Warning horse dealer claiming “downsizing farm” I am new to the horse buying world and was so excited to get started with this new addition to our family. Unfortunately I bought a horse that was misrepresented in the ad she posted because I let my emotions get involved even when my gut feeling knew she was lying about everything to make money.
A lady named Sherry Bailey (use to be Sherry Peels and had a farm called Nottingham Farms in Tennessee) now living in Bristol Virginia, took advantage of a new buyer. The horse she claimed was beginner safe is actually green and bucked my trainer the first day. I have had health issues I am recovering from so I asked my trainer to make sure he was stable. I’m posting the lies she gave me in hopes this post saves someone the severe headache we have experienced.
Lie # 1 Claims she is downsizing farm but constantly is getting more horses to sell. There are always new ads on horses I did not see at her barn. Sherry will also pressure you by saying I’m getting a lot of calls on her or him.
#2. You cannot ride him because I don’t have insurance on my farm. -waiver could have been used (now I know why she wouldn’t let me ride).
#3. My daughter can’t run him because he has a cold -never did I see snot while there and when my trainer went from walk to lope he bucked.
#4 he is beginner safe -sends very short videos and cuts them before they show a bad behavior.
# 5. She had the horse I bought posted for $4,000 but told me he was 5,000. (When I sent her a screen shot of the ad asking her about it she said her daughter mixed him up with another horse named legend. (who is 20 years old) even then I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
#6 She said the horse is up to date on coggins and shots -I was there on the Aug 4th he didn’t have his coggins until Aug 7.
#7. She never disclosed that the first horse I was originally there to buy I was an abuse case and also not beginner safe. She now has him listed more than I was to pay.
#8. The original agreement was for another horse and that I would make a 2,000 down payment and pay the rest when I met him. She also wanted 1200 for a saddle that I paid for with the down payment. When she demanded I pay the rest I told her I was not longer buying the saddle and she would have to use the saddle money towards payment (also realizing the saddle she had was not worth 1200. She got upset saying she could have sold the saddle to someone else and she lost the sale. She also continuously tried to get me to buy her blankets and extras when I kept telling her no.
#9 she will make every excuse to not deliver on the date you agreed on. My horse as I was originally suppose to get him the 17th and then it was the 27th.
Sherry tried to push it back even further by making constant excuses
1. he just had his vaccines and is coming down with a cold (remember she says they are up to date on their shots).
2. Her mom is sick
3. She has a horse that is colicky. -I got her to deliver by telling her to take videos and pictures and that I would have a vet check him
#10 She is selling horses because her daughter has a kidney disease (She is constantly posting new horses on horse clicks and those are just the ads I found)
#11 He has a fever and can’t be transported -temp was 99.8 per vet on health cert
#12 She lied about his history and I still can’t find any history on him. The vet she uses only did his coggins and shots and health cert for the month of Aug (I called the vet directly). Sherry will say she’s had them years. This is another reason I know she gets them and misrepresents them.
#13 You will see different ads with different prices and she will tell you the highest price and that the ad was a mistake.
#14. She will make it out like she needs all money upfront and comes up with all sorts of excuses. She will also make you feel like she is doing you a favor.
#15. delivery she charged 1200$ when it’s about 390 miles from my house to hers. She will insist on delivering.
#16 changed price of saddle
#17. Will want you to pay for expenses they were supposedly up to date on. *there are other rip off reports on her (which she will say things like she can’t make everyone happy and that person did something to the horse). She misrepresented this sale and I know she is doing this to others. Every time I caught her in a lie I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Because she tells all these stories of rescuing horses but really she is turning around selling them to naive horse buyers like me.