2007 November | Chris's Blog

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Archive for November, 2007

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Jazz – Leominster Horse Sales

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Several months ago at I was at Leominster horse sales, near Hereford. Looking at the horses and ponies for sale. I noticed a pony in the catalogue and the description sounded suitable for the riding school but unfortunately the pony wasn’t in his pen and therefore I assumed it hadn’t turned up as often happens. Later I was in the sale ring when the pony appeared in the auction, having not had any time to view the pony beforehand I could only go on what I could see and what was written in the catalogue. Which was Jazz, gelding, 9yr old, Appaloosa, approx 13.2hh. The pony was being ridden by a child in the ring and it looked sound although its skin was in poor condition looking as though it was suffering from a bad case of rain scald. I bid for the pony up to £850 and decided not to go any further as the auctioneer had taken another bid when the auctioneer realised I would not bid further he brought his hammer down and said the pony was sold to me, I was rather suprised at this point as he had definitely taken another bid, but I decided to go with the £850. We travelled the pony home and rode it the same day it was well behaved and quiet. The next day it was a little sharper but ok then it wasn’t ridden for a couple of days by the Tuesday it was proving not to be quiet at all and very difficult to ride. I have my theory for that I’ll let you draw your own. I had the dentist out to check the pony a week later who informed us the pony was nearer 26 than a 9yr old. We rang Brightwells at Leominster sales who were not interested at all as the return date had passed and they stated we should have had him vetted but we did not feel that had been necessary to ascertain his age as we had his passport. Steve then spoke to several different departments and ended up with trading standards in Hereford. We also rang Wetherbys who informed us these particular dealers have a lot of horses passported with them. We found out where the vet who had passported the horse was and Steve contacted him, he admitted he had never seen the horse and when Steve questioned the legality of that he put the phone down. The dealer then rang and offered to collect the horse and give us our money back which would have been acceptable but then her son or son in law rang and said they wouldn’t and that we didn’t have a leg to stand on. By this time Trading standards were very interested and were holding some of the documents pending criminal proceeding. We were advised to write to the dealers and ask for a refund and for them to collect the horse which they ignored. We then decided to take it to the small claims court and claim the cost of the pony plus livery, shoeing, vets etc for the last four months. In their defence they claimed they had done no wrong and that the pony came from Belguim with foreign papers and they had merely transfered the information they had been given onto an english passport. Leominster Sales backed them and sent a letter in their support. Which was inappropriate as this now had nothing to do with them and they should have stayed impartial. The court case was last week in Yeovil I did not attend Steve went. The Judge did not dispute their claims but stated that it was still misrepresentation and awarded us £2097 and that they were to collect the pony the next day. One of the group the father I think said they were not going to pay. The son at this point realised that it is illegal to transport a pony without the passport and as trading standards were still holding the passport he would need it back. Trading standards knew they didn’t have a case without the passport so they insisted the money was paid immediately before releasing it. The father was even more furious at this point and made several threats about what would happen to us when we weren’t expecting it and how many people he knew who would pay us back for this. The trading standards officer was a witness to all this. Consequently we informed the police the next day as they were coming here to pick up the pony but they themselves did not turn up as they sent a driver to collect Jazz.

My family have owned horses for many years and my father was a regular buyer through horse sales and many good horses were bought and sold that way. That is not the way it is any more. The monthly horse and pony sales that I have attended now consist of mainly dealers and where by years ago a man’s word was his promise that is no longer the case. Cases of dodgy deals, doped horses and drugged horses to disguise all ailments are put through sales. Quiet to ride is frequently written because the dealers know most people won’t go to the trouble of sending it back (a dealer told me that himself) and the sales people do not make it easy. This was a dodgy sale from the start and the people that organise these sales need to up their game in order too protect the ordinary buyer rather than be in with the dealers to catch them out. Otherwise the public will learn not to visit sale grounds where these dealings go on and the sales will die a death.

Posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 9:00 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Lincoln

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

I bought Lincoln as a 3year old 6 years ago from Emma Davies. She had bought him a couple of years before in a very poor condition suffering from neglect. He was suffering from internal abcesses and several local vets had not been able to cure the problem. When Emma first came to work for me I saw Lincoln when he was approx 18months old and suggested John McEwan saw him. We brought him from Swansea to my yard and John came out to see him. John diagnosed the problem straight away and treated him, Lincoln then went back to Swansea and I did not see him until a couple of years later when Emma brought him back to my yard to break him in. He had grown into quite an impressive horse and I decided to buy him from Emma. We have had 6 years of good fun and we have hunted, show jumped and done some dressage but unfortunately due to the problems suffered at an early age he is now suffering from other problems. The internal abcesses have caused some permanent muscle damage which over the years has put strain on other joints. Amelia had started to compete him at a higher level and his hock joints were very swollen. We rested him for a while and went back to John McEwan who x rayed him and did various tests and injected the joints with cartrofen although he has had some improvement we felt that he could no longer work in the school as school movements are putting too much strain on the joints, although he still enjoys hacking. Which brings me to the dilemma of deciding what to do with him. I would not sell him as I would not want him to be going from home to home and ending up being abused and I would not like to see him put down. I decided last week to ring Emma parents and discuss the problems with them. Ray, Emma’s Father, decided he would like to have Lincoln and today we took him to his new home. I know Ray will look after him and he won’t have to do too much work there which will be good for him. It is a very sad day to see him go and I will miss him but I know he will have a good home.

Posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Magic

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

Having now bought Magic a 16.1hh TB x shire gelding known as Muppet. Steve took the lorry to a small village beyond crickhowell on monday to pick him up. He travelled well and arrived back in the afternoon. On Tuesday morning the students made an assessment of him and Marina had a look at his teeth which was difficult as he didn’t want to co-operate. He has a slight parrot mouth and angular teeth which give the impression of being older, his lips and corners of his mouth imply that he has not had a bit in his mouth for many years, as they are not stretched or worn, the marks on the tables suggest that he is seven. His head looks a little large for his body but that is because he is in such poor condition and should really be a much bigger horse. He has several splints and his feet are in very poor condition with a desperate need of shoeing and probably needs a supplement containing biotin. He is currently shod with a narrow type shoe and as he is quite a large horse with not very big feet for his build he needs a wide web shoe to give more support, the toe needs bringing back, the shoe needs to be longer at the back to give some support to the heels and lift them off the floor. The students then fitted some tack to him and a stable, fleece and New Zealand Rug. Leigh rode him for 10 minutes in the school. He is sound, forward off the leg, has reasonably nice paces and canters on both reins although a little reluctant to pick up right leg lead. He is an ideal riding school type, although he is very quiet at the moment I do wonder if he will perk up a bit on good food once he has a bit more energy.

Posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 1:28 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Rugs and Rain

Monday, November 19th, 2007

After all this dry weather we have had lately yesterdays rain was a bit of a shock to the system. We spent all morning with two horses at Sunnybank for the BSJA, it is no fun tacking up and preparing horses whilst getting soaking wet and as with all indoor schools there is nowhere to get warm and dry but at least we can go inside I do feel sorry for the competitors who sit outside in the pouring rain waiting for their go. Amelia was completely wet through by the time she had jumped the first with two more to go. The warm up area is outdoors and resembled a lake which is an excellent opportunity to school horses which are reluctant to go through water but otherwise not to good. Consequently we went through quite a few rugs as trying to keep full clipped horses warm

Rugs is always a problem. All the horses came in wet this morning and where do you put 30 odd rugs to dry them out. During this cold weather most have been going out with two thick rugs on, last night being milder most went out with just New Zealands on but those who were full clipped ended up staying in as I didn’t want their under rugs getting wet. The weather changes from day to day and it is difficult to decide how warm or dry it is going to be after midnight when you’re turning the horses out at 2pm. Our fields are not good for shelter and I am sure most would rather be in than standing in the wet and cold but when it is dry I prefer them to be out. The fields now resemble a bog and every coat we possess is soaking wet. When I win the lottery I am going to have a heated rug drying room and heat lamps in every stable. Actually when I win the lottery I am going to sell up!!!!!!

Posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Pony Club Dressage

Monday, November 19th, 2007

This year Pony Club have introduced a new winter competition of Dressage sponsored by Dengie, two prelim qualifiers are being held at Talygarn (next one Dec 8th) and the Area finals will be held here on March 15th with the National finals in Stoneleigh at the end of March. Last saturday we held our first qualifier and also our annual team dressage. Fourteen entered the Dengie Dressage and the first four qualified. The winner of the Class was Laura Thomas riding Taranog, Abbie Taylor took 2nd and 4th place and Amelia Rogers was 3rd. Well done to all these as they now go on to the Area Final. The Team Dressage class followed, this year we only had five teams instead of our usual eight, wish is a ashame because I am sure there are plenty of kids who would like to give it a go but on the plus side the evening didn’t go on to long. The winners of the class were Llangeinor A, Abbi Taylor, Victoria Bertorelli, Amelia Rogers and Victoria Tamplin. Talygarn came second with Laura Thomas, Carys Morgan, Jessica Rowe and Chloe Reakes and Pentyrch B came 3rd. Olwen Wilkins Judged the Class and Freya was the writer. Well done to everyone who who took part.