# Going to court over a horse..



## barrelbumff (Aug 18, 2015)

I bought a horse in Billings Montana. I had a friend bring it home at no charge as she was coming home empty.. the horse I bought bucked my friends daughter off so the horse hauler said she wanted him.... she went to the house and picked up horse without an "ok" and she kept him several days. One day she was keeping him and the next she wasn't ...this went on for several months and I said if you aren't going to pay for him, I will take you to court. so I did. and the for what ever kangaroo court this county had ... I LOST.. but did get back the horse. But the court ordered me to pay $800 for hauling from Montana to Colorado and 4 months feed to the tune of $1685.... more than I paid for the horse. does anyone know what I can do from here .. I have been paying $5 amonth to her for 2 years. Ive tried to reason with her and she will not budge. do I have any legal rights from here. thanks for your help and wisdom. ff


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Let me just make sure I am understanding your story correctly. 

You bought a horse. 
You had the friend bring the horse to you. 
The horse bucked with you (or whoever you had ride the horse). 
The friend then said she wanted to buy the horse. Took it and didn't pay you for it. 

Do I have that correct?




barrelbumff said:


> she went to the house and picked up horse without an "ok" and she kept him several days.


I would say this was your first mistake. I would have called the police on the spot to report a stolen horse, since she took him off your property without your consent.




barrelbumff said:


> But the court ordered me to pay $800 for hauling from Montana to Colorado


Granted I don't know the exact distance, but you are probably talking about 500 miles, so I don't find $800 unreasonable for that distance.

What agreement did you have with this friend? Did you ever talk about paying her? Was she making the trip anyway with an empty trailer? I don't know the details, and of course the court did in order to make that decision. 




barrelbumff said:


> 4 months feed to the tune of $1685


Somehow I am just wondering if we don't have all the details here. There are always two sides to the story. 

Did you call the police to say she had stolen the horse? (According to you, she did take it without your permission.) Why did you take her to court, instead of taking your bill of sale, with a police officer, to go get YOUR horse?

What EXACT conversation did you have with her?


I'm assuming you went through the court system in Colorado? I'm not an attorney of any sort, so if you already lost your court case, I am not sure what else you can do. Maybe appeal?

I guess I would try to sell the horse for what you owe her, so you can pay her off and be done with it.


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## Reiningcatsanddogs (Oct 9, 2014)

All you can do is appeal the decision (if that is allowed in the court your case was heard in) and hope to get a new ruling, but it sounds like from your post it has been 2 years now so the period to appeal has probably run out.

-PS I'm not a lawyer.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

If it is small claims court, there generally is no appeal. In my one experience with small claims court, the contractor admitted under oath that he never even visited the property he supposedly inspected...and then the rent-a-judge said, "This man is a professional contractor. He did everything possible, your case is dismissed."

I replied, "But he said he didn't even LOOK at the property - that he just took the money and figured 'What are the chances?'" [Note: He literally said that in court]

And rent-a-judge replied, "And I said your case is dismissed!"

The contractor had 5 cases against him that day. He 'won' all five. No appeal. But it was a small town, and the contractor went out of business 2 months later. I've always wondered if rent-a-judge was the contractor's BIL...:think:


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

My advice to you is, pay her $2.50 a month. There is really nothing else you can do, sorry.


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