BEWARE OF HUNTER JUMPER BARN ROYAL OAK SPORTHORSES AKA
ROYAL OAK SALES Beware of Sue aka Susie Bridgeman-Sutton Thaxton or her husband BRIDGEMAN SUTTON AIDRIAN.
She goes by many different names to avoid detection. She changes barns. She sells horses in the San Diego Scripps Ranch, Ramona Poway, Lakeside, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe area that are not hers. Susie has a fabulous delightful English accent and is a horse trainer & horse trader. I would advise to run in the other direction before having any business dealing with her or her barn. She is dishonest and cannot be trusted. I would take my business elsewhere.
We entered into an agreement take a experienced hunter-jumper horse with show experience on a lease-option [$5K lease/$10K purchase]. We were told the horse had always been sound. It seemed like an amazing horse but came up lame after a few days. When we told Sue we wanted to vet the horse she discouraged us insisting the horse had never been lame and to do other temporary remedial measures like give bute, rest the horse, etc. When the horse did not get better, we eventually got the horse vetted anyway. The horse failed the flex test miserably and x-rays showed TWO long-standing injuries one in the stifle and one the vet believed was OCD in the hock.
Susie refused to refund our money and insisted that once she brought the horse home it was "sound" despite the vet exam and x-rays. While insisting the horse was sound, she said we should just try injections or surgery (on a sound horse?).
Susie continued to refuse to return our money but offered us a green horse who was a paint with 20 days under saddle and had no jumping experience. She then insisted she get $4K-5K for this horse despite the fact this was far above the fair market value for an inexperienced Paint Pony. We demanded that she refund our money and indicated we wished to return the horse.
She insisted that she would not refund our money, as the horse was "sound." She then indicated she would refund our money less $850 for "her expenses" but only after she had the horse for a week to observe and vet the horse. She had previously told us she would take care of our request for a refund on the lame horse after a week of observation and vetting but then refused so we knew if she took the paint back to her barn we would never see a dime.
Finally, one day after repeatedly insisting that she agree to return our money and pick up her pony. She called our boarding facility and indicated the pony was hers and that she was coming with the Sheriff to pick up the pony. She pleaded with the boarding facility not to let us know. Needless to say, this was all made up and she did not show up. Further, my calls to the sheriff's department indicated they would never have gotten involved in a civil matter of this kind. She also called our trainer and equestrian center but to what purpose I have no idea (maybe she thought she was going to embarrass or scare us into simply returning the pony without our money).
We later learned Susie is being pursued by multiple people for selling a Jaguar saddle to multiple people for thousands of dollars then not delivering the saddle. She is being sued by multiple people for selling horses that were alleged not her ponies to sell. She has also purported been evict from 2 barns and the barn (s) has placed liens on all of her horses. I cannot imagine a scammer with a worse pattern for doing business. Stay away at all cost.
By the way my favorite Susie quote [after the $10,000 horse came up lame]: "I tell all my customers you should never expect a horse under $15,000 to vet. You can only get a green horse for under $15,000." When we asked for a refund she simply stated she would repossess the pony. With the green paint pony she has increased its price to $7500."Wow" If you have already been scammed by Susie please contact the district attorney in San Diego area.
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