Fake Horse Rescue

We received a phone call letting us know that one of our riding horses is for sale on a rescue website in Texas. The owner of the "rescue" and website posts pictures of other people's horses along with the horse's actual information including price. She doesn't even bother to change their registered names. She takes deposits on horses that she doesn't have or own.

Our horse is for sale on our own website, she lifted his pictures and information to put on her site. The horse's name is Chips Ahoy Leroy and he has never been outside southern Indiana. The lady who called to inform us had the same thing happen to her and one of her horses.

This thief has bought horses from elderly people who could no longer care for them with a promise to pay which she never does. She has even sold shipped semen from her stallion advertising it as from some champion stallion or stallion with great bloodlines. No one catches on until it is time to register the foal then they find out that the DNA does not match the stallion that is named.

She has been reported to the local authorities, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and her web host, but no one has done anything with her. So the lady who called us just keeps an eye on her site and reports her activities to the people who's horses and pictures she uses.

This young lady also offers training and boarding using other people's pictures. I talked to a local detective and he laughed saying that she is going to be quite the gangster, but he did give me some tips on who to report her to. The good news is that her website is at one of those free website places and it doesn't show up in search engines.

So here is a word to the wise; Watermark your photos with your name or website name.

Here are some other tips; Don't buy horses or semen from just any website. Google the horse's name and make sure that the seller is an established ranch, breeder or rescue. Don't assume that just because the word "rescue" is used that it is really a rescue.

It has become quite stylish to call yourself a rescue and that is the reason some crooks are using the word as a sale's tactic for their horses, dogs and cats. I suppose we could call ourselves a rescue, as we have rescued several horses throughout the years and refuse to sell our horses at low prices or at auction.

We certainly could save ourselves some huge feed bills if we just sold them to stop the financial bleeding like most people are doing. But they are our responsibility and we will take care of them as long as we are able.

Purses

I bought myself a Christmas present Thursday night but I can't tell you what it is, it's a secret. I really shouldn't have, I rarely spend this much money for myself but if I don't do it, no one will.

I was recently shocked by what some of the women that I know spend on purses. I have a hard time understanding spending $400 for a purse that looks just like everyone else's purse.

When we go to Church everyone there is carrying a Coach purse. Unless I ask, I can not tell who has real ones and who has fake ones. So, what's the point?

Are you suppose to go up to women and ask if their purse is a real Coach? Or are you just suppose to think that it is a knock-off and they are just trying to impress everyone. You could also assume that they are all real Coach purses and that they all have more money than sense.

I don't know why you would want to carry a $400 purse anyway, isn't that just inviting thievery? A crook will figure that if you have enough money to spend that much for a purse, then you've probably got some big bucks in that purse and as an added bonus they can also sell the purse.

Most of my purses are hand-me-downs or straight from a yard sale table. I can only remember buying two new purses in my whole life. If my ship ever comes in, I don't think that I will buy a popular, stylish purse like everyone else. I will buy a custom made, one of a kind expensive purse and no one will know how much I spent but me.

Domain Name Registrars

New domain name practice criticized - Yahoo! News

The above article is very disturbing to me, this is the first time that this has been confirmed to be true, that I have seen but I suspected this was going on because it has happened to me a few times.

Clients will search for a domain name then contact me to build them a site, telling me that the name they want is available but when I check it isn't available and we have to find a different name.

I had one business with a long, unusual name hire me to build a website and when I checked on the name it was available, I called the clients to find out if the name I had chosen was suitable and they said, "Yes, buy it." I went directly back to register the name and it was no longer available, so we had to go with the .ORG of the name instead of the .COM. A couple of weeks later I checked on the .com and it was available again. So that registrar forced me to buy two names instead of one. Greedy crooks!!