Advice on unhappy buyer
I sold a lovely, genuine pony a little over two months ago to a really nice middle aged woman. I had had the pony six months and brought her on from just backed to winning dressage tests with 75%, hunting, hacking, jumping, bit of everything. I know everyone thinks their pony is the best but I can hand on heart say she never put a foot wrong with me. A delight to work with, lovely willing attitude to work and very keen to please.
A sudden change in circumstances meant I was forced to sell. She sold quickly to a really nice middle aged woman who wanted a pony to hack and do dressage and riding club activities. She flew through a five stage vetting and the lady took her home at the end of November.
Up until a few weeks ago I got gushing updates about how wonderful she was and how pleased she was with the pony. I hadn't heard from her for a couple of weeks and yesterday she sent a message to ask if I would take her back for a refund. She had taken the pony out to a flatwork clinic and apparently she had napped, bucked and refused to go forwards. She swears she will never ride her again and she wants to get rid.I explained that I was sorry she had experienced this but I am not in a position to have the pony back permanently. I offered to go up this weekend and ride her to see if she did the same with me, with a view to taking her back, working through these issues and then to sell on behalf of the lady. I asked to speak to the instructor who was running the clinic (her idea originally) but the number hasn't materialised. I can't help thinking that the lady is being very defeatist about this. I also know she has faffed around with saddles since she bought her (the saddle I rode in went with her and the pony was always happy in it but the woman didn't like it.) So it is entirely feasible she's in pain. Trouble is it is hard to talk about these potentially issues without sounding accusatory and she's already defensive. I just know that it is extremely out of character and the pony I sold had never showed a hint of anything like it, so something must have changed to upset her.
I'm at a loss as to what to do. I know legally I don't have to do anything (the pony was not missold, I have multiple riders/witnesses who will swear she was a saint whilst she was with me, including video evidence of her in a very similar competition environment and dressage test sheets to prove it. Plus it was a private sale so very much 'buyer beware'.) Legally she can't touch me but I feel desperately sorry for her and of course very worried about the pony whom I loved - the lady says she will 'sort something out for her' next week but what the hell does that mean? The pony is an absolute gem and I'd be gutted if she went to a bad home because of one slight episode.
Any advice welcome. Really don't know what to do for the best here. Her best chance of a good home AND the lady's best chance of getting her money back is surely to let me see what's going on and try and help, but she's so defensive.
Tl;dr: sold a pony to a lady who was very happy with her, recently changed her tune due to some very out of character behaviour. Wants me to take her back for a refund but I (financially and time) can't on a permanent basis. Refuses to consider other offer of help or to let me see the behaviour. What do I do? Really care about the pony, she's a diamond.
Submitted February 03, 2018 at 04:10AM by P_Lazarou
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/7uyrev/advice_on_unhappy_buyer/?utm_source=ifttt
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