I also purchased a "beginner" safe horse from Family Equine. And I also believe the horse was drugged when I went to their farm and rode him.
Needless to say, I bought the horse, took him to my barn and tried to ride him twice. Both times he took off with me and threw me off causing considerable damage (cracked ribs, numerous bruises). Now I gave him two chances...then I consulted a few people who own horses and have ridden extensively. I had three different, very experienced, people ride this horse and all of them said the same thing. "This is NOT a beginner safe horse" and in fact all of them had trouble controlling him.
I never got any satisfaction from the Aicheles. Was told "well, you can trade him in on another horse". My feeling was fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I did finally find someone who was willing to buy this horse from me at a considerable monetary loss. But when they bought him, they knew everything about him that I knew. I could never knowingly sell a horse to someone without divulging the whole truth. These are animals that can cause significant damage to a rider especially an inexperienced one.
At the time, I thought that I was just inexperienced and easily taken in by dishonest people. I wish I knew that others were taken in as well as I would have pursued a lawsuit against them. I still have problems with my back from being thrown from that horse.
I hadn't looked at this site in quite some time because every time I do it just makes me angry.
Susan Eicher needs to know that while Shelley Camacho bought her horse from the Aicheles sight unseen, I did not. I bought a horse from them in 2002. It was the biggest mistake of my life and I hope other people will realize by reading these posts that these are not honest, trustworthy people.
I purchased Hilo Valley from them in 2002 after seeing him on the website and visiting numerous times to ride and spend time with him to be sure he was right for me. He was advertised to be a "trail horse, Western Pleasure, longe-line, lesson horse, 4-H horse. NO VICES. And I have to say he rode wonderfully at their farm. Quite as could be...and so I thought this is the horse for me. I had explained to Bob and Lorraine when I first met them and looked at Hilo Valley that I was a rank beginner and would need a horse that would "take care of me". Dead broke was what I wanted. They assured me that this was the horse for me.
So after many visits I bought the horse and had him transported to the barn where my daughter boarded her horse. My dream was that we would spend many happy hours trail riding together.
When we brought him to the barn we wanted to give him a few days to settle in and get used to the other horses and the routine. I spent those few days grooming him and getting to know him. The first time I tried to ride him was in a small indoor arena with a trainer to give me lessons. Immediately after I got on him he took off at a dead run and rounding the corner of the arena he threw me off. I landed on my side up against a concrete wall. My trainer then caught the horse and got on him herself. She stated that this was not a beginners horse, that she would never put any of her students on him and that he was too unpredictable and nervous. Also that she felt that I had done nothing to precipitate his behavior.
So, I limped off home and spent the next week sleeping sitting up in a recliner due to the cracked ribs I received in the fall. My entire left side was bruised from my shoulder to my knees and I missed several days of work.
I couldn't understand what had gone wrong. I had ridden this horse at the Aicheles and had no problems and yet here I was having big issues with him now. I felt that there must have been something I had done wrong and so I decided to give him another chance. When I was healed enough to try again I got on him one more time under much more cautious conditions only to have the exact same result.
Needless to say I was not going to get on him again. So I decided to have him evaluated by several people who are expert horsemen (and women). All of them told me the same thing, "this is NOT a beginners horse" and he should not be ridden by anyone without extensive experience. They all also felt that since the horse was sooooo quiet when I rode him at the Aicheles that he was most likely drugged as they could not see any other way I could have ridden him.
I did contact the Aicheles throughout this entire process. While they did offer to "help" me out, they never admitted that this horse was unsafe. They took him back and offered me another horse which I took to my barn... this one apparently had strangles and was promptly returned. They offered to sell the horse for me but that because of the poor weather, sales of trail horses was very slow. But they would board him for $10.00 per day until he sold (which could take a long time). Or they would buy him back for 20% less than I paid for him.
In retrospect I probably should have sold him back to them because I lost a bundle of money in boarding and resale fees on this horse. However, after seeing the way they treated their horses and hearing other horror stories about them, I just couldn't do it. This was a nice horse "on the ground" all he needed was someone experienced to work with him.
I felt I would never be able to ride him again (and in fact am too scared to get on another horse now) so I took a tremendous monetary loss but found him a very good home with someone who has the experience to ride and train him.
I would strongly advise anyone considering buying a horse from Aicheles Family Equine to spend time there getting to know the horse, find out where it really came from and what its' background is, and get something in WRITING regarding what the horse is capable of and what its' temperment is.
No, you know what, I wouldn't reccomend any buying a horse from them.
