Complaint Review: Moon Run Farm Bray Anderson Mary Anderson - North Berwick Maine

Speaking of boarding don't all horse/ pony owners look into where they would like to board their horse/ pony before hand. If stables and/ or barn handles not qualify for a boarders opinion, then why board there? Sometimes things don't always work out as we wish, but Moon Run Farm has always taken the best care of any horse/ pony could need.

If things don't work out for the owner then they shouldn't have crossed bridges because of it. Speaking badly about Bray is highly uncalled for. Hope you have a better experience at your NEW barn. And if things don't work out there, then keep your opinions to yourself, just  saying.

So I when I heard that this was going on I was shocked and saddened.  I rode with Bray for over 13 years and boarded my horses there.  Bray is a wonderful and kind hearted person.  She cares deeply for her horses and sometimes does take on more then she can handle, but only because she wants to give many broken horses a home.
 I am here to set the record straight on some of your facts, because I don't think you have everything right.  You mentioned all of these horses that were ill and never received treatment.  I was at the barn when Alibi passed away.  Alibi was an incredibly old mare first of all.  Secondly when the melanomas appeared a vet was called to assess the situation.  At the time there was no treatment for her.  Alibi was not malnourished, and since the time I knew her, from when I was 4 up until she passed she was always lean.  Many horses lose muscle tone and weight when they get older.  
You also mentioned Stuart.  He came to Bray with a pre-existing respiratory problem.  And the situation with that mare Molly was awful, but not Bray's fault.
I'm disappointed that you choose to so negatively attack her.   I think Bray is a magnificent instructor with little kids.  She is passionate and patient and I definitely credit her in sparking my love of horses.   Bray always adds a creative and personal flare to everything she does and she sticks with it.  Many of Bray's horses live well into their 20's and sometimes 30's, so clearly they can't be starving or that unattended to.
Oh and also I left the barn with my horses, in broad day light and lived to tell the tale.  Bray didn't verbally abuse me or shun me.  And wouldn't you think after being there for as many years as I had been that I would have been the prime candidate for this so called "abuse"?  I am not mistreated by Bray now and I still talk to her and see her from time to time.
I know that in these rebuttals I'm not supposed to talk down to you, or whatever, but you seriously need to check yourself.   You clearly are irrational and think you KNOW EVERYTHING.  But I'm here to tell you that you don't.  So go start some trolling forum elsewhere.  

I just want to start off with saying, this is the worst written article I've ever read. Second, I've been riding at Bray Anderson's barn for over nine years now, and I don't have a single complaint. Bray is my hero. she runs her barn smoothly, with good quality horses. her stalls are cleaned daily/every other day and they are fed breakfast lunch and dinner. I have personally witnessed almost every vet/farrier visit and they are all on time. It seems like I'm the only one who knows that still born's happen, and sometimes the mom doesn't make it. it happens, its sad but blaming Bray isn't going to do anything. of course children are allowed to feed the horses! if they're going to learn how to take care of horses along side ride them, they need to know everything which is exactly what bray teaches. Bray is the most hard working person I've ever met, and if you think she's lazy you've clearly never watched that woman work. in the summmers, I'm there almost all day every day and Bray is out there before I'm there, and after I leave. we worm, feed and water all the horses. I've been to other barns before, and I never learned as much as I did with bray. she means the world to me and anyone who says shes a crappy instructor has clearly never worked with her. I think who ever wrote this article is an insecure child, and needs to go back to Moon Run and see what really goes on.

I have rode at Brays for over two years and will soon buy the horse Grafffiti that lives there. He is well cared for and I have personally witnessed all the horses getting their annual vaccines needed every year.  As  for the comment about the foals running around on the property would you rather have them caged up in a stall? Or let them run around and exercise their muscles? They always have plenty of water and are well fed. There is always someone cleaning the stalls putting down new bedding and just cleaning the property in general. I have never seen any of the things you people claim has happened at Moon Run farm. The horses are well and I have never heard any complaints until I came onto his site and heard your petty comments.

My husband and I looked into purchasing Bray Anderson's "Moon Run Farm," while it was up for sale in 2010. We were SHOCKED to see just how bad the conditions of the farm were, despite some warnings from fellow horse people in the community. Here are the things we noticed first hand:

1. There are far too many severely skinny horses on the property, many with VERY poorly cared for feet(although that is a boarders responsibility) sad to see so many in that condition...

2. Almost all the fencing was literally eaten by the horses, and what was left was barely standing, or completely fallen.

3. The "pastures" if you would call them that, were completely bare of grass, and most were tiny.

4. There were two horses, one a small pony and one weanling roaming around free on the property. There was even someone there working on the house that did not even care about the horses roaming around.

5.It was late afternoon, not a single horse had hay, and we saw two pastures that had NO Water. Although there was hay in box trailer....

6. The barn only had two clean stalls, the rest were a mess, a few looked as though they had at least a weeks worth of manure-NO BEDDING.

7. There were a couple horses in very dirty stalls.

8. The barn itself was in need of tremendous repair, for both structural and safety concerns, not just cosmetic, as it literally looked as though the horses had eaten away the stalls and exterior walls.

9. The indoor arena was solid, but the plexi glass was either broken or had fallen out, and the doors were off the track and the footing was poor, and there were piles of manure everywhere, and misc things including stall panels left all over.

There were SO many things wrong with this farm and its overall condition I probably did not list half of them, we would have been crazy to even offer HALF her asking price.  Any person (no matter how nice they seem) that lets animals live in these conditions, conditions that did not get this way overnight, should NOT have animals or be in charge of such a facility.  It is very sad to see anyone stand up for Bray Anderson or even board a horse with her, after seeing how she runs her business and cares for her facility and the animals there. She should not be able to continue business that way, and I am shocked animal control has not enforced changes.

As for the farm, there is tremendous potential there, as there is still a lot of land to be cleared for use.  The property needs an extreme amount of repairs and updating, most importantly for safety. I would not recommend boarding any animal there.

You need to read the comments by the mother of a current student of Bray's posted on 11/18/2010. It's obvious nothing has changed in the way she takes care of her horses.

I help bray at her farm. this summer I met ehr and helped her ever day. She is a nice and kind woman who deserves respect. And her horses and two dogs cooper and bianca are all well taken car of. She cleans the stalls when she has time. She also goes down and feed them. Even when she gets home late. I also help her with some of the stuff. She feeds her horses, puts blankets on them as of now, she waters them, i was accually there this morning and she had already fed and watered all the horses. So I had less work to do. And fyi, I choose to help. She deserves those horses. I don't know what you have experienced. But she takes really good of her horses. Even when times are hard she still does. mabe she has changed alot since you have been there. A lot of people who go there now are happy with what she does and how she treats her animals. She has even payed me to help. I have probably about 2 hours worth of stuff I can say good things about her farm. But I would rather not waist my time talking about it since i have a life. You don't because you are rude about this. I take the past and put it away. the present of whats happening now is the part that counts. And thats what i have to say about this!!!...

I had several disagreements with Ms. Anderson, which is why I left. I have had other disagreements with other barn owners as well and left their property for better facilities as well. I am not in the habit of slandering people or libel. There are numerous witnesses to the incidents I described, and I can find the individuals that had to sneak off the property in the dead of night or when Ms. Anderson was not home because she would become verbally abusive towards individuals informing her they were leaving. Her parting words to me were "Good f***ing luck."

I left within the time frame you claim to have been working/riding with Ms. Anderson and as I was there daily - three times, 7 days a week to make sure my horse was being properly cared for - I will confidently state that there are only two individuals that have been consistently with Ms. Anderson since 2001 are Ms. Anderson herself and one of her employees that is only there during the week, hence the horses not having water all weekend. If I never met or ran into you I very highly doubt you spent enough time at her facility to pass judgement on what did or did not occur. Depending on your age you may not have been able to reason for yourself what was, or was not, proper care as Ms. Anderson may have been the only person telling you what was what. I can't vouch for any of that.

When horses are being watered and are sucking the water down almost as fast as it comes out of the hose that is because they are dehydrated and have not had adequate access to clean water, or water at all. This is fact. This was occurring in 2002 until 2005 when I left, was occurring from 1999 from 2002 which is the time I was Ms. Anderson as a student and not a horse owner and from reliable reports is still going on. Buckets are bone dry by the end of the weekend because the horses are not watered by Ms. Anderson or anyone else.

I cannot vouch for the hay/grain situation as it currently is. I can say that there were days that there was no hay for any of the horses on numerous occasions during the times that I was there and again, from reliable sources, this is still common.

You have been there for eight years. You don't remember Molly? Ms. Anderson's trip to London while most of her mares were due to drop? You don't remember the young girl who died at the end of the driveway? The then-boarder who performed CPR on her until the ambulance arrived does. That was in 2003.

You certainly must have seen Alibi. In spite of Ms. Anderson's claims that the mare had melanomas (which is a treatable condition, by the way) it should not have resulted in the slow starvation over a period of several years if it had been properly managed. In the case that you feel that Alibi's condition was "normal" please feel free to familiarize yourself with the body condition scale that is used by veterinarians to judge a horse's condition. It's very simple, it's a 1-5 scale with 3 being ideal. Alibi MIGHT have been a two. I am not sure how you are managing to call me a liar on this particular case, or any of them, actually, as you have not provided any evidence to the contrary other than to accuse me of being petty.

I filed a report with this particular web site so when people used Google to get information on Ms. Anderson or her facility something would come up other than her own web site. As you can see from the comments I have three individuals who do not believe that I am lying and you are the lone individual defending her. Odds are not good. There are many, many more people, teachers and students that have left her facility horrified by the conditions and treatment of the horses.

Bottom line: Ms. Anderson does not provide adequate care, food, or shelter for animals in her care, even her own, bring your business elsewhere or you will most likely end up regretting it. She is a decent instructor and very good with children but I wouldn't encourage anyone to put money into her pocket.

I read the report and am not supporting or disagreeing with what has been written, but I dealt with Bray a year ago and did not have a good experience.  Upon visiting the barn for the first time it was appalling.  I was there late morning on one of the coldest days and it was evident that none of the horses had been watered.  There were barely any shavings/bedding in any of the stalls.  A good number of horses were skinny and under blanketed.  Also, according to the number of horses she stated she had and the number of stalls or shelters, there were clearly not enough to house all the horses.  After seeing the horse I had inquired about, I was even more appalled.  I bought this horse any way because there was no way I was leaving this horse there!  I had to have the horse put down 7 months later.  In my opinion, the health reason for having to put this horse down may have been related to the care at Moon Run.  Could I prove it.....probably not, but at least I know that for 7 months this horse had the best treatment and was truly loved and cared for.

I would definitely do your homework before buying from Moon Run.  I would ask for copies of health records, contact the farrier, etc.

I take no part or pleasure in sabotaging people, but I have to say, any person dealing with Moonrun Farms should get references.  

I dealt with Bray 20 years ago and most of what I read in this complaint takes me back to those days...  My feeling today, having read this complaint, is that Bray hasn't changed or improved her operation.    Potential boarders should just start asking ex-boarders about their experiences with Bray at Moonrun Farm and make the choice to board or take lessons there for themselves.   Do your homework.

I have been riding/working at Moon Run Farm for 8 years and none of that is true. She has money, she buys decent hay, grain and shavings. She has ferriers that come every week. The vet comes when needed for emergencies and normal check-ups. More grain is delivered every week. Hay comes about every other week.

I don't know why you have said all of those things but my guess is that you and her got into a small argument over somethin she was right about and you got mad. Then you made up all of these lies about her to make you feel better. Am I right?