I was a student at Avalon Farms (Leah Wilson) for a couple years. They advertise themselves as a "family oriented" place, but at age sixteen, I was propositioned by the instructor's fifty-seven year old husband and co-owner.
After an apology I was asked to keep the incident to myself. A shot time later I was asked to train a horse owned by one of the other students. She presented it as an amazing opportunity and even advised me to keep a "training log". I paid by the hour to ride/train this horse. The horse did not belong to her, but I wrote my checks to her figuring the owner probably got a percentage.
After a month or so she began to ask me to ride other horses, worried the owner (the thirteen year old owner) was disappointed with my work, I asked what was going on. She explained to me that the owner of the horse had stopped paying. Thats right. I WAS PAYING TO RIDE HER HORSE, AND AT THE SAME TIME SHE WAS PAYING FOR ME TO RIDE HER HORSE.
I was upset and sent an email to another instructor implying that I was considering telling people about the "incident" with her husband. The email was printed out and showed to Leah. We had words and Leah explained to me that I could tell whoever I wanted because "they already knew".
A week later I was asked not to return to the barn and she promised to send a check for the amount of the lessons I had not taken. (Lessons are paid for by the 1st of the month), months later, the check has never arrived.
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