A warning before you send your horse off

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Marty

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My friend is not happy and neither is her mare, who is all torn up.

She sent her mare off to a breeder/trainer in the next state over who she thought had a good reputation.

The problem arose when she found out by a third party yestarday that the man did not have decent facilites to be breeding or training outside horses. Apparently he had sent her pictures of his training and breeding farm that he conveniently borrowed from somewhere off the internet.

His real place consisted of two open stalls in the field, just three 2 X 4's high, and then an open field where all the other horses ran together. Her horse decided a week penned up was enough and finally broke out,

getting herself beaten up by the others. This was of course not the plan of daily care that was discussed but she found out too little too late. She said it wasn't a bad place, just an inadequate place for what this man was falsey advertising. He had absolutely NO facilites and no business offering training and breeding with a set up like that. She got the mare back today, (with all her money too) and she is going to be fine but has no way of knowing if she in fact was bred or not at the moment.

Before you send your horse out to a trainer or breeder, be really sure they have the actual facilities that they claim. It's worth it to ask around.
 
Great advice. It is easy to forget that not everyone is who or what they claim to be on the Internet. Stories of amazing facilities, daily hands on care, daily work and grooming they all sound wonderful. Often times they are simply no more then typed words. Not an ounce of truth to them. I see it not only on this board but other places when I know first hand what is written is not in any way reality.
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Many times they are fooling no one but themselves.
 
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I offer all my prospective clients a list of recommendations - vet, clients (former and current) and other people directly involved with the care of the horses. I feel that a good breeder/trainer will have nothing to hide.
 
Wow, Marty, that's such a shame your friend had to find out the hard way that the trainer's facilities wasn't/isn't what they claimed it to be.

I feel that a good breeder/trainer will have nothing to hide.
I agree Adam! References gladly furnished here as I have nothing to hide and only want satisfied customers/clients!

I personally got in a little gelding last year that had been boarded at a well known(?) trainers. This horses' condition was appalling to say the least. One of the worst starvation cases I've seen! Sometimes well known doesn't always equal quality care.
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I don't offer any breeding or training and nothing around here is fancy.

But my barn door is always open to visitors if they get the notion to come over.

Now my poor old mountain house, that's another story
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Good advice Marty. And I agree with Adam. Anyone who offers services - training/boarding/breeding/etc. they should always be able to provide multiple references and always offer the option for you to visit.

Sorry this happened to your friend and her mare. I hope it all works out well.
 
I did want to also say that of course I do believe that many trainers/breeders are who and what they say they are but it is so important to do your homework and look beyond the ribbons they might have won.
 
We do not offer training, but we do offer breeding to a few select outside mares and we also board minis for several clients! We send our horses out to very good trainers that we have met personally!
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Our farm is always open for anyone to come and inspect and look around, we love visitors! As Becky said, References gladly furnished here as I have nothing to hide and only want satisfied customers

Bill
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I cannot imagine sending one of my horses to a breeder or trainer that I havenot personally seen the premises or at least got a good recommendation from someone I fully trust.

I did have one occasion where I bought two horses (over internet) from someone who was a "well known" breeder and trainer. The horses looked wonderful in the pictures. When I picked them up, they were literally starving. "Some" of the horses at the facility were well cared for, but the ones I bought were terribly starved and mistreated. Really opened my eyes!
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Holy crap...scarey l sure hope the place we send our new colt to is decent l don't know anything about them except from the little l've read about them on this forum..l also don't know anything about the colt we send except from the reputation of that person again from this forum so flying by the seat of our pants as usual trusting people and hoping it doesn't backfire....hard choice but sometimes ya just can't hop a plane and go in person to check everything out so you hope for some shred of honesty still in people...
 
I think before I sent a horse off to a trainer I would visit the farm. That way I would know what I was paying for.
 
we have a neibor who passes herself off as a breeder / trainer, and if you only knew her from her website you would not know any better. she shows off her beautiful barn , areanas, turnouts, etc.. But I know that they are of the public barn down the street from her. her horses are standing in muck to there knees. and are behind bailling twine fences. when she shows a horse she cleans them up and takes them down to the barn, where everything is clean and well cared for. so just because you see it on the internet doesnt make it so.She even had the nerve to give my name as a local referance. I dont think shes done that again since. DR.
 
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Good Grief! I guess I am naive! People steal pictures off the internet and display as their facility? YIKES!

We work like Adam & Becky. And if your horse is here you have the RIGHT to come here any time! Unannounced!! Just drop in. Period.

Charlotte

Hmmm, maybe I better go mow the yard.....
 
This is a subject that really hits close to home. I sent out a "big" horse to a local trainer that was well recomended [he was already well started under saddle] and got back a rodeo bronc AND I paid a lot of money. He already knew walk and trot all she had to do was get him to canter and ride him in the woods. Ticked me off no end as it took me a couple of years to get him over it. I have started A LOT of saddle horses and there was no excuse for this one. I sat back and watched certain trainers at shows and decided to send some of my guys out because I didn't have time to do them. At first things went great, then they started to fall apart because they weren't being worked and treated the way they should be. I have no problem sending a horse to a trainer BUT I will personally make sure nothing like what happened to the last horse I sent out EVER happens again. No way will I have a horse of mine stuck in a stall 24-7 because they can't catch it. I had a horse out for a years worth of training driving and when I got her back she wobbled down the line? If the trainer doesn't give you a SPECIFIC answer to a SPECIFIC question find another trainer.
 
Not everyone can go hundreds of miles to check out a training facility me included.

That's why I chose a trainer who I have admired for years and years who will be

getting one of my new horses this year hopefully. When someone opens their barn

and facilities up for public viewing that is a major plus.

But what on earth is up with stealing pictures of someone elses farm??????? Oh my gosh

that's insane.
 
I do not care how good the trainer is supposed to be. I would not send my horse to anywhere I could not check out for my self. That included my Standardbred race horse I had. NO ONE handles my horse that I do not approve of their tactics. I had an arab that I was going to have trained for Halter. After talking with the trainer (he was at the same barn I was) He said to get the horse to stand he would hit the horse on the point of the shoulder with a twitch handle and tell them whoa. I had seen him do this before. I told him the first time he hit my horse with a twitch handle he would get that twitch somewhere he really didn't want it. I did not have him train my horse. The thing is, if you can not check out the trainer. If the only record you have of the trainer. My advice is find someone closer to home. JMO.
 
The training facility I sent my stallion to, (training to drive) they have a bunk house you can stay in, so you can check out their training methods also they work with you driving your horse, it is including in the training fee. And, they truly enjoy your visits!

My boy Ditto is the love of my life and no way I could send him off somewhere I could not check out, or at least get references from a trusted person.

It is awful this happen to her mare, thank the lord she will be ok. I am also guilty of being too trusting of people.
 
Well this is strictly hypothetical since I have no intention of sending out any of mine in the near future but...if I were to send them somewhere it would necessitate long distance travel since there are no trainers (that I would actually pay at least ;) ) within a 250 mile radius of me.My inclination would be to check with people who lived closer to the trainer in question and see if they knew of him/her, ask for references and the names of some horses they had trained and watch for them at shows to see if I liked how they acted and were dealt with. If I were going to spend the money on a trainer I would expect to do some research first as surely as I would do research before buying anything, horse, car etc. But first and foremost would be to see what reputation they had with others. I would not be in a position to drop in on them but I would want to deliver my horses myself so I could at least see them settled and know they arrived safely.
 

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