broke my nose, messed up my knee, and cracked some ribs.  This was not the "no buck or spook" horse I had wanted. 

Then she started choking when I fed her hard hay pellets.  She had foam coming out of her nose and she couldn't breathe. We called the vet and the vet wasn't sure what was wrong but thought it could be tumours.  The vet also said that her teeth had not been floated in over a year, she was much older than I thought, and her feet had not been trimmed like the seller said.  The horse still trys to buck me off, and is very hard to handle.  She doesn't know nearly as much as the seller said she did, and come to find out no one was coming and making offers on her, either.  The seller refuses to give us the last owner's number and we still do not know why she can't eat hard pellets.  I guess I made a lot of mistakes with this horse purchase.


Loaded Pistol

I was looking for a project horse to finish for the show ring.  I was looking for “young, but gentle and willing.”  On the way home from our state fair a few years ago, my mom and I stopped to look at “Pistol,” a 4 year-old registered Quarter horse gelding.  He was a well bred, 15.3 hand bay and I really liked his looks in the photo.  For some reason, this horse was owned by an American Saddlebred trainer and housed at his training facility.  The trainer said the gelding was totally sound, steady as a rock, and almost kid-broke. 

As we arrived, we saw a stable hand leaving the barn with a grain cart.  The horses had just been fed and we heard the familiar sound of munching as we walked down the dark aisle.  When we got to the gelding’s stall with Russ (the trainer), the bay flattened his ears and lashed out at us from behind the bars of the stall.  Russ immediately excused Pistol and said another horse had been stealing his food while they’d been pastured  and taught him this behavior.  Russ said he knew the horse would stop being so food aggressive now that he was separated from the dominant mare.  

Russ showed us some of his Saddlebreds while we waited for the bay to finish eating.  He led several out for display and as we watched Russ with his champion horses, we realized that his approach was very different from ours when handling the animals.  The horses came out of their stalls like rockets and, with heads raised and eyes rolling, they jigged and danced as if to avoid contact with Russ.  Russ flailed his arms and snapped their lead shanks to encourage, it seemed, this extreme response. 

When I got on the bay 45 minutes later, I could tell he was a bit humpy.  He acted like he hated life and his sour little bucks confirmed it, but he did what I asked and had beautiful western pleasure movement. Russ said he was just a bit stiff from being in his stall all night and also a little sore from a stone bruise.  Even though the horse was exactly the conformation and age I wanted, his temperament and soundness had me worried so I told my mom I’d pass on this one. 

My mom, however, had different ideas.  She felt horrible for the poor horse.  She thought Pistol was depressed, mishandled, and stressed out, so she bought him anyway. 

We spent tireless hours trying to fix him. With some trepidation, we went out of town a few weeks after we bought Pistol.  The family that feeds for us was used to my calm, space respecting horses so I warned them very carefully about Pistol’s aggression, especially around food.  We arranged it so they didn’t need to go anywhere near him to feed; they could just throw his hay over the fence. They did not heed my warning and the older daughter got a huge chunk taken out of her arm. At that point, we almost decided to give up on Pistol but neither my mom nor I could think of an acceptable alternative so we kept going.

After a year and a few hard knock lessons for both of us, I finally had Pistol being a civil citizen and really enjoyed him. He was a much happier horse and began to excel in western pleasure classes.  He did still occasionally exhibit some soreness but it was never more than a minor and short-lived problem.  

I sold him to a friend who was going to put some more time on him, get his foot fully vetted, and continue his show career. A veterinary exam suggested Pistol might be in the early stage of developing navicular disease.  It turned out okay for Pistol, though.  His owner loves him to death and has been very successful with him.  Her vet says he can manage Pistol’s soundness for many years to come and I think he’ll have a life-long home. 

Russ failed to mention Pistol’s dangerous food aggression or soreness when we set up the appointment to see him even though he was clearly aware of both issues when we called.  Then, he downplayed the problems when we came out to look.  We had the skills necessary to help Pistol but for a less knowledgeable buyer, this gelding could have been deadly.  

My experiences over the years have shown me that many horse sellers lie and cheat and withhold information from buyers.  It has sure made me redouble my efforts, as a seller, to be honest and ethical.  And…I want my horses to find homes that fit them well so they’re not shuffled around.


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