Complaint Review: Applehill Stables - North Gower Ontario

Back in August of last year I met a woman named Sandra, from a stable in North Gower, who found me looking for stable work on kijiji. She offered to give me work for riding time. I started off on an older half blind horse. She was a good horse but a very slow and dull ride.

Before this I was successfully riding at a riding school and was well on my way. I spent a couple of months on this older horse and Sandra kept talking about how good her other horse was and she was conveniently for sale. She knew I chose to work in a stable because I wanted to be more hands on with horses and she knew I was searching to buy my first horse.

Over the fall I started working with Moon, the horse for sale. My first ride on her she reared continuously. When we could get a bit of a trot she had a mild lameness going counter clock wise. I asked Sandra if everything was ok and she assured me it was and it was all because she had just had so much time off.

She claimed Moon had also had a disagreement with another mare in the field causing the limp. She assured me the rearing was nothing. After a couple of months I fell in love with Moon even with her faults. Sandra had me purchase shoes for her because she thought it would help with Moon getting back into work. Her mild lameness went away. The rearing continued and Sandra always had an excuse for it.

In December my significant other showed up to make a deposit of $4000 to Sandra. Leaving $2500 plus HST remaining. He signed the bill of sale and came home to surprise me. He didn’t know he should have had a pre purchase exam. He didn’t know that Sandra was going to charge me with a commission fee of $600 plus hst if I removed Moon from her stable within the first year.

He also didn’t know I was still riding on a lunge line with her. My goal was to wait until after I could ride Moon on my own before paying for her. They knew I wanted to buy her but I also wanted to wait until I was sure I could do it on my own. After the Christmas break I went in excited and scared of my new commitment.

Sandra had me sign papers and told me I would have to pay a commission. I asked her why at the time. Moon had been with Sandra for 10 years. I didn’t ask her to help me find horses. She freely sent me some kijiji ads and I sent some back to her. It wasn’t agreed upon that she was to be commissioned. She had excuses for all of the horses I sent her and that she sent me.

Nothing was good enough. Which led me to working with Moon. I shouldn’t have had to pay a commission. She assured me it was normal and yes I had to pay it as well. I let it pass because I trusted this woman was a professional and she wanted to see me excel in the horse world. Over the next few months I continued to work on the lunge line. She continued to rear. I was fearful. Especially the day, in April, we tried to leave the lunge line and she continued to rear numerous times.

At one point my stirrups came off my saddle and I was holding on by only reins and then the saddle. I had to let go with no choice and in the process I managed to injure my shoulder. My friend who is a physiotherapist said it sounded like a text book “rotating cuff” injury. For a few weeks I couldn’t ride. For weeks I worried about getting back on.

Sandra finally forced me to get back on a ride at the beginning of May. My legs and brain just went blank. I froze up and I was terrified. That day was the day that I decided I needed to make a change because this was going to kill me someday. It had been months and I hadn’t made any progress. When she seen how doubtful I was of her coaching that day and how afraid I was she went on to tell me that this horse is the one for me and she’s never been so good for anyone else.

She told me that Moon has always reared for her riders and I just needed to ride through it. I was promised a well trained horse and she had given me a very confused horse. She didn’t understand leg cues. Instead of moving from pressure she thought it meant go. Not only myself, later on, I had a certified Ontario equestrian coach ride her and she confirmed my thoughts.

Moon was very green and hadn’t been trained much. At this point Ive lost all confidence in Sandras ability to make a wise choice. The week prior to this she had me contact someone for a 2 year old filly thoroughbred. I watched the videos and I took them in for Sandra to view. I said it was a bad idea. The horse was sat on once and she was planning on acquiring this horse for a very young inexperienced girl.

I asked her what the girl would do with it? Sandra went on to say she would teach the young girl how to lunge this horse and they would grow up together. She made it seem like a fairy tale come true. Little did she know, I realized this is what she had did to me. She provided me with a horse to train for her. She knew I would be dependant on her. When I knew I was having problems with Moon I mentioned bringing in a trainer to help me and she got angry and told me flat out no.

When I mentioned Moon might be in pain because of ill fitting tack she refused to listen to me. I recently had a saddle fitter come out to see Moon. Sure enough this saddle had been pinching her for years and through many different sized riders with different types of experience riding. The saddle fitter noted right away how stiff her back was. (The coach I had come in to ride her mentioned it as well) Sandra working in another stall gave an excuse and looked angry herself.

After the saddle fitter left there was nothing to do so she sent me on my way. Earlier that morning I had expressed that I wanted to move barns and have moon closer to work with her more. Sandra brought up her commission right away and said she would need to be paid before we leave. I mentioned the cost of training board to her and explained that I cannot afford to keep paying for a horse I cant ride. I offered to let her buy her back for the $4000 we gave her. She said no.

I went to Facebook horse pages because I thought I would need to sell her. After a lot of feed back I found out I had been ripped off. No one would pay so much for a middle aged, rearing, green horse. After speaking to close friends with horses and explaining the same situation I have to you I also found out there should be no commission fee and Ive been played from the beginning. I contacted Sandra to let her know I would like a decrease in Moons price considering all of the training she will need and possibly medical care.

I hadn’t heard from her. I personally do not believe she deserves this good horse anymore. She neglected to pay attention to the smallest and most known detail of a horses pain. Their saddle and back. After waiting a week and giving her to the 20th to respond to my request of giving me my mare for what I paid or refunding me; she sent me an email trying to claim that in the time that I have been riding and working there, that I did not pay for last months board.

I most definitely did. My hours for March are conveniently missing and she’s tried to scribble out “months” on the bottom of the last page. Anyone going in and out of that barn would know that I worked and clean stalls every day I was there. Minimum 3 days a week. Not just a couple of stalls either. I was cleaning anywhere from 6-12 stalls a day. I never asked to be paid. I said she could take it off of the board. I don’t need the money.

I went out of my way to help her business grow. I brought boarders and riders to her barn. I was there because I trusted her and I wanted to learn more about horses. I want to say I wasted 9 months of my life. Unfortunately, I have learned a valuable lesson. Do not trust everyone. Especially people that are trying to sell you a horse. I hope that people can share this and won’t fall to this type of scam again. 

Today I walked away. I told her she can keep my horse. Im heartbroken. But, I refuse to pay a fraud like her another dollar.

After my story was shared online I discovered she has been doing this, to many people, for over 20 years! If only one report or review had been mentioned about this company I would never had gone there!