We recently had the unfortunate experience of doing business with Becky Acord. My daughters and I traveled from RI to NY to look at a horse which did not work out. We looked online while at a hotel and found a horse at Becky's barn. We made arrangements to look at the horse on the way home to RI. When we got there, she seemed nice enough with the dogs in the yard, the ponies, the little girl. It all looked nice and sweet from my naive perspective. My daughter rode the horse in the icy, hard outdoor ring which was not set up for a proper trial.
I told her that my 14 yr old daughter was looking for a horse to show in local shows with the potential to expand. She was unable to get the horse to properly canter and of course could not see if he in fact did jump as Becky represented he could. We got some story of how the owner wanted to breed and didn't ride anymore. She showed me a registration for a quarter horse whose birthday didn't match the advertised birthday (I didn't think much of that at the time). The horse had no shoes on.
I noticed what I now know is "paddling" and I asked why his legs move out while he was trotting and she basically just ignored me and walked away into the barn to do something. My daughter explained that it's probably because it's icy, he was going downhill and he has no shoes on - she didn't know. Then my 10 yr old very beginner rider got on and only walked. Again, she left us in the ring alone. She saw how much my daughters loved the horse and I asked if we would be able to try him on a better surface to be sure he jumped, etc.
She told us that there were "a lot of people interested in him" and trials would be the following Saturday (how on earth she could have set the ring up for such "trials" is beyond me since snow was predicted and the conditions were poor to begin with). She said she could hold the horse with a deposit of $1000. That's when I should have ran. I didn't know what the normal deposit was since I've never purchased a horse before. So in good faith, I wrote the check. She presented what appeared to be a short bill of sale with blank lines which she filled in with the amounts and wrote "deposit pending vet check".
She talked a lot which now I believe was in an effort to distract me from possibly turning the paper over where it was more detailed with the terms of the "purchase" and various disclaimers. I had her confirm that she would not cash the check until the vet has examined the horse and we confirm that he does in fact jump, etc. And she assured me that she would not cash it and would either rip it up or give it back to me once he was seen by the vet and then we would continue with the purchase.
Again, in good faith, I trusted her. When I got home, I showed my daughter's trainer "Sue" who I tried to call while I was looking at the horse, but unfortunately, was unavailable. She immediately saw the paddling and was very upset that Becky did not explain that to us knowing that we were buying the horse to show, etc. She explained that it may not be a big deal at some local shows, but it may be an issue at some other places as my daughtter advances or it could be a medical issue, but in either event, if I asked, it should have been explained. Sue contacted Becky and attempted to discuss the paddling and Becky immediately became defensive.
Sue tried to arrange for opportunity for us to properly try the horse and Becky would not even consider it and just wanted to know if we've set up the vet appointment. She was cruel and hurtful and some nasty exchanges were made between the two. Sue called me and told me she had never ever in her 25 yr career dealt with such an unprofessional, unreasonable, mean and dishonest person and Becky should be ashamed of herself for taking a $1000 deposit from us.
I then did some research on Becky and learned of the numerous complaints and investigations against her and the fact that she sold dangerous and sick horses and otherwise misrepresented them. I of course wanted nothing to do with her after that. I had my suspicions now about the check, so I immediately went to the bank and discovered that she cashed the check that she promised she would not cash until the vet checked the horse. I called her and asked her about the check and she lied to me and said that her mother must have found it in her papers and deposited it. The check was cashed (fraudulently) by her.
I told her that I learned some very disturbing things about her and that I could not proceed to buy a potentially dangerous horse and that she should have disclosed the paddling to me, etc. I requested that she refund my deposit immediately. She basically just snapped some nasty comments and hung up on me. I then wrote a letter to her demanding my deposit back which of course has been ignored. I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office and will pursue other legal action... I'm looking for an attorney in the Blandford area who has had dealings with her before - likely through many of you who have also been duped by this dishonest and unscrupulous person.
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