I recently bought a new pony for my 10year old daughter. We were looking for a “1st/2nd schoolmaster” to help give her confidence and safely take her on with her pony club jumping, cross country and games.
Finding a new pony is a daunting prospect and when I met the lady whose name I’d been given by someone as she had sold them a nice pony, I thought I had found a great new friend. She seemed so enthusiastic, likable and trustworthy. She introduced herself as a pony club mother whose children had grown out of ponies and she was anxious to keep nice ponies within the pony club. The pony she had in mind for us I realised was one I had seen advertised on the pony club website and had discounted as it was only 6 years old. I felt we needed a more experienced pony but she convinced me that he was perfectly safe, bombproof and gentle and could be ridden by anyone and handled by the smallest children.
She was helped by a “pony club teacher” who rode the pony for us before instructing my daughter on him in the school. They then went out on a long hack past scary obstacles and along a busy road and he seemed suitable for her.
I asked if we bought the pony and when we got home we found he was not suitable for any reason would she take him back. She said “Of course I’ll take him back but he will be fine.”
We went back a second time, had the pony vetted and bought him.
I know it takes a while for a pony to settle into a new home but as the week progressed it became more apparent that this lovely young pony was too forward going and inexperienced for my daughter. I spoke to the dealer daily and voiced my concerns. Even with daily lessons things were not improving and by the end of the week I was sure I had made a mistake and told her I wanted to return the pony. The dealer was extremely angry and said she could not return my money as she had already paid the owner and would now have to sell the pony again on my behalf which I said I was not happy with. I had not taken the pony’s passport with me when I returned the pony, and now seemed unable to reach her on the phone.
Two days later at pony club training another mother heard my story and recognised the name of the dealer. A year earlier a friend of hers had had a very similar experience with the same dealer and it had taken nearly a year and three postponed court sessions to get her money back.
I spoke to this friend who was surprised to hear this dealer was still around as her husband had said she was unable to attend court as she had “a brain tumour and was a dribbling wreck.” They eventually settled out of court.
Alarm bells were now ringing loud. I contacted the previous owner of the pony (not her brother-in-law as she claimed) and found he had not been informed of the pony’s sale a week before and had not received any money for it yet.
After a day of trying to discuss the situation with the dealer on the phone (not easy as she would not answer my calls and shouted at me when she rang me) emailing her, searching on the web for information and speaking to 2 solicitors and an equine legal adviser I feel extremely lucky that by the end of the day I was able to collect a full refund from her in return for the passport.
I have since heard of other misdemeanours by this dealer and would strongly advise anyone looking for a pony not to make the same mistakes as me.
Get a written agreement in writing from the vendor to confirm the pony is what they say he is.
Get a written agreement to say the dealer will take the pony back and refund the money if it is found unsuitable. Don’t let the dealer take the horse back to sell on your behalf.
DON’T trust a very convincing pleasant lady even if she says she is a member of the pony club and has your child’s interest at heart unless you check her out by ringing the D.C of the pony club concerned.