Date: 11/6/00 5:15:10 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: [email protected] (diana beuchert)
Reply-to: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Since this situation with Zeke is upsetting me a lot, as it is you,
I'm sure, I emailed my friends on a Friesian list for their advice. I'm
sending you my email to them, and all of the ones I get in response. I
am a very honest person, and hope you'll bear with me till we can figure
this thing with Zeke out, to both of our benefits.
One thing I will say, however, is that I think you need to realize
you may have spent way too much on Zeke. I don't know what has changed
in your life, whereby you could afford him then, but can't afford him
now, and that's none of my business. But I pray you'll see that to try
and sell him now, at an unrealistic price, just to recoup your losses
might be horrible for Zeke - if not darn near impossible to pull off.
The chance that you'll get anywhere near your original investment back
(unless you got him on some deal, or for less than $15,000) is remote.
And I don't know of anyone who would spend over $7000 on a horse without
having x-rays shot, so people are going to find out about those feet.
As you know, I love Zeke with all my heart. He fits in here, and is
quite happy. But to me and my business, he will not be much more than a
gorgeous pet, as he probably won't be competitive in dressage due to the
judge's prejudices against unusual breeds (believe me, I know this from
trying to show my Andalusians in mainstream Warmblood-ville!). And the
most I can hope, business-wise, is that my good reputation will increase
when I ride him in front of the public. But really, he will just be a
very expensive pet . . . although one that I'd pay good money for, and
go out on a financial limb for - just not as far as you might like to
see. :-)
I'm waiting for everyone from the list to give me their opinions,
and then I will make a final offer to you. If you find that offer
unacceptable, I will then consider allowing Zeke to stay here, for free,
in exchange for 20% of his sale price. If he sells for $10,000, I would
receive $2,000, and that would pay me back for almost three months'
worth of full board and training. I don't expect anyone to seriously
consider him for any more than that. If he's saleable, I would hope that
three months would be long enough to find him a buyer.
If, however, Zeke doesn't look like he's going to sell for what you
consider enough, or he doesn't sell because of his x-rays, I hope you
would consider selling him to me . . . for what I can afford. Time will
tell what Zeke is really worth, and we can decide that later on.
But for now, please know that I'm a very kind, sincere person, and
want to see both you and I happy in the end. I think you may have to do
a little crying in your beer over a bad investment, but life is like
that, and you'll be O.K. in the end. Life hands us little (and big)
lessons for our own good. Those of us who are worth our salt learn from
our lessons, and go on as happier, more practical people. Believe me, I
speak from years of experience!! :-)
I hope you'll hang in there with me, as I would hate to see Zeke go
back to a lesser farm, with lesser riding and handling . . . to bring
about no better price in the end than I'm willing to give you now. This
is what I really think would happen. Let's keep the lines of communication open, and work this out together . . . for Zeke's sake.
Talk to you later,
Diana
Dear Friesian Friends -
I desperately need your advice.
I have a lovely nine year old Ster Friesian gelding in my
possession, whom I'm supposed to sell for $20,000 for his owner. He
drives in singles and in pairs, is quiet and kind, and is under saddle
with me, going elementary dressage work. I've fallen in love with him,
and he's come a long way in physical appearance and ability since I got
him one month ago.
The trouble is, when I had him vetted (which I always do prior to
accepting a consignment horse) he came up with a broken coffin bone (the
tip is broken, and filled in with fiber - not bone) in his right front
foot, and the right rear foot, from which he had thrown a shoe shortly
after arriving here, is a club foot, and has "bony changes" on the
x-rays. His hocks are clean, and otherwise he is perfectly healthy. He
did fail his flexion test in both rears, but the vet and I attributed
that to his missing right hind shoe, and the possible soreness in his
muscles that that might have caused. Since then, I have put new shoes on
him and put him on Cortaflex, and now he moves and acts like a spring
chicken, and passed a trotting-on-hard-ground test by my vet last week
(but possibly due to the Cortaflex, for which I'm kicking myself). I've
been advised by my vet that I will need to watch that right hind and not
work excessively (like eventing or heavy dressage) and not work on hard
surfaces, like parade work. He also said the coffin bone could one day
cause lameness . . . there are no guarantees either way.
When I offered the woman $15,000, in payments, she took it. She
knows the horse loves it here, and loves me also. She's seen how well I
take care of my horses, and the quality of life the horse would have
here.
Then my husband and I thought long and hard about the horse's real
value, given his x-rays, and we told her we couldn't even pay that much,
as we already have eight horses of our own, and live on a limited
budget. Now the woman wants to take him back and sell him herself, while
half-leasing him to someone to help pay his board, rather than have me
train and sell him, for which I was going to be paid $500/month and a
15% commission. I am very honest, and would have truly marketed the
horse, but she doesn't want to spend any more money on him, especially
given his limited value, due to his x-rays.
Here are my questions: what do you guys think this horse, who was
probably purchased for $15,000 - $20,000 a year ago, but without x-rays,
is really worth today? How many of you would shy away from a horse with
these x-rays? Am I stupid to buy this horse for $15,000, given the
x-rays, or am I stupid NOT to? I would really, really value your
opinions on this. We live in Central Maryland, and here, this price for
a horse with "if-y" x-rays is way too much. But I also love this horse,
and hate like hell to see him leave me!
Diana
Comment: Wow, talk about putting words into someone's mouth; she just made me into the devil! At this point, I really got angry with Diana. My thoughts were: I offered her a great deal on a horse and she is now acting as though I would sell him just for profit with no regard for his safety (I offered HER the deal because I thought he would have a good home and this was paramount to me). She also implied that I would attempt to sell him without revealing his "condition", which I TRULY resent. The email then goes on to discuss judging prejudices (I'm not following the logic here - what does this have to do with Zeke's price?). She has also changed the consignment agreement yet again! And I do not understand how she came to the conclusion that he had no x-rays when I purchased him. At any rate, another bizarre letter in my opinion.