Complaint Review: Amy Heitland - Sheffield Iowa

I also bought a horse for my child that came from Amy Heitland. I bought it from Paige Brummond in Dec. 2011. She bought him from Amy in Nov. 2011 at the Billings horse sale. Paige's ad on the horse said: 13 yr old brown AQHA gelding, safe for kids, anyone can ride him! He is registered as a dun, but has turned seal brown with a dorsal stripe. Stands 15 hands and 1200 pounds. He has no vices, easy to catch, load, tack up, ect. He has a true one hand neck rein and will pack inexperienced riders on the trails or in the arena. Pivots nice, easy gaits, stops great. Very, very gentle. No spook or buck! He is current on his vaccinations, worming, trimming, and has a current Coggins. He'll make a great family horse or a youth horse.



The horse was nice & quiet when I picked him up, but was spooky the next day after getting him home. Didn't think much of it at first, new surroundings, etc. When riding him he kept acting like he was ready to blow up. I was under the impression the gal I got him from had him for awhile and knew him well, but I later found out she only had him for 1 month. When I found out she got him from Amy I called her for more info. Amy said all the same wonderful things about the horse, only she added that he had also been a "lesson horse" for kids. Yeah right! Maybe at a bronc-riding school.



I planned to ride him awhile to be sure of him, before letting my child ride him, but he never settled down enough for me to trust putting my child on him. I tracked down the original owner on his registration papers - only to find out that woman had just sold him in July 2011 after getting injured and hospitalized by him. Her husband told her to sell the "psycho" horse or he would shoot it. She owned the horse for several years and said he would spook for no reason and blow up with no warning. She had been seriously injured and hospitalized by the horse 3 times. She was shocked to hear the horse wound up on the horse-trading circuit and was being passed off as a safe kids' horse when she considered him dangerous and unpredictable.



After hearing that, I obviously didn't want him anymore since he was not safe for my child, much less an adult. I tried repeatedly to get a hold of Paige Brummond who refused to return my messages, etc. I ended up trading him to a guy for another crappy horse. I was honest about mine and he was honest about his. The guy I traded him to said he wouldn't pass that horse off onto anyone and he would end up as dogfood. 



Seven months after buying him I finally got a hold of Paige who said there was nothing wrong with the horse and if I had a problem I should have called her right away. I tried many, many times, but she wouldn't return calls. She said she never got my messages, letter, e-mails, etc. even though I got the reciept-to-sender proving that she did. Told her I'd go by the word of the woman who owned the horse for several years, over her word when she only owned him for 1 month. Needless to say, she probably just copied everything Amy said about the horse and took Amy's word for him and made a quick turnover without finding out for herself the real deal on the horse. 



For sellers like Amy to claim that they just go by the prior owners' claims about the horses they "consign" and have no way to verify the horses demeanor for themselves is bologny. Try riding each and every one of them Amy! And ride them long enough to get to know them well - before spreading false claims about them or making up new ones. I would bet that if she did that, she'd be too busted up and injured to remain in the business for as long as she has. Every seller is responsible for what they sell -regardless of whether someone lied to them about the horse first. An ethical seller will correct the false info. An unethical one will keep the lies going or make up new ones. If Amy keeps passing off dangerous horses as being "safe, kids' horses" someone's child is going to get hurt one day. I am very lucky that it was not mine.