Setting the Record Straight

It was brought to my attention over the weekend that there are some people out there on this great wide internet that have come to the conclusion that I am a horse dealer. They don't know me, other than this blog, nor did they care to know me before passing judgement. Why do they think this? Because I took on six horses from another local rescue that could no longer feed them and they can't understand why. Perhaps because they wouldn't have had the heart or means to do so? This makes me a horse dealer? Didn't all rescues start out this way... by "rescuing" horses in need? Now I could understand the horse dealer label if I had only taken six well trained and sound horses and immediately had them up for sale before even riding them. But come on people, use your brains and whatever little common sense you may have to actually consider the facts.

Out of those six horses, this is a rundown of the ones I chose to take:
1 - rideable, but has minor training issues that make her undesirable to adopters right now.
3 - old or unsound horses that I knew would be pasture ornaments.
1 - a supposedly "dangerous" mare that couldn't even be haltered when she came here
1 - a two year old that will be a pasture ornament until at least next year, and may never be rideable due to defects/old injuries on his left hind.

So are these horses that a horse dealer would have taken? Maybe so... but that dealer would have taken them straight to Sugarcreek auction and not even bothered to bring them home.

Am I a horse dealer because I'm not begging for donations? Because I'm not whining and moaning about the price of feed or hay? Or is it because here I am, all of sudden, willing to help out horses in need when the economy is so bad? How can anyone who is not a dealer do that? Is that your pathetically flawed logic?

Well let me set a few things straight for you. I have a job. A good job that allows me to work from home and afford to feed all of these horses. Glenn also has a job -- a new job that allows him to set his own hours, drive a company vehicle, and pays him much more than he was making before. We don't require donations to feed these horses and if I did have to rely on the kindness of others I never would have taken them in the first place.

I have been riding horses since I was five years old. I have ridden and trained with some very good riders over the years -- I haven't just been hacking a pony through the woods on the weekends. I have also been a working student, barn manager, trainer, and groom. I have volunteered with the HSUS, AHPA, and ERL in Virginia. Horses have been my life and somehow I have never been mistaken for a dealer. In my 31 years of owning and riding horses I have sold THREE. That's it, just three. One OTTB gelding became the best friend to a 13 yo girl in Maryland who taught him how to jump and made him a reserve champion. The other two were horses that I had bought one at a time for the man in my life and neither one worked out for him. I have given away a few rescues to good homes and still to this day get updates from the owners. Does that make me a dealer?

This will be my only response to the nitwits who call me a dealer. Unlike them, I don't have time to berate and insult others on an internet forum. I'd rather be doing something productive. Please people, get off your butts and off the internet, leave the rest of us be, and go be with your horses.