Horse Buying Contract
consumer protection attorney Idaho Oct 28, 2026
This is absurd. Bear with me. So basically in July I put down a deposit on a weanling horse, to be picked up October 30th. The horse was advertised as "buckskin with color panel testing." Because they were a professional breeder with a social media presence I didn't believe they could POSSIBLY fuck this up. It never even occurred to me that a reputable breeder could misread a color panel test. They talked about other results on the color panel (LP, PATN1) so I wasn't pressed about the others and didn't ask for a picture of the results. Two months later I asked about the A and E genes to double check and they revealed the horse doesn't have the agouti gene... meaning she is not buckskin as advertised. The breeders response was: this is impossible, she is buckskin, the tests are wrong. She said she'd retest and... the can proceeded to get kicked down the road, every time a payment came up and I asked about the results she assured me that without a doubt she would be buckskin. Well, the results are finally back two payments and several weeks later... and shocker, she is 'aa', meaning she possesses no agouti and is not buckskin. Her response was not heartening and took no responsibility and basically avoided directly admitting that she misread the color panel test and falsely advertised her in July. She gave me some options that all involved me absorbing the loss (she resells for me and I pay a commission and absorb the loss if she sells for less, payment goes to another future horse, or I simply continue as is and pick her up in two days with no change.) I don't care about color THAT much. The crux of this is that I feel disrespected, misled, and like my trust was abused which has really soured me on the whole experience. At this point I'm either trying to get my money back entirely and let her keep the horse, or renegotiate for a fairer price and continue to pick up in 2 days. Key points: - I agreed to a higher purchase price than I would have if she weren't buckskin. Reselling her, it's unlikely I would get my money back. - I have the screenshot with her saying "buckskin, color panel tested" - The contract I signed agreeing to pay the total price includes "buckskin" in the horse description - Am I fucked because I kept making payments under the rationale that she knew what she was talking about? At the point it was disclosed to me I'd already signed the contract and put down 3k already, which is not a small amount of money to me and she had made it very clear payments were non-refundable if I chose to back out. I was anxious about losing my deposit and fell into the trap of believing her when she kept saying "she's buckskin, don't worry about it." Then she, of course, was not. Some quotes if it matters: "They are claiming she is aa not A/a like she should be on her results and she is most definitely not Smokey black." "Just by parentage she’s A/a there was a possibility of A/A but definitely not aa" Bleh. I trusted her and feel like an idiot and honestly sick over this. I used my whole horsey budget on this, it was a deeply emotional purchase that I had been building up to for years, and I feel genuinely scammed and I feel like I have no protections. But surely I do? And at the heart of this, the horse is very sweet and I feel guilty about being conflicted over a color panel, and it feels shitty that the breeder would prefer to take my money than return it and remarket her with an accurate description. I really thought they'd be more considerate than this. Any advice? Location: MT (me) Idaho (her)
