Seller Beware
I feel this page is an important lesson to be learned for people who may be considering selling or giving a horse away.
There are several different type of horse owners in the world and not all may be the way you are. When selling or placing a horse you should do as much research as possible and not take the opinion of one person when doing a background check.
I have had several good dealings as well as a few bad deals. Here at Sweet Opal, we treat our horses as if they are part of our family, not livestock. We believe that each animal is fed a specific diet and they don't receive less quality feed due to the fact they are not on the show string. We also believe that they deserve a clean bed at night, one with fresh bedding and fresh water, along with enough feed so that they are healthy. They deserve to have fresh water throughout the day, and their stalls to be clean. We also believe in Veterinary care, worming, and farrier work as well. Now this may sound standard to you, but I assure you it is not to all owners.
We do travel all over the country to several shows a year (approx 10,000 miles per year), we feel as though we have gorgeous horses and enjoy showing them off and our payback is that their beauty is appreciated. I have no problem admitting we are very competitive. However our animals health and safety always come first. If we have a horse that is underweight, not feeling well or not fit enough to attend a show, we leave that animal home so that it can recover accordingly and we then plan on the next show for that horse.
Earlier this year we decided to place a few of our show horses, all were represented with complete honesty of what we knew about the horse the amount of time we had owned the animal. These horses were given away for free, to approved homes. Ones of which we did ask other people that said they knew the people and care the animals would receive.
I will say out of the 3 we placed 2 have a wonderful home. 2 of the placed horses have been Congress Champions and great show horses for my daughter and myself. One of our Congress Champions did not exactly go to a home that was what our expectations were for that horse. We have had to see this horse 2 separate times this year, I will say the horse, is underweight, and not properly fed or cared for. The first show was understandable as the horse had to go through a surgery that would have contributed to her being underweight. Personally the horse should not have been at the show, however it was much more underweight at the show that was 3 months after the first show.
Because we love the animal and worry about their well being, we tried to PURCHASE the free horse back so that we could ensure it once again lives in the environment it is accustomed to, this enraged the ever so kind person that was so thankful for the horse, thankful enough to starve it and leave it tied to trailer all day in 90+ degree temperatures until midnight with no place to lay down and rest, expected to then get untied and dragged around the arena and expected to perform. We will now have to live with the fact that this horse, that was born not bred on our farm will suffer all the days of her life.
There have been 2 judges that have known this horse and have had to compete against this horse in the past, and were in total shock when her name was announced. They felt her condition made her unrecognizable. Several people at the show I saw her at, put her body condition on the score chart between a 2-3. It is heartbreaking and even more that the owner agreed to let me purchase the horse back that day, however after she went out into the crowd the onlooker supporters persuaded her to not allow me to purchase the horse back, due to the fact that I was more than likely just trying to intimadate her and the she the new owner had to do nothing for me or help the horse, that the horse was fine. I will have no problem reporting that SEVERAL exhibitors were shocked at the weight of 2 of her horses! The worst part of all is that the horses conditions is obvious and has been discussed amongst them, but in the fight of supporting one of thier own they have lost sight of what is right for the horse.
Moral to the story, there is not always a rainbow behind every story. Please be very careful when placing or even selling a horse for that matter. We don't own 30 horses, we own 8 so that we can give each one of them the time and care all horses deserve. As for the people who feel it necessary to defend this person, if you think it is appropriate how the horses are conditioned and treated, then you yourself do not deserve horses either. They are precious animals who deserve their rights!
This page was last updated: March 11, 2011
