Complaint Review: Dixie Ascherin - Ascherin Paints - Red Bluff California

Dixie Ascherin is accused of knowingly selling a horse that was chronically lame. As a veterinarian of 23 years, I have had Ms. Ascherin as a client for 18 of those years. In that time I have witnessed many of her transactions involving horses, breeding services, showing and transportation both as a buyer and seller. Not once in all of those transactions have I seen her take advantage of a client in any way. She historically goes of of her way to ensure client satisfaction. On those rare occasions when issues develop and the responsibility is hers, she resolves them to her own disadvantage, if necessary, to maintain that client satisfaction. As a small scale breeder in the industry Ms. Ascherin recognizes that her reputation is vital to her success and goes to great lengths to maintain a level of integrity that is rare in this industry (or anywhere for that matter). I would submit to Ms. Smith that if the horse was found to be lame at the initial exam she had several options: defer the purchase until the crack (and lameness) was resolved, seek a second opinion, or do further testing at that time. That responsibility was both hers as a potential buyer, and the veterinarian's as a consultant. To go back to the seller with a complaint two years after the fact is unreasonable. A diagnosis of navicular disease two years after the fact -especially since it was NOT diagnosed in earlier radiographs - does not merit seller responsibility. Knowing Ms. Ascherin, and knowing the veterinarian involved in the initial prepurchase evaluation, I can guarantee NO collaboration to her benefit. Had the problem been addressed in a timely manner I could predict a different response by Ms. Ascherin.

The fact is the lady with the complaint doesn't give the info that was gained? from her vet/vets. She aludes to xrays but doesn't give results. She grabs navicular out of the blue and has no proof of this. I know this woman accused and all of her dealings that I know of have been above board and if anything in the buyers favor. Shebe

Sounds to me as if the problem is with the vet. or the trainer. If the horse was lame since day one, why did you take him to the trainers? Sounds like he came up lame at the trainers. I went on many trail rides with Dixie riding this horse and at no time did he ever come up lame or have any problems. These were 8-hour trail rides in the Trinity and Lassen areas in some very rocky and rugged country. He was always sound, calm and willing. A very nice animal. No vet. is going to put their reputation on the line even for a friend. Sounds like the horse came up lame after the purchase so you cannot blame Dixie.

I have bought and sold horses for years and I know there is NO warranty on livestock--- especially when you have had a clean vet inspection prior to purchase. That being said--- why did you take the horse to the sellers same vet? I know for a fact that there are several vets in the area you are talking about. Why would you ever chose to use the same vet as the seller? And how long after you got the horse home did it show signs of lameness? Had you had his shoes changed by a different farrier before he showed signs of lameness? The seller or the vet can not warranty a horse or any other living creature because they have no control over how the animal is cared for and life can change in a heart beat. I don't think you have any grounds at all to slander this seller--- I do think that you owe her an apology! If you have any rights-- it might be with the vet who did the exame-- but I can tell you-- in over 50 years of buying and selling horses and several different vets-- I have never met one vet willing to ruin his reputation to help a client sell a horse. It is how they make their living and they have alot of college invested in getting to the point they are at. It very well could be that something happened at the trainers--- stranger things have happened-- not knowing who your trainer is and not wanting to know-- they may have done something to the horse in the process of training or shoeing which caused your horse to go lame. And so that you know---Navicular is not a disease-- it is a term that vets and farriers use when ever there is an unknown lameness. I think if I was the seller---I would be having my attorney contact you and I know that I would win because you were the one who went to her vet and got a clear pre -purchase exam. You had the option of using a different vet-- shame on you for slandering the name of a breeder when it appears to be your lack of knoweldge that has caused you to be in this predicament.

I have been in the "horse business" with Dixie for several years and have bought quite a few horses from her. She would NEVER misrepresent a horse (or anything else) that she was dealing with! I have always known her to disclose all information about the animals that she is selling/trading etc. I find it very hard to believe that this one person out of hundreds would be "ripped off". Judgements that make such negative impacts on ones name/character, should never be made without concrete proof! Just because this person speculated as to why Dixie did not respond to her immediately does NOT give her the right to be slanderous! As any horse person should know, Life can "happen" and we get busy, especially a breeding farm! This woman really should not have jumped to such awful conclusions! Dixie is an HONEST person and should be treated like one!

This lady is crazy she bad mouths people that she does not even know.... she must be retarded if she thinks that people are going to sit back and take this kind of s**t!!!!! If she had such a problem with this horse then why did she wait months to try and contact Dixie. if she noted a problem with the horse before purchasing then why did she move forward with this horse. and why if the horse veted clean is this any of problem of dixies. it sounds like this K Smith f**ked up her own horse and is now trying to pin the blame else where. If I was K Smith I would remove this blatant lie from the internet and hope to not have charges of slander pressed against myself. I have had many dealing with Dixie Ascherin and all of them have been positive. Dixie breeds hight quality well minded horses that are far nicer then anything else you can find in this area. I am glade to see that after four years that this lady has nothing better to do with her life then post false statements about other people.....

I have known Dixie of Ascherin Paints and Quarter Horses for 40 years. I have had many horse related dealings with her and have never had a problem. She is always been truthful and forthcoming with all of our deals. She will bend over backward to resolve a situation. She has recently had a fire in her home. I am sure that this is why she has not comunicated with the party who filed the complaint. I do know the horse in question, Dixie rode him all over the mountains and never had a foot problem with him. I think your beef is with your Vet, you choose him. As far as Dixie knew, the colt was fine, your Vet said so. You even had exrays taken and they didn't find a problem. You need to rethink who has ripped you off. If you thought you had a problem, you should have gotten your second opinion 2 years ago, not waited. Anyone that has horses knows that a horse is fine one second and hurt or dead the next. You can not blame Dixie after this length of time.