The HORSE ODYSSEY

PART THREE!

Main Entry: odyssey pronunciation: Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural odÃ‚Â·ysÃ‚Â·seys Etymology: the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus

1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune

2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest

After THREE YEARS of trying to get a complete run of horses and saddles from our old plant starting in 2018, they gave up in about 2021. They shipped the molds to me in Tennessee and Thunderbolt found a new home at QMC right here in my little home town.

We started by going to the plant and seeing the molds for the first time. My Friend Rosemarie took the initial pictures and sat in on the meeting.

Working with the old company became a nightmare, the owner started ranting about conspiracy theories and tried to blame me for his company's failure to provide what I paid for. The new company QMC is taking great care of Thunderbolt (both molds) for me now and are a delight to work with. ADDING THIS... I had totally neglected to do any of the history of the failed grey and brown run of horses and red and white saddle sets... so I am adding that bit now. In Early 2019 I wrote a check to the original company that was holding the molds and ordered them. They kept delaying the production run for various reasons for months, and suddenly they emailed me and said it was starting soon. OK. Great. A few days later covid cases started happening, and soon the lock down came. They kept promising it would get off the ground. After months of delays I got some production pictures of the run. It was 6 brown and 6 grey horses. All of their legs were very visible warped. I pointed it out to the production manager and asked him if they are all ruined, no, he promised me he was sending perfect horses, that those must have been the first off the line. I smelled a lie. They would have run 250 brown ones before the grey ones... why are they all defective. He kept reassuring me it would be find. A couple weeks go by and I get a shipping notice. They would arrive the next day. When the truck arrived I opened the first box. 40 defective horses. The next box... the same. Out of 500 horses I found about 25 that were usable. I was crushed. Then I inspected the saddles. The first few sets I inspected were fine but then I started finding defects. Out of 250 brown, 250 red and 250 white tack sets I managed to put together less than 75 of each color. I messaged the company. The president sent me back an angry email blaming me, blaming covid, blaming the President of the United States. He spit ouf conspiracy theories and lie after lie. To keep my business from failing I had been scrambline to get some horses to market and all that were salvagable were glued, painted and set up with tack sets. I started photographing and posting them.

Here are the first few I got together and did a promo shot with.

The president of the company STOPPED ANSWERING MY EMAILS. I started calling them daily. It was only when I threatend a lawsuit that the Presidents daughter called me. She came out swinging and accusing ME of doing something wrong or shady. I sent her every email between every rep at her company and her dad to me. The next day she called and promised to make it right realizing it was one their end. About 3 weeks later I got a new run of brown and grey, plus brown saddles. They tried to replace all the red and white defective parts but used an off white and a red that didn't match.