TF Jumpin Jack--a Placement Gone Bad

TF Jumpin Jack
10 yr, 15.2 hand, chestnut, TB x Appy gelding

Sometimes things don't go as planned or hoped. Sometimes things go terribly wrong. That's what happened to poor Jack.

Jack arrived with The Red Horse, aka Donut. He'd been passed around quite a bit in the previous 2 years & had lost his trust of humans. I'd been told he'd been abused when he proved hard to catch. Why anyone would hit a horse once caught is beyond me. That's like calling a dog & when it finally comes, beating it because it didn't come faster. All that teaches is NOT TO COME! I could tell right away that Jack was a sweet horse who wanted to be friendly, he just didn't know if he could. I went in with him & stood still. He slowly approached & reached out to me. A few scratches later he was following me & letting me blanket him without a halter. Someone was going to get a very nice horse.

I had what I thought was the perfect home for him. A teen girl (TG) was looking for an english prospect so she could be on the Fresno State Equestrian team in the fall. Jack had been presented to me as green, ridden in an arena at a walk, trot & canter. He had only been ridden english & that was by his original owner, who rode dressage. I just knew he was going to be the perfect project horse for TG.

When TG arrived, along with Stacy & 2 of my friends, I handed her a halter & let her get acquainted with Jack. She was very timid & quiet which put Jack at ease. Soon they were walking around & then lunging in the roundpen. Their temperments seemed to be well suited. I allowed them alone time so they could see if a bond was there, & told TG she didn't have to take Jack if she had any concerns. It wasn't long before I spied Jack's head in her stomach. It really seemed like a perfect match when he hopped right into her trailer. Six hours later Jack was unloaded at the home of my friends, who were keeping him for TG until a stall was empty at her barn. A few days later, on Wed, Jack headed for his new barn.

What followed next was a prolonged nightmare of emotions, not only for Jack but for my friends & I. We were on a weekend vacation together when they received a call from TG saying she wasn't going to keep Jack. Now mind you, this was only 48 hours after he arrived at her barn. She gave some excuses saying she was just too overwhelmed, she'd taken him too fast, she was hasty in her decision, people at the barn were saying she couldn't handle him, blah, blah, blah. My friends told her they'd help her when they got home & that seemed to calm her down. A couple hours later she called to say she wanted him gone by Sun (this was Friday) so my friends said they'd pick him up. A while later TG called again to say she had taken Jack to my friends' house & had tied him to a horse trailer. OMG WTF was the reaction we all had. TG had tied Jack to an unhitched trailer along the side of a road AFTER dark, with no one home. Fortunately my friends were able to call a non-horsey neighbor who was willing to go rescue Jack & put him safely in a paddock. We were all dumbfounded.

It was a few days before my friends found out that TG had taken Jack to a trainer of questionable repute for an evaluation. This trainer's reputation precedes her with her heavy handed methods. The claim was that Jack twice flipped over at a tie rail. Piecing the multiple conflicting stories that TG gave, we think the so-called trainer either had him bridled & tied by the bit & reins, or grabbed the reins & jerked, causing poor Jack to panic. At that, the so-called trainer deemed him crazy & dangerous. Why TG took Jack to this person is a mystery. Why would you take an english horse to a western trainer (for lack of better title) who then puts a western bit on a horse who's only had a snaffle? This whole scenario defied reason.

My friends decided they would keep Jack, not only as an eventing prospect, but as an endurance prospect. They had bonded with him while they housed him & felt he deserved better than he got from TG. My friends have a couple horses at the barn where TG keeps her horse because they like having an arena to work in during the winter. A few days after Jack was thrown away on their road, they took him back to the barn so they could work with him in the evenings. All was well for the next few days & then things went very bad.

It seems TG was so upset at seeing Jack back at the barn that she complained to the manager that Jack was dangerous & was going to kill someone. She wanted him banned from the barn. With these claims a witch hunt in the style of Salem began. On the word of a clearly disturbed teenager, Jack was being sentenced to what could have been a death penalty. The manager told my friends that they needed proof that he'd been ridden, proof (preferably from a vet) that he wasn't crazy & proof that he wasn't dangerous or they would have to move him out of the barn. Their attorney told them that the barn putting the crazy & dangerous label on Jack would make him a liability. A horse with those labels was slated for euthanasia. I was able to get a letter from a former owner that he'd been ridden. Along with this letter, I faxed one of my own for the barn manager. Mine was a bit scathing & I let it be known what I thought of the actions of TG. I also pointed out the ineptitude of the barn manager in handling the matter. I really have a very low tolerance for morons. When my friends gave the letters to the manager, they told him what their attorney had said. From what I was told, the barn manager did a lot of sputtering & indicated that they didn't have to get an attorney. He wasn't going to ban Jack. He said he didn't need the letter from the previous owner of his ridability. It was all a misunderstanding & my letter (which was quite detailed about the entire episode from start to finish) had provided details that explained everything. Jack was welcome at the stable as long as a sign was posted so people wouldn't feed him. The thought behind that was to keep strangers from scaring him as he's still wary of people. I personally think the suggestion for the sign was really to notify TG to stay away from Jack as we had concerns she would emotionally abuse him. She hates having to see him every day & goes out of her way to avoid my friends. She won't even walk down Jack's barn aisle. Did I say she was disturbed?

Poor Jack. I feel in so many ways that I failed him. But I suppose the saying "all's well that ends well" is the moral of this story. Jack is in a wonderful, forever home & I'll get to see him shine. Oh, and because he's risen from the ashes of what some considered a trash horse, his new name is FAWKES (after the phoenix in Harry Potter). Go Fawkes!

This is Fawkes with his new, forever mom. Does he look crazy & dangerous to you? Thank you Jenn for loving him & giving the chance he deserves.