I did what I do best. I panicked. I was about to have the vet out to do blood work on a horse that wasn't the one on the paper! My horse is only 3 1/2! Something's dreadfully wrong. The breeder must have sent us the wrong paper. So I called the TWHBEA, talked to one of the girls there who was just as confused as I was, and then sent me over to leave a message for the person in charge of registrations.
Being so confused, I called the lady we bought her from, because surely she sent the wrong paper, and we need to get this sorted asap! She completely denied everything she'd told me before about the horse. She said the date on the ad was "a typo."
I'd actually snagged a screen shot of her ad a few weeks after we purchased her. It was a cached page, and unfortunately I was unable to get the text of the ad because it had already been deleted. But here's the screen shot:
She said I had the right papers. Then she proceeded to tell me she'd never owned Anya's dam...
I said that the transfer slip I had wasn't signed by her, but someone else. She said that the slip was supposed to be signed by the person who owned the foal at the time they should have been registered. Which, according to what she told me when I purchased her, would have been her. She owned the dam at the time, because she bought her in foal. Foal = Anya.
She was "out until Monday" and I told her I needed her to check her records and be absolutely certain. I asked her what year she'd bought Anya's dam, and she gave me "I have no idea, at that time I had more than 80 broodmares. I don't remember names, or dates. I'm sure you got the right paper."
How in the world could she be sure I got the right paper if she can't even remember anything else?
When we bought her, her name was "Misty." When we got the papers in the mail from her, there was a little slip of notebook paper clipped to the registration information that said "Goldie." I was so excited to even HAVE the papers after all we'd been through with this woman that I didn't think too much about it. Maybe it's what they'd called her initially? Who knows.
The vet came and I explained to her what was going on. She said there was no way she was that old, and that she'd look at her but if she didn't think she was there was no way she would sign the paper. I was totally fine with that, because I didn't want the papers for the wrong horse anyway.
I brought Anya out, and the first thing the vet said was "Wow, she's really grown!" I kept thinking that too, but since I see her all the time I wasn't really sure. I know she's gained weight! Then she commented that her face had broadened and that she was beautiful. (She is, she knows she is.) So the vet looked at her teeth, looked some more. Stopped and said, "Well she might be..." and looked again. It seems like she looked for a good five minutes, but it probably wasn't that long. She finally went and referenced a book just to be certain. "Yeah, I think she's about six."
Then she looked over her and said "I can't believe she's grown this much as a six year old!" She said that she must have had a really horrible start and have been so malnourished in order for her to have grown like that at this age. So we did the rest of the visit, I opted for putting in the microchip.
Honestly, I don't give a rat's behind that she's six years old. That's not it at all.
First of all, I didn't start working on riding her because I thought she was still only 3. She needed to gain weight and settle in anyway obviously, but I held off so she could finish growing some, let her joints and ligaments form, etc. So I feel like I've wasted the last few months that I could have been riding.
Second, it pisses me off to no end that she was completely misrepresented. There's a really big difference between a barely-three-year-old and a six-year-old horse. Further, that this woman has completely changed her story and denies even owning her as a foal now! It's the principle of the matter more than it is anything else.
I did a lot of mulling things over last night, trying to figure out why I was quite as upset as I am. Yeah, principle, she lied about her, Anya's older than I thought. She's still the same horse that I love, and her age isn't going to make that any different.
Then it hit me. I've just lost three years of time with her that I thought I had. In a matter of hours. Three years!
It wouldn't have made an iota of difference if I'd known she was six, I'd have bought her anyway. I actually wanted a horse older than 3, and even told the lady that, but there was something about this horse. That would have given her the perfect opportunity to say "Oh you know what, she might be older than you're thinking. Maybe the ad is wrong, let me just double check." She'd have had a much more sure sale! I had to convince my husband to let me buy a horse that young. (It'd have saved me a lot of headache, that's for sure.)
This is my forever horse, and I thought our forever was at least three years longer than it apparently is. It's just a bit sad that in a moment, I lost three years with the horse who's saved my life.
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