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.

Proper?

I finally got my Lifetime Handgun Permit in the mail. I got it laminated and put in my wallet. Now I am wondering how long my lifetime will be. The paperwork that came with it says that it can be revoked at anytime if I do not remain a Proper Person. Now, I am not sure if I am even a proper person on a good day. It could be that I am more of a proper person than most people are.

I am not sure what the word "proper" even means. I suppose that it all depends on who you talk to. I know a lot of people who are not proper but that doesn't mean that they are law breakers or even bad people. I think this word pretty much leaves the door open for my lifetime to be cut short at anytime.

Back to the election, all is not lost, even though my State (Indiana) has changed from red to make me blue, California did shock me by taking a stand against gay marriage. I am considering moving to Kentucky, Texas or Alaska because they are all red States.

Unofficial

The unofficial word is that our trainer, Mark Burnette took 4th place in the 2008 Extreme Mustang Makeover in Fort Worth, Texas. No word on how much money his horse, Hoof Hearted brought at auction. I will post it here when I hear from Mark.

As a side note, we currently have three horses left that were trained by Mark, so you had better buy them while they are hot. Leroy, a bay ApHC leopard gelding, Zana, a sorrel AQHA mare and Heath, a red dun AQHA gelding have all had 30 days training with Mark Burnette. Joe, a Palomino gelding was also trained by Mark during the winter months and was not touched all Spring or Summer, he recently sold for $2500, he had not forgotten any of his training after sitting idle all of those months.

Crossed Wires

Well, I guess someone got their wires crossed. Mark Burnette was suppose to be interviewed on "Talk of the Town" on 1340 WBIW this morning but they had Military Recruiters on there instead. My Son called to ask me if I was trying to get him to join the military, since he had read my last blog and was dutifully listening to the show this morning. So now I don't know when the show will air or if it has already aired and we missed it.

I did get some of the pictures of Mark and his Mustang ready to post here but I haven't edited the videos yet.

We were very impressed by Hoof-Hearted (think about this name being announced at the Extreme Mustang Makeover and you will understand the joke). He was already named when they got him but Mark and his family call him Buddy. He is heavy boned, thick legged, Mark said that he is sound and has a lot of stamina. He has a natural low head set and is friendlier with strangers than Mustang Sally was. Mustang Sally was the horse that Mark trained for the Midwest Mustang Challenge.


Buddy has a nice head, a kind eye and a nice sized ear for a Mustang. He is also a decent sized horse, Mustang Sally was a tad too small but Buddy is big enough for a man to ride but also not too tall for a height challenged person to own. So if you are in the market for a good trail horse and you are going to be at the Extreme Mustang Makeover Auction, then you should take a look at Buddy.

Here are some more pictures that I took, but I didn't take many still shots, I took mostly videos. The last picture below is my DH riding Buddy before Buddy's long trip to the Fort Worth, Texas competition.

Extreme Mustang Makeover

Our trainer, Mark Burnette is now on his way to the Extreme Mustang Makeover held in Fort Worth, Texas on September 18-21, 2008. More than 300 Mustang Trainers will be competing on 3-4 year old Mustangs that they have been training for the last 100 days.

We went to see Mark and his 3 yr. old bay gelding, Hoof-Hearted, also known as Buddy, go through their last day of training before their trip. I took some pictures and videos that I will try to get posted on here as soon as I can. But I wanted to post this tonight for those who live in the area, so you can listen to an interview with Mark on "Talk of the Town" tomorrow morning at 8:30 on 1340 WBIW.

I got to handle Buddy a little bit today and my Husband rode him. He is going to make whoever gets the highest bid at the auction at the end of the event at great horse.

More on Mark and Buddy later...