Unfortunately, this kind of dishonesty happens all the time. There's all sorts of shady name-change, age-change, green-not-green that goes on in sales - people buy horses that have shown for years in Europe, bring them home to the US and show in the green divisions, just as frequently people buy from the opposite coast, give it a name change and shave off a couple of years. People "lose" papers with alarming frequency. I know a school pony that is "I dunno, twelve?" years old. He's been "twelve" for as long as I've known him - and that's at least three years now. Sometimes it's done with the intent of deception and sometimes it's a genuinely honest mistake and the information has just been lost. Unfortunately, the only way to know a horse's entire history with 100% accuracy is to know them their entire lives.

Ask the girl for as much info as she can provide. Befriend her on Myspace or something and just talk. Going to the trainer who sold him to you is probably pointless - he already gave you his version of the horse's past - it's unlikely to change. With regards to age, what's the vet say about his teeth now? What did the vet say about his estimated age at the time of the PPE? Did you have him measured with a proper bubble-stick as part of your PPE?

Unless the information you're given by the girl is radically different from what you were lead to believe, bringing about a lawsuit is pointless. His value has arguably appreciated since you've owned him so a judge is likely to say that there's been no damage done by the misrepresentation. There's a world of difference between buying a horse that turns out to be 8 instead of 6, 15.3 instead of a full 16hh and say buying a AQHA colt that supposedly has no Impressive in his pedigree when the DNA test comes back as part of the registration process it turns out he's N/H. There's an argument for loss in both of them, but one is more likely to be seen as a big deal by a person that doesn't really understand the subtleties of horses - to most folks they're an expensive pet. In one the horse is an inch shorter than represented and two years older in the other one was represented as being free of a genetic defect and having specific bloodlines. A judge is also likely to look at what the vet's PPE report was with regards to age, height, weight and call those the facts. (And since you presumably got a PPE, you presumably had "facts" about the horse to determine whether or not to buy.)

At the end of the day, he's a good boy and he makes you happy - that's what matters.

Specifically regarding the strides, there's a great article in Hunter & Sport Horse about making the most out of a short strided H/J. Large ponies do go on the same 12' that the Childrens and Junior Hunters go on - so if he'd make it around the Large pony ring, he can make it around the Children's ring.


Spooksandbolts wrote:
blah, blah, blah, blah and the dog ate your homework and I can smell bovine excrement
Last Edited By: terryn Aug 19 08 6:43 PM. Edited 1 times.