Updated 10/03/05

I dealt with [Sleepy Hollow Horse Rescue] and have a horse from there and dealt mostly with Kathy Patt once March of 2002.  They had purchased a black Arabian stallion for $450 from an auction.  They then tried to sell him on the Internet for $5,000.  When this didn't work they threaten to kill the stallion, so needless to say we bought him, as no one else would.

The rescue posted about the stallion, Precious Heritage, on one of the Arabian lists, Arabianbreeders chat room I think.  I was on 3 lists [at the time].  They also posted on equine sales sites.

I sat back and watched the emails for about a month.  I think they sent out one email offering him for sale and how they got him and how much they where selling him for.  When people got upset about a horse rescue doing what they where doing with the threat was made on the list, I then called them. 

Kathy Patt then told me in person, that if he weren’t sold for the $5,000 then they would just shoot him, as he was better to be dead for him then back at the auction for slaughter.  So if they shot him or if they took him back either way he would be dead.  Now this really ticked me off. 

I have been doing horse rescue for 12 years, with my own personal money, and I don't care if I go in and pay $10,000 for a horse that might die in 24 hours or less.  I know they will know love me while with me, but for a rescue to do such a thing was just beyond what I can put into words.  So we bought him on the last day.

Then after we bought him we had problems finding a hauler to go up there.  The rescue called him and met him on the road somewhere, as they would not let the driver go to the rescue.  But before I could find a hauler I trusted to get the stallion a man called me for Patt.  The hauler told me that if the horse wasn't removed, and if I didn't pay an extra $700 for board, they would just shoot the horse.  They didn't care.  I paid to get the horse I already paid for. 

And we had given strict instructions that the stallion was to not be with any mares at all while boarded there, they agreed.  Well the stallion came to us a rack of bones and I found out a year later he was not kept separate, but was in with several mares breeding them before he could be picked up.

The following summer I got a letter in the mail stating that another woman needed me to register a foal sired by my stallion. It was a woman who bought an Arabian mare from Patt.  She was upset because she paid like $1,500 for the mare with a guarantee the mare was in foal and that the foal would be registered. That woman’s mare came from the same people that my stallion came from, a man in his 80's or so Patt had said.  They had found my stallion at the auction along with two mares then tracked down the owner who had another like 12 horses that Patt got from him for a lousy $300.00 each so she said.  She told the original owner that they were “placing” them for him.

Once I got the stallion I never heard from Patt or Schak or anyone at the rescue again.

If it wasn't for the fact that when I signed on as owner was the date of the auction Patt could have registered foals with out my knowledge.  I would suppose some owner of the mares that the stallion bred probably don't even know that they are pure bred or anything, so do tell people that I have him now.

I had talked mostly to Patt at the rescue while dealing with this situation. 

THANK GOD [your group helped to] finally closed them down.  I was shocked and upset about the rescue and was telling every one I knew about them at the time, but people don't always listen.  And these people are the reason why I started my own horse rescue.

Lona

Frontier Ranch Equine Rescue