Apparently a man in Texas had purchased Dar from a killer sale approximately 3 miles north of Houston, TX and wondered what a Spanish Barb was. As Susan's name and phone appeared on the Coggins this man called Susan. Susan called me as she was beside herself with worry about the horse and told me she did not have the means to retrieve Dar at this time. The man in TX told Susan that Dar was very green, but okay for riding. Susan called Wes and he told her that he showed up at his barn and Dar was gone, already put into the sale and Wes was not told why and couldn't get ahold of his friend who had originally purchased Dar.
I expressed concerns about Dar's age and his hoof. Susan told me Dar was 12 years old and had been out with a herd of mares for over a year at her friend Roger's place (Roger is also in the re-creation program) and had never taken a bad step even without trimming. She said that Dar's hoof looked better with trimming and reiterated that this was an old injury that had never bothered the horse.
Susan could loan me the money to purchase and relocate the horse if I could pay her back. As our agreement had been made as a credit and not money, I agreed because Susan indicated her family was quite poor and although they could give me a horse from their herd, outputting cash was beyond their means. A friend of mine who had a couple of mares in pasture agreed to allow me to keep Dar there. Dar arrived in Kentucky ~3pm on 19th November, 2002. He appeared to be fine and the photo below shows him with the mares, one of them elderly and one ~17years. A couple of days after Dar's arrival in Kentucky, I tacked him up and mounted. Dar stood very well to be mounted, however he was so green that he rubbernecked when I tried to direct him and took no notice when I tried to neck rein him. "Rollbacks" that Wes had described to Susan (per Susan) were definitely not in Dar's history.
A few weeks later I received a call from my friend's stepfather, who owned the mares. Apparently Dar had mounted the younger mare and kicked the 'hell' out of the older mare. I would have to find a new place for Dar. I went to the farm and there were no marks on either mare and they nickered to Dar as we left for his new home. I believed the man had exaggerated. However at the new place, which had accommodations for Dar to be stabled and pastured alone, Dar again got along with the herd only to later run a few of them through a fence and engage another in a 'knock down - drag 'em out' fight. Again and again with different horses and horse genders this occurred. Meanwhile I found that Dar's 'foal hoof injury' was actually a severe quarter crack.
Which I had repaired by an
excellent farrier & blacksmith. After finding out that part of
Dar's hoof was mobile and the procedure might be intensive and Dar might
not be able to withstand the pressures of advanced dressage. As it
is now, the hoof is healing brilliantly with an excellent prognosis for
his ability to accommodate the pressures of advanced dressage. The
hoof is now without a brace and the small crack is barely visible and growing
down off the hoof, more photos as I can get them. (I'm using a friend's
digital camera.)
After another discussion with Susan. who stated that she had offered the man who purchased Dar his money back if Dar did not work out, I found that Dar now was reported to be 14 years old and they had trimmed his hoof every 2 months so he would not be lame.
Susan gave me Wes' phone number, after I had Dar, as she indicated she could not find Dar's original purchaser who had put him into the sales. Wes stated that he found Susan's horses to not be good for dressage because of the Paso gait and that he had to work Cielo backwards for about 90% of his work out. Dar shows NO Paso gaits. I found this to be very strange. Wes then told me he knew Dar was going to the sale, but didn't want to tell Susan because she was fond of the horse. None of this was making any sense to me because the man in TX purchased Dar for $300 and Susan had told me she offered Wes' friend Dar's original sale price returned of ~$2500, with Susan picking up the horse. As soon as I had Dar in Kentucky the stories began to change.
Susan then told me a few months after, when I had finished paying her the $500 that the man in TX demanded for Dar + shipping & vet of $450, that she finally got ahold of Dar's original purchaser, but had 'forgotten' to ask him why he had not returned Dar for ~$2500, but had instead sold him at sale for ~$300 in New Mexico. Susan had indicated to me that Dar had gone through a number of sales to arrive in TX. (3 miles from where Wes took his horse for dressage lessons)
At the time of many problems concerning Dar's behavior toward other horses and right after the repair of his hoof, I offered to return Dar with all travel expenses paid and NO refund. Susan declined saying she had no room for Dar. Susan then sent me a bill of sale with NO promised breeders papers for Dar. The bill of sale had an undisclosed amount. Susan then indicated that she was selling a daughter of Dar for $1000 and I told her I was interested and would use my horse credit (~$2100+) for the filly. I heard no more from Susan about the filly.
As of now Dar is stabled at still another home with separate accommodations for him and his hoof is almost healed as is the severe wire cut on his heel (same foot) and he shows no damage after going through a 6 bar steel gate after a young colt. Time is close for mounted training after over a year of paying expenses and only riding a few times. I can NOT recommend purchasing a horse from Susan Paulton or making any other deals with her. I still love the Barb based breeds, but now question the obvious inbreeding of this re-creation program, hence my removal of Susan's Spanish Barb site.
I will report here the training
and/or saga of D'Artagon as it continues.
Dar is very easy to work around
now and offers no resistance to grooming or tacking up.