Chapter 4

At 8:30 P.M. the night before Thanksgiving, I had to have her put down. Her body lay in the indoor school throughout the next day as no one was available to remove it. On Friday I brought her home and buried her near the house.

I was devastated. It was now clear—I had to get my other three horses out of there before another one died.

I found a barn nearby (it was easy now, as I didn’t have a cribbing horse to accommodate) and told the current barn owners I was moving. Did they need anything in writing from me, as it said in the boarding agreement?

“No,” came the reply.

Two weeks before I was due to leave, there was a sudden flurry of activity at the barn. Fences were being repaired (long overdue) and fence posts were being replaced with new ones. Everyone was smiling at me as I rode my horses, though no one actually spoke to me. It was eerie. I didn’t know what was going on.

Two weeks later, I received a bill from the barn owners. I apparently owed them for twenty fence boards and two fence posts which my horses had allegedly destroyed. I also owed them for damage to the stall incurred by my late mare.

I now understood the reason behind the sudden repair work being done a week earlier. But I made no comment on the bill—it was too ridiculous for words. Plus I wanted to get my horses out of there before they were held hostage over a bill I didn’t owe.

I acknowledged responsibility for the wood chewing in the stall, though I thought it insensitive of the owners whose mismanagement caused my mare’s death to even think of charging me.

But my horses could not possibly have damaged the fencing—there were two strands of electrified wire protecting it! And why wasn’t I shown the damage—if indeed my horses had done it—before the repairs were carried out?

Clearly I was being targeted to foot the bill for much-needed repairs to the old and broken posts and rails.

I continued to say nothing, and interestingly no one approached me about it.

The day before I was due to leave, I went to collect all my saddlery and equipment. I noticed a note chalked on the board saying, “Well, today’s the day! Good bye and good luck!”

What?! I was more than happy to go, but the new barn wasn’t expecting me until the following day, the first of the month. Luckily the new lady was willing to take my three guys in twenty-four hours early.

But I had to get them out of the barn first, and I wanted to avoid a show-down over that bill

Amazingly, no one stood in my way while I loaded the first two horses and took them to the new barn, nor when I returned for the last gelding, who normally kicked up a huge fuss about riding in the trailer. He was so desperate to get out of there, he walked straight into the hated transport!

Phew! I’d escaped that awful place, which held such miserable memories for me, leaving a check for the wood chewing in the stall.

It wasn’t long before I got a letter saying I owed the rest of the money. I ignored it. I then got a registered letter, and responded by saying I was not responsible for repairs to their property beyond those for which I had already paid. Plus, if my horse were the culprits, why wasn’t I told about the damage when they did it?

The reply came that the repairs were done “before I could be shown the damage,” and I still owed the money.

I said I didn’t.

Then I got a registered letter from their attorney. I responded to this by saying I couldn’t owe the money—my horses had been physically restrained by electric wire from chewing on the fencing.

The attorney wrote back that I now owed the money plus additional boarding fees, because I’d not given written notice. I automatically owed one month’s bill in lieu of notice, plus every additional month since my horses left.

And the owner had said I didn’t need to give written notice!

It was now time to hire an attorney. A friend from the same barn was being sued for money she didn’t owe, either, and found a competent lady lawyer who saw us both together and charged us half each.

She grabbed a box of tissues as she asked me to explain exactly how my mare had died. I told her I wanted to countersue for the death of my horse. But I wasn’t interested in the money—I just wanted these horrible people to go away!

My lawyer’s first letter was greeted by a response saying that cribbing horses are prone to colic and enclosing a photo of my mare cribbing. They declined to agree her death was their fault. But I refused to back down.