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Bought a horse and told had transfer but didn't

11K views 30 replies 10 participants last post by  Phoenix88 
#1 ·
I recently bought an AQHA mare from a girl who bought this mare from an auction and said she had her transfer papers and registration certificate at her old house and would get it to me the next day, she bought the mare in Nov 2019 and I bought the mare Jan 2020. She never transferred her to her name. I got the registration Certificate the next but not the transfer paper claiming she forgot to grab it. She said she would mail it to me so I agreed. Fast forward 4 weeks still no transfer paper and I researched online the auction she bought from and was able to see my mare being auctioned WITHOUT a transfer! I confronted the girl about it and she said she had mailed me the transfer already so I thought maybe she had gotten in contact with the registered owner and gotten a transfer signed. Well 2 more weeks passed and still no transfer. I was able to find contact info of the registered owner and talk to her but now she wont sign a transfer form unless I pay her $500. She also mentioned that the girl I bought her from knew this and had agreed to the transfer fee and never heard from her again. The registered owner said I could sue the girl I bought the mare from for lying about the transfer paperwork. At this point I don't have the money to pay 500 to get her transferred to me. What can I do?
 
#2 · (Edited)
How much of what was said has a document trail? For example, is there any mention of the registration side of the sale business in the horse’s for sale ad (assuming that is how you found about the horse to start with)? I must confess to being under informed about the intricacies of the registration process but if the horse was offered as purebred and registrable at that time you may have a good argument for recouping the $500 from the person you bought from. Also, I don’t suppose there would have been a condition mentioned in the bill of sale that stipulated the person would provide you with the appropriate paperwork for registration?

I think that, from a legal perspective, you will need to actually incur the expense before you can pursue a cost recovery case through small claims court (again, assuming there is one where you are). That means you’ll have to pay the $500 and then go after the person to be reimbursed for the expense. Alternatively, it’s a talk with a lawyer about alternatives to get you where you want to be and that may be a cost equal to or greater than the $500. If these avenues can’t be done then all that’s left is to keep on the person until she agrees to reduce the purchase price by $500 or agrees to give you the $500 in cash - be persistent and firm here but not hostile or she may call the police and try to have charges of harassment/threats brought against you! Oh, finally carefully note and document everything you are doing about this for future reference.

Good luck.
 
#3 · (Edited)
If I remember correctly as it has been awhile there is only a $20 fee to transfer. I want to say they waived multiple fees but you still have to have signatures of the last owner on record and every owner after that point. IME you can skip the middle if the last owner of record will fill out new transfer papers as there can be no corrections.

As for the $500. The last owner probably sold her at a reduced rate from what she was asking if no papers went with her. Again in my experience they figure if you don't pay their asking price you shouldn't be entitled to making money off the mare later (breeding). Not fair of that owner as you get what you accept and it isn't fair to the new owner if they intended to campaign her and put that time and money investment in. Can't show AQHA without the papers. AQHA can't force her to transfer but if you have copies of the owner you bought froms bill of sale, the auction records (ad and conditions for sale) and your bill of sale perhaps enough pressure can be placed on them to sign. If the ad clearly stated one price for with papers and one without then if you want them you have to abide by the original sale agreement and either you pay it or you sue her for it so you can pay it.

So if I understand this girl you bought from bought a registered horse knowing there would be no transfer. Agreed to pay the last owner of record $500 for her signature essentially then decided for whatever reason it was just easier to con a new owner and recoup her money. Probably because the horse was not a high dollar horse and she thought she could get the transfer papers easily then found out she couldn't so she resells and lies about the transfer to make a sale.

This would be a buyer beware. I'm sorry you find yourself in this situation. What are or were your plans for the mare?

At least you know her breeding. That is more than some people get in these deals.
 
#4 ·
I bought her for barrel racing and maybe breeding her in the future. She is a very well bred mare and would make a great broodmare but that's not why I got her. The girl I bought her from got her at auction for 400 ( I know that now and I actually have the auction video of when she was sold) and I paid her 2500 for her. I feel like the girl should've paid the 500 when she sold her to me since she made a good profit from it 😔
 
#5 ·
IMO the cost difference is a good indicator that she knew she wasn't getting papers at that price.


Might consider writing a letter to the seller formally requesting the transfer papers by registered mail. Also mention that conversation with the prior owner demanding $500 for transfer papers and requesting the seller pay the money and obtain the transfer papers.


At the bottom, can put c.c. to your attorney. Make sure you keep a copy for yourself. You might be able to take this to small claims court on your own.
 
#7 ·
That is why when I sell I do the transfer. Well two reasons. I don't want the liability of having a horse that is not mine in my name and two for $20 I know the transfer is done.

She made $2100 from that sale. I think she knew what she was doing. I'd take her to court for that $500.
 
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#8 ·
Will the association transfer the papers if you pay for the two transfers? You are in possession of the papers and the horse. Seems like they would want horses to stay registered...

Also check with the auction house, they might have a transfer of ownership from the sale.

Does the bill of sale count?

Does the transfer paper have to be present? Where does one get a transfer paper from?

Seems like this should all be done online like the rest of life...
 
#9 ·
I don't think there's any way to force her to sign papers over, in court or other wise. I'd suggest she doesn't have any papers on this horse, or... the papers she claimed to have for it belong to another horse and she used it as bait to make more money.

Bottom line is, OP is probably up a creek without a paddle. AQHA isn't going to help her and I don't think there's a law in state in the US to force it. A bill of sale won't help either, IMO.

Never pay for a horse or accept delivery of it unless you are handed the signed papers right there and then - just like buying a car.
 
#12 ·
Let me add: I'm double checking my information, because I'm working off memory here and my CRS is acting up lately. LOL

I could be wrong - but I KNOW with AJ it was all on her registration paper. Granted she's APHA, but Red's AQHA papers were similar... I think... Double checking.

I may need some salt with this crow I may be about eat.

Regardless... I still think OP is out of luck on this one, and that sucks. If it's not against the law to withhold the transfer... and I don't think it is... it should be. The only legal angle I can think of is misrepresentation/fraud... maybe. But I still don't know that a court of law would do much of anything, and the legal fees might be more than the horse is worth.
 
#13 ·
Where's that crow at?

AQHA doesn't put the transfer on the back of the registration papers any more. The problem remains though - if the last person won't sign a piece of paper, OP is still SOL and I don't think a 2500.00 horse would be worth the attorney fees and court costs to try to make her sign them... and I don't even know if a civil court would entertain a case like that...
 
#14 ·
The only hope is to contact AQHA, let them know exactly what has transpired and see if possession of the horse & her registration papers, and please please tell me you got a bill of sale from the girl for that $2500, and see if they have a hardship way to register the horse. They may have a way, I know AHA, will do it if you provide either a judge's order granting you ownership of the horse or an attorney's affidavit that says you are the owner in possession of the horse (frequently used for wonky paper deals where the original owner renigs on signing transfer) but has sold you the horse and accepted money for the the horse.

Just FYI for those who deal with APHA or other registries where the transfer report is on the registration certificate, AQHA and Pintos must have a Transfer Report filled out and signed. Without it, you have nothing.
 
#16 ·
Ok, trying to understand here. Even if you have the registration papers, and a bill of sale, and are willing to pay the transfer fee, the breed registration won't transfer ownership? Why not???

That leaves total control to the seller, and leaves the poor buyer, who in good faith paid for a horse, got a bill of sale, and has the papers in their hand with useless papers.

Why would the breed registries not want to bring in new people with registered horses??

No wonder so many people never get their horses registered. They are most likely afraid to send in the actual papers...
 
#15 ·
Yep. Having now talked to some AQHA owners and breeders, @Dreamcatcher Arabians is correct.

That said, I am told if you will contact AQHA and explain what's going on, they can investigate and eventually, hopefully, can get the papers into your name. If you have any texts from either of these people, you need to screen shot them and provide them to AQHA as part of the investigation... and then hope and pray.

A bill of sale will also be helpful, and perhaps necessary, if I understand correctly.

Can someone pass me the salt? I have a crow roasting on an open fire to eat here in a second....
 
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#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
I recently bought an AQHA mare from a girl who bought this mare from an auction and said she had her transfer papers and registration certificate at her old house and would get it to me the next day,
I have only bought a few horses from auction but every time the auction house was the one who had papers if the horse was selling with papers. Owners had to turn them in as part of the paperwork. Perhaps other auction places function differently, but that would have been a big red flag for me right off the bat.

NEVER give anyone money for a registered horse until you see the papers in their hand. Never. Otherwise things like this happen.

she bought the mare in Nov 2019 and I bought the mare Jan 2020. She never transferred her to her name. I got the registration Certificate the next but not the transfer paper claiming she forgot to grab it. She said she would mail it to me so I agreed. Fast forward 4 weeks still no transfer paper and I researched online the auction she bought from and was able to see my mare being auctioned WITHOUT a transfer! I confronted the girl about it and she said she had mailed me the transfer already so I thought maybe she had gotten in contact with the registered owner and gotten a transfer signed. Well 2 more weeks passed and still no transfer. I was able to find contact info of the registered owner and talk to her but now she wont sign a transfer form unless I pay her $500.
$500?? You've got to be kidding me.

While it is much easier to get a horse into your name with AQHA, you do NOT need a bill of sale and you do NOT need a signed transfer report. But, you will need TIME. Call AQHA and tell them what happened.

I know this because I went through this. It took almost a year until AQHA granted me the papers in my name. Found out I actually didn't even need a bill of sale .... when I asked for it back from AQHA and they told me they had destroyed it because so much time had passed. That kind of ticked me off because it was the original (even though I had a copy), and then she told me they don't even need it. I had my horse's papers, but technically no transfer report because he had never had the breeder's name taken off and he had changed hands a few times. And the person I bought him from pretty much refused to sign them. AQHA still took care of it, even though it took a LONG time. They waited 90 days to hear from each buyer they could track down, that he had changed hands throughout his life.

She's trying to weasel more money out of you. Don't listen to her.
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Excuse my french, but tell her to eat a fat one.
$500?? You've got to be kidding me.

While it is much easier to get a horse into your name with AQHA, you do NOT need a bill of sale and you do NOT need a signed transfer report. But, you will need TIME. Call AQHA and tell them what happened.

I know this because I went through this. It took almost a year until AQHA granted me the papers in my name. Found out I actually didn't even need a bill of sale .... when I asked for it back from AQHA and they told me they had destroyed it because so much time had passed. That kind of tickeded me off because it was the original (even though I had a copy), and then she told me they don't even need it. I had my horse's papers, but technically no transfer report because he had never had the breeder's name taken off and he had changed hands a few times. And the person I bought him from pretty much refused to sign them. AQHA still took care of it, even though it took a LONG time. They waited 90 days to hear from each buyer they could track down, that he had changed hands throughout his life.

She's trying to weasel more money out of you. Don't listen to her.[/QU


Thank you, this gives me hope. I will contact AQHA on Monday. If it takes a year, I'm willing to wait. The registered owner won't sign it over because she claims she doesn't want the horse being passed on from person to person and she also stated she went through a divorce and has a lot of kids her ex isn't paying child support for, she really is trying to weasel more money out of me.
 
#27 ·
The registered owner won't sign it over because she claims she doesn't want the horse being passed on from person to person and she also stated she went through a divorce and has a lot of kids her ex isn't paying child support for, she really is trying to weasel more money out of me.

And I would point out to her that these things have NOTHING to do with the sale of the horse.


Whether you transfer the horse into your name, will have no influence on if or when the horse is passed from person to person. That's baloney.



And the fact that she is going through a divorce matters to you why? I don't mean to be callous, but it has nothing to do with this horse. UNLESS she won't fess up that the horse is in her ex-husbands name and not hers. But still, that's something she needs to sort out -- not you. And certainly not for $500.



Again, not to be callous, but I would call her bluff. What's going on in her personal life has NOTHING to do with her providing a transfer report for you.
 
#20 · (Edited)
We don't know why the original owner put the horse through the sale. The horse sold for $400. The auction house had the registration certificate on her. Proof the horse is who she is can be done by DNA if there is any question which if the AQHA offers to loosen their rules it will be with DNA and all of the relevant information (text records -screen shots, bills of sale, ad in auction listing). They won't just transfer as DA said because of liability. They have to have a lock tight trail for proof to register under the new owner and they provide that with the transfer paper. All this other is not the same but with enough proof they may make the transfer. That is the good thing about the young horses there will be a way to prove the papers belong with that particular horse. There are no laws that say the papers have to go with the horse.



Why someone would not want that is beyond me. Selfish. Surely isn't greed as they can't make anything off the horse or perhaps if the horse makes it big on an alternate circuit where no papers are needed they feel they can go back and cash in. Who knows. Maybe they are short a few brain cells. Second seller purchased horse knowing the bloodlines and knowing the market. Which brings me back to if the lines are that good why was the up for sale for $400? Are the dam and sire AQHA rock stars? I doubt the horse itself has a proven track record or she would not have been in the sale nor gone for that low $$.


That seller kept the horse 2 months and has it up for sale says she had a good idea that if she bought the mare she could sell for much higher. Perhaps she planned on paying the $500 perhaps not but I think the horse was at the sale for a reason, the new owner figured out pretty quick why and is cashing in on the bloodlines because she can't cash in on the horse.


This from the original is just bull. "The registered owner won't sign it over because she claims she doesn't want the horse being passed on from person to person." Well no papers won't guarantee that.



This makes more sense especially if they were ordered to sell all of their assets, "she also stated she went through a divorce and has a lot of kids her ex isn't paying child support for, she really is trying to weasel more money out of me." She may well be in a financial spot she didn't think she would find herself in. A little cash can go a long way to feeding her kids or paying that months bills. Sad situation. She isn't going to retain her old lifestyle on $500 dollars though. If she is talented then I'd be surprised if you couldn't compete on the local level and let her earn her way into recognized events that are not reliant on papers to compete. Yes, it knocks you out of AQHA events but it does not stop her from meeting her potential if you have the talent to bring it out of her and she has the ability, want and drive.


By putting the transfer on the back it may make it easier to transfer a sold a horse but it also makes it harder to leave out those that failed to transfer. It took me two years to get my APHA transferred because the middle two buyers never completed the paperwork. There was a six year difference between first sell date and my purchase. I was lucky the owner or the person he sold to had never filled in his info or given the papers to the person he sold to and later took her back from. That was a mess.


While they may have done that in your case Brittany they had to reach out to those others for confirmation. Had they not have confirmed the horse going from person to person then that paperwork (bill of sale) would have been your only proof. Considering the registration in your name is official it becomes your bill of sale and you do have a copy for your records of amounts or other details that would not be on the papers. I'm seriously doubting AQHA has caught up on all the mess they are trying to catch up on and this will likely not be a priority so if they do, plan on it taking time. Lots of time.


The confirmation from the original should be easy enough unless she is really that bitter and she denies the sale. She could say her husband put the horse up against her permission. They, I hope, would contact the auction house for confirmation and record of the person that consigned the horse as well as the buyers information. Then you have that seller who could deny she sold the horse or fail to respond which may be more likely, in which case that bill of sale is your proof. One big can of worms.
 
#21 ·
@QtrBel... I missed the divorce angle. That explains so much. Could be the horse isn't hers to sell, but the ex husbands? And the horse went to auction just to spite him?

Having worked for a divorce attorney for 12 years, I can imagine a lot of scenarios where she would have physical possession of the horse to sell, but not have access to a signature on a transfer record (If it's in his name, and he refuses to sign to spite HER is one scenario as an example).

And some auction places, especially those selling a 400.00 horse, don't care about the transfer record. I did ask about this before firing it off. In Oklahoma and N Texas, if you're an auction selling 400.00 horses, you're hardly high-end and those kind of auctions do not care. For that matter, my source said even when it comes to registered cattle... things get kinda iffy because while most are branded, we do not register brands here, there's no brand inspector. Shenanigans can be had.
 
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#22 ·
@QtrBel... I missed the divorce angle. That explains so much. Could be the horse isn't hers to sell, but the ex husbands? And the horse went to auction just to spite him?

Having worked for a divorce attorney for 12 years, I can imagine a lot of scenarios where she would have physical possession of the horse to sell, but not have access to a signature on a transfer record (If it's in his name, and he refuses to sign to spite HER is one scenario as an example).

She is the registered owner on the registration certificate. I also have texts saying she put the horse up for sale. Just to clarify, I do have the registration certificate.

And some auction places, especially those selling a 400.00 horse, don't care about the transfer record. I did ask about this before firing it off. In Oklahoma and N Texas, if you're an auction selling 400.00 horses, you're hardly high-end and those kind of auctions do not care. For that matter, my source said even when it comes to registered cattle... things get kinda iffy because while most are branded, we do not register brands here, there's no brand inspector. Shenanigans can be had.
She may not be a super high-end mare herself but her bloodline is Peppy San Badger, Docs Hickory and Montana Doc on her face papers, why did she only sell for 400? I don't know. I also have the auction video, I was able to find it.
 
#23 ·
The horse may have been cheap at the sale barn for a few reasons. Number one is she may have been ran loose through the ring. I bought horses cheap that way.
Or she may have been ran through at the end of a cow sale, I got some cheap that way too.

The previous two owners are crappy. For selling the horse claiming she came with a signed transfer when she knew well enough she didnt have it. And the other for charging $500 to sign a transfer. Which I think is $25 and a one year AQHA membership if you dont already have one.

In the state of NV registration papers are not proof of ownership. A bill of sale and a brand inspection is what holds up in court. Not sure what state your in so that little fact is most likely irrelevant.
But I get why you want her registered in her name if you planned on breeding. Like said before, get ahold of AQHA.
 
#25 ·
Atoka, you bring up a good point as I was not thinking of the horse in HIS name...


ETA Phoenix - so she may be trying to make a quick dollar if she wasn't ordered to sell and now is trying to make sure that at least a portion of money coming in is not accountable so she doesn't have to claim it....? Who knows. Like Atoka said divorce can be ugly and many try the shenanigan route.
 
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#30 ·
I want to second that you need to contact AQHA - many years ago we went through something very similar to this. We purchased a daughter of Concluded at an auction. She was sent through with papers and an unsigned transfer. When we went to get her registered in our name it became a whole nother issue! We paid $600 for her because she had been shipped on a meat truck to IA - she was on that meat truck because she had an eye injury that caused her to be blind in one eye and cosmetically changed how her face looked (one eye was smaller and weepy and there was some scarring) so she could not fulfill the show dreams of the owner. She was a gorgeous mare that we were happy to have for a trail horse. But since we had no signed transfer AQHA stepped in - and even back then in the early 90's they had to contact the last owner on her papers to get them to sign the transfer - they refused and AQHA did some other things (I think they had to research and determine why etc) it took us well over 6 months but we got her papers.

You need to get AQHA involved there are bi-laws in almost all breed registries that protect buyers (and owners) and selling a horse and withholding papers is a no no. Memberships are how these registries make money and a registered horse that cannot be registered by the new owner costs that breed registry money.

Contact AQHA.
 
#31 ·
Hi all, I wanted to give an update on my situation. I did end up contacting AQHA and sent all my paperwork and screenshots of conversations I had. So after almost a year and me calling them at least once a month to get the status of the transfer, I finally got her registered under my name without having to pay the other lady the $500 she was asking!:)
 
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