Sherry Bailey Totally Deceived on a Horse Purchase Bristol Virginia

First, no judgements. I bought this horse online, through video's, phone conversations and texts. I was sure this was the real deal, but, my own fault for trusting her and my judgement. I will never do it again and I am out over $10,000. so it already hurts. No negative comments please, I am only here to warn you. My advice, Run, as fast as you can! I am in the process of aquiring an attorney.

I will be out more money, but, she will lose the ability to do this again to someone else who is naive. I can't stand liars, especially really good ones. Usually means they've had lots of practice. I'm also reporting her to the IRS because I'm thinking maybe she isn't reporting these horse sales and they can check it out. I also filed a warning on the Better Business Bureau website to warn others. I also posted on all Virginia horse Facebook groups. 

I bought this horse after feeling like I was hitting the jackpot with what she said about him. His name is Whisper. She said she had multiple people calling, the most calls she ever had on a horse, and that I better act quick or he'd be gone. Given today's market, I knew that to be true. After reviewing the videos (which were blurry but she blamed it on her having and Iphone and me having an Android and she said that happens when she sends videos to her daughter too), otherwise the videos looked great, she said so many great things and she answered all of my texts with questions.

I ended up purchasing the horse and had to wait almost 5 weeks for the shippers, due to delays and weather, but I ended up getting the horse and it's been a nightmare since day one. I'm actually thinking about giving it away as a pasture mate. I'm wondering if it's even the horse in the videos, honestly. I don't know. 

She took a video of him loading into the shipper's trailer and only after he had left the place, did she mention, along with the video, that he had a patch of hair missing on his neck. She said she put a sleezie on him (over the head and neck) and he rubbed all of the hair off trying to scratch himself. I found out that it happened three weeks prior, after I had bought the horse, after he was headed to my house.

Her sales agreement specifically states that the owner is to be informed immmediately if the horse gets sick or injured, which was never done, until he left on the trailer. I then get a call from the shipper 3 hours after the horse was in their custody, that there would be a two and a half day layover in Indiana. I also noticed that the health certificate had two dates on it. The first health certificate date and then another one, because the horse had been there longer than the 30 day certificate was good for. I'm wondering if the vet did this or someone else?

When we got him off the shipper's trailer, I said to my husband, omg, he's so small. We've never had a horse this small. We were both in shock. We were told in a text that he was 15.1 hands. I seen on the ad, it said 15 hands and I seen on a previous ad on the same site, for the same horse, that it said 15.1 hands. I really don't even think she taped his height because he is a solid, right on the money, 14.3 hands.

She knew this horse was for my 215 pound 5 ft 10 inch husband and there's no way he could ride this horse. It's too small. Then I remembered what she said on the phone, some guy had bought Whisper before us but Whisper never left the farm. The guy decided that Whisper was too small for him. My question is, what the heck is she selling such small horses to such big people? His weight was also false and his temperment. He is sweet and likes attention but that's not enough for what she portrayed him as being. He was so scared of the automatic waterer that I literally had to hand water him for days and teach him that the refill noise wasn't going to hurt him. 

First night, he started chewing on my nice wood stalls and continued this for as long as he was stalled. When I went to first let him out, he was kicking the stall and I'm just glad it wasn't my leg. He had no manners and wanted to rush out of the stall. He was very buddy sour (I had let my one other horse out first) and wanted to walk over me to get outside. He's afraid of everything and it looks like he's maybe been beaten or something because every hand gesture or movement, he spooks, still, two weeks later. You just go to pet him and he's scared. This stall behavior continues and now it's getting nicer out so I don't put him in the stalls now. 

I had a vet check done and found out that according to his teeth, he is not 13 years old, and not coming 14 this spring. He is in his late teens which means 18 or 19. My vet said you can distinctively tell when a horse reaches it's late teens. This horse, she said, is definately not going to be 14 in another month or so. He has a problem with a back tooth but we can't fully see it until he is sedated to get his teeth floated in a month when the weather warms up.

He didn't want the vet in his mouth at all. Whisper also came with having to be wormed, she said his shots were due end of February, which he just got here on the 18th of February. No shots, no worming, needs his teeth done desperately and isn't the horse she said he was at all. I texted her to ask for a list of his faults and she said he has no faults. Sounds like he was the perfect little angel for them. Hmmm....

It's been two weeks now. He spooks and goes away when I try to just take his blanket off. I take my time and let him smell the blanket when I put it on and he let's me do these things but with great reluctancy or else he just runs away. She said this was a 20-30k horse and I'm thinking, the one you probably bought at the auction and lied about everything?

I had the courage to saddle him up, not believing a word this lady told me now, and he saddled up just fine, took the bit okay and let me ride him in the pasture. He did what I asked but I found that he has very poor steering and he doesn't want to stand still when I ask. Fights the bit that she told me to use. Wants to get back by the barn but still does what I ask (doing a figure eight). 

Needless to say, this is going to be a work in progress, hire a trainer, or give him away because this is not what she said it was. I see theere are lots of complaints here about her. Wish I would have known about this site sooner. Now I do. Lesson learned, buyer beware of Sherry Bailey out of Bristol Virginia.