Magical Ranch Linda Siegal Conniving woman out to get you! Loomis, California

 Is any of this true ?

These very young girls come to work at Magical Ranch, a private rescue, and while it is true that most stay for no more than six months, most go on to better jobs because of their experience here, and that is what I have told new people.  Chickens, sheep, rabbits, dogs, cats, and horses come to Magical Ranch to find ample food, good housing, kind handling, and days that are more peaceful from their previous situations.  At the most, in our 20 year history, we have had 24 horses, and we have leased many facilities, all of which started with an owner, and which were paid for at reasonable, market rates.  Countless horses have found good homes through our efforts. 

Sometimes, living quarters are included with the barns we lease, and my very capable 40+ daughter with her profound ability to handle horses, lives on the property with the horses as on-site help, and it works very well.  Leases on horse barns are about $1000 per month, and this young lady doesn't mention the death of the previous owner; the 18 horses left without support; the fact that the property had major problems (like no water); that we occupied only six stalls and none of the other areas for more than three months; and we left the property after an additional 3.5 months when it was sold to a permanent owner. 

Although we may have gained time for those horses, we never did this lease in a manner that was unlawful, fraudalent, or had any intention other than to buy time and give support to the previous owner while having a valid purpose to being there, and improving the property.  She neglects to mention the amount of money that went into maintenance, repairs, and improvements beyond the $1000 cash, which was waived by the mortgage-holder in light of the work we were doing for the final 3 months while it was being sold.  Unoccupied, this historic property would have been wrecked.

Our family home, for our family of four, is Magical Ranch, and we are an elderly couple.  With so many rescues, vet care,   night emergencies, it is true that I am not yet up and dressed when early morning staff arrive since I may have just gone to bed  But morning is when we need help, and once trained, over about a month, our help get regular raises and have made over minimum wage nearly all the time.  Most of our own money goes to support this menagerie!  Add it up - dog food, cat food, chicken food, good quality hay, grain, bedding, farrier work.  Of course we use a shop vac on our stalls - it eliminates nests of bugs, cobwebs, dirty bedding.  Most clean barns vacuum and sweep often.  Our horses are well-kept with ceiling fans, face fans, misters in the summer (turn-out is at night), and with blankets and heat lamps in the winter.  The horses are out for at least 12 hours a day.  We are always seeking good new homes for most of the horses.

We have only hired people who are legally in this country, and we pay according to the law.  Many of the girls who come here are seeking a social life and/or a career, and when they find it is not available to them, they go elsewhere.  The horses that come here arrive with a variety of problems and needs.  Death of an owner, bankruptcy, illness, abandonment - this is what has brought the great number of horses to our door - they didn't have other options.  Of course, some have bad behaviors.  But we always emphasize that our primary concern is with the safety of the people around the horses.  Mostly, our horses are friendly, engaging, charming animals, but they are horses, they are large, and sometimes they move unpredictably.

Now, we no longer hire help - it is simply not worth our time nor our money to have our horses mishandled by young girls who are trainer wanna-bes and more interested in who is on their cell phone, and how much time they can use it at work, while they sometimes ignore life-threatening conditions in the horses.  It is too bad for all the workers who have given a good day's work for a good day's pay, and loved and cared for the animals with great understanding and ability.

The plight of the horse in today's American life is grim.  Although we are aging out of the horse care life, and no longer have many animals, we can only hope that some of the people who worked here are compassionate and have developed skills to rescue and care for these horses that would otherwise live in horrid, debilitating circumstances, if not taken to auction for meat.

As far as the national level trainer and stallion tale, there were two people standing a few feet away from the trainer who has working with a yearling colt.  The bolt wasn't screwed into the wall, and the horse broke loose, cutting his (the horse's) leg with the bolt.  The two people with the trainer immediately helped him, and I took the horse to the vet for stitches.  Lacey's are a highly reputable training barn, and I have never seen the type of handling this young woman is describing, nor have I ever had an elderly horse in their care.  The Lacey's train young horses, and their methods are consistent with what I have seen in many other training barns.

This girl must have many issues of her own that she is not dealing with in order to make up fairy tales about our family, all of whom are equally strong-minded, my appearance (I do go out to work every day dressed and groomed for business), and our housekeeping, which may not be a perfect on a continuing basis as it is with those that have no indoor pets.  I wonder why she cares so passionately, and why she hasn't gotten on with her life after voluntarily giving notice after about 6 months of work here.