“cowboy” Came Out To Barn, Tried A “green Broke” Advertised Horse, Then Went Online To Post A Video Defaming Us Without Knowledge Or Consent.

Located in Mississippi. I am putting horse terminology used at the end of the post, if I need to define anything else let me know. I am changing dates for the purpose of protecting myself and barn, however any lapse in dates is accurate, and I am keeping the times of the incidents completely the same. All of this was documented via photographic and video evidence which is time stamped, geo-location stamped, and date stamped.

I am going to try to make this as short as possible, I work at a barn where we sell horses, trade horses, do lessons, train horses, and board horses. We had a clearly stated “green broke” Quarterhorse stud that a man reached out to come see. Around 1:30pm on 01/03/2024 this man reached out via social media through a private message for a list of our current horses available. He was provided with this master list, which had the Stud listed at the bottom. The stud was listed in the master list as: “Green Broke 7 year old QH (quarterhorse) Stud. CAN BE gelded. $5,550 includes his next 30 days as well” his price included being sent on 01/04/2024 to our own off-property cowboy who handles horses like that all day. The potential buyer said he would not need the additional 30 days as he had his own trainer who broke fillies and colts. After this was said his price was reduced to $3000, and was going to be considered to be sold at $2000. At no time before stepping foot onto the property were we told by the potential buyer, that they were going to bring their trainer, the trainers fiancé, and a dog they bought off the side of the road. For reference, the entire week prior besides one day it was raining and not sunny.

Upon arriving to the barn, around 4:10pm, they come into the barn where we have it fully packed, as a strong storm system was moving through again that night. The potential buyers trainer is wearing spurs I’ve never even seen that big before. By 4:38pm the QH was taken from the barn down to the most usable round pen, which was still extremely muddy due to the inches of rain received in the days leading up. They wanted to see how he moved and we agreed to let this happen, the QH was being pushed around using a whip that could be heard beyond the property. It was clear the potential buyers trainer was trying to intimidate this horse to gain power over him. The QH was up to his cannon in mud at some points, and we were just so shocked this was all happening and outnumbered by potential buyers vs employees and barn owner. It was verbally stated by the barn owner and seller, we had never seen him on video under saddle or lunging, and the most info we had prior to him coming to us was a photo of someone sitting on the QH back while he was in a bridle and tacked up in a western saddle. The potential buyers horse trainer asked, while in the round pen, if we had a snaffle bit for the horse, my barn owner replied yes, and we agreed to let him try to ride the horse, as our laws do not hold us liable for injury due to horseback riding and they seemed extremely interested. Between 4:38pm and 4:50pm, I went back up to the barn to use the restroom and in that time the QH was walked from the round pen to the front of the barn and hard tied the horse to a pole with the barn owner and the party interested in the horse. We offered the interested party a bridle, saddle, saddle pad, everything you need to tack up a horse to ride western. They declined our offer and said they brought their own tack with them, again we were never asked if they could ride the horse prior to stepping on the property. It felt like a ton of pressure as we were outnumbered just trying to get everyone ready for the storm which produced four tornados that night.

By 4:54pm the potential buyers trainer had him almost completed under saddle. By 4:57pm he was completed with saddling, and the QH was enjoying some grass while still tied to a pole. 4:57pm, the quarter horse, barn owner, myself, and the three individuals in the interested party were inside our small indoor riding area, like I said the round pens were mud pits, especially after he lunged the horse using a whip. It was explicitly verbally stated multiple times we did not know his history beyond the photo we say and testimony from who we bought him from, and that’s why he was advertised as “green broke”. At 5:02pm the potential buyers trainer was attempting to bridle him in our small indoor arena, the QH did not want to take the bit, which was to be expected. We do not know the last time he was saddled, bridled, or ridden, which was continually verbally stated to all parties. By 5:05pm the QH has a bridle on and the potential buyers trainer was finishing tightening his bridle. At 5:07pm he is slapping the horse on his buttock, trying to illicit a reaction to get on video. BEFORE ATTEMPTS TO MOUNT THE HORSE THE POTENTIAL BUYERS TRAINER STATED MULTIPLE TIMES TO MAKE SURE HE WAS ON VIDEO WHEN HE GOT DUMPED (bucked off) BECAUSE THE LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED IT DIDN’T GET RECORDED. This should have been an immediate red flag but we were so exhausted from catching horses all day and preparing for a storm while also shipping out a horse. At 5:17pm, the potential buyers trainer attempts to mount him for the first time. Puts his left foot into the stirrup and the QH walks forward and starts turning his head toward the trainer, he attempts this one more time and gets his foot in the stirrup and his right leg over the horse within the same minute. This all occurred over a duration of 22 seconds. We offered the potential buyers trainer a small riding crop to be used as an aid, he declined this and opted for hitting the animal instead. At 5:18pm the trainer is fully on the horse and in the back corner of our indoor area. Within a time frame of 46 seconds he slaps, and I mean an echoing hard slap, the horse on his buttock 14 times. By 5:20pm he is continuing to dig his gigantic spurs into the side of the horse, while continuing to aggressively slap him and trying to get a reaction for a video. He digs his spurs into the side of the horse 23 times within 24 seconds, then takes his right hand to slap the horse on the upper buttock, three times immediately after the spurs dig into him. He then slaps the horse six more times, digs his spurs in four times after that, then takes his hand and extremely forcefully smacked the horse again. The horse kicked its right hind leg back and he slaps the horse two more times before the horse decides to crow hop. All of the above mentioned spur kicks and slapping happened within a 52 second time frame. Between 5:21 and 5:35 this continues, continually slapping the horse and the spurs being dug into him. The horse did a small buck but nothing like I’ve seen other horses do. Around 5:35pm the potential buyers trainer dismounts from the horse, and our outdoor wash rack was not properly set up as it is winter and many of our horses are not getting bathed due to the cold weather, and we do not have a heated barn and many are blanketed whenever it drops below 40 as they are from a hot and humid climate even further south. By 5:45pm All parties with the potential buyer leave the barn property with a handshake from my barn owner and tell my barn owner they will let her know after reviewing footage so they can see how his feet move.

On 01/04/2024 at 8:57am, without our knowledge, consent, or approval, the potential buyers trainer goes onto two large social media platforms and posts a video while narrating over the video claiming we advertised this horse as “broke” “kid safe” and claimed we said he was “broke 7 year old stud with no stud like tendencies” meanwhile I have on video of him while mounted atop the horse saying, “I love studs, they can be like this till they’re 10”. He claims his video was not to bad mouth anyone, just share his experience. This video posted to social media is just over 3 minutes long, includes horses that are on a training program, horses for sale, and barn clients horses in the background. He claims our small indoor area was “the best place they had for me to ride/try out this horse” never makes mention of the real situation which is that it’s been raining for almost a week straight… and in reviewing other videos posted prior by the potential buyers trainer, he trains in a round pen on uneven grass. He said he was there to “try a horse not train a horse” we never asked for him to train him or try him, and explicitly stated the horse was going to our own trainer off property the following day. This video just includes a multitude of lies not only written in text over the video but also spoken over the video. Though he never explicitly named our barn, it is easily identifiable due to the horses we have in there and its construction. We later found out that the potential buyer was actually looked for a horse ready to rope cattle, rodeo, kid-safe, trail-safe, practically bomb proof for $2,000.

All this craziness being said, do we have a case for defamation? We kindly asked all parties involved individually to take down the video, even spoke to the original guy who reached out and was interested, and he said he had no clue the video was posted. Asked the potential buyers trainer to take down the video, as well as his fiancée. They did not agree to take down the video as it is “an educational video” even though all claims made in the video are a crock of poo. We have not made ANY public statement, comments or innuendos toward any party. The other party involved does live in the same state, just different county. What should our next steps be?

Green Broke: we use this term to describe horses that have minimum training and has only had a saddle on a few times, been ridden a few times, has lots of vices, needs experienced rider and tons of work, liable to spook/buck/rear/crow hop, and refuses simple situation. There are not tons of legal definitions for “green broke”.

Stud horse: A stud is a male horse that is used for breeding. The term “stud” is often used in western equestrian culture, and the term “stallion” is more commonly used in the sport horse world.