Complaint Review: Horses Deserve a Second Chance-Nicole Hilliard

Do not purchase a horse from Horses Deserve a Second Chance. The owner, Nicole Hilliard, is a horse dealer and flips drafts at a huge profit. Most of the drafts she flips are straight from the kill pens in Pennsylvania. The horse pictures and videos are manipulated in such a way that the potential buyers don’t see any wounds, lameness, undesirable behavior or ill health.

Nicole will say that the horse is healthy and sound. Nicole demands payment via certified check only so as to avoid refunds via PayPal or Square Payments. Upon arrival of the new horse it is abundantly apparent the animal is either sick, lame, emaciated or all three and rehabilitation costs on the hundreds to thousands of dollars. When questioned Nicole states that horses will be horses and wounds are inevitable.

According to Nicole a horse with a 2.5 body condition confirmed by two different vets is "at a good weight”. The ages of the horses are subjective to every veterinarian, however Nicole states a horse is approximately 15, yet two different vets confirm the actual age is early 20s, a disparity of over 6+ years. Since the horse from HDSC are in such poor health, it may be months, if not a year before you’ll be able to ride or drive them.

Complaints to the Better Business Bureau (because this dealer sells horses, does not rescue) will go unanswered by Nicole Hilliard. She will claim you signed a contract. However, the contract was signed under the assumption given, assurances and pictures/videos provided by Nicole that the horse was healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth.