I have posted about Rosemarie Ortman before--I consider her the Devil of the Great White North (Canada).
She first came into my world in a peripheral way a few years ago (three I think), when she bought a Slybaby from Carrie, in Alberta. His name was Molson, and he was out of her best mare, that she lost later. He was a beautiful boy, looked so much like Sly, but thicker. When I visited one summer, I took lots of pictures of him-it was eerie to me how much he looked like Sly. Carrie sold him not long after, to this crazy Rosemarie.
She had trouble with her from the get go--arguing over the price they agreed upon, and eventually making a deal to give Carrie some breedings back to him. Carrie had just lost her mare she had since she was a teenager and was in a deep funk--she did not have it in her to fight about anything horse related, so it was easier to trust it would be okay
Red flags started going off for both of us, but the horse world is full of crazy people and their money is as green as anyone else's. Or whatever color Canadian money is.
The first problem that arose, I think, was when she stole my photos to use in her advertising. This pissed me off for a couple of reasons. First, she did not ask. Second, she did not even pick the best pictures. Carrie caught her at it and told her she could not use them, but that I might give her permission if she asked nice.
Nice is not quite how it went. I fully intended to give her permission to use them, if she used quality ones that showed him well and gave me credit for them--I did not want my name on a crappy pic, and I did not want her advertising him at stud showing him in anything other than the best light. That would hurt Sly. If she did it on her own, that would be one thing, but to steal my pics to do it--I think not. She was a raging bitch. I cannot tell you how foul she was. She pretty much gave me the finger and challenged me to do something about it.
And she continued to use the photos. At that time, I blogged about how she was a thief. Because she is. Not just for stealing my photos, but for not paying in full to Carrie. She also never transferred the horse in AQHA, so people who bred to him thinking they would get AQHA foals could not get them registered--she did not have the authority to register them without first transferring him into her name. So she stole from me, from Carrie and from mare owners. She even stole our slogan for Sly's campaign, changing only one word. See his old stallion ad here
About the time I calmed down from that, she pulled another stunt. She claimed Molson and some other horses were stolen from her. My ass. I knew better, as well as if I had watched the situation go down. I knew she was lying. There were "poor me" articles in the paper, even the Edmonton Sun, I think. The ads she placed about them being stolen were slick, well done ads---not the sort of things a grief-stricken panicked owner throws together in an emergency situation. More red flags. She said these horses were her "life's work"--hell, she was not even living in the same province as them at the time. It was just odd how the situation was handled.
And lo and behold--they were found. Imagine that. Since they were not stolen in the first place, it was not so hard to find them. I called her out then too--just hoping she would come back and start insulting me again--I love that sort of thing, even when it is not a fair fight. She needed to hear some things I needed to say and I damn sure needed to say them, but alas--I was disappointed again.
Molson had been for sale prior to his big adventure, and I guess she thought mention in the newspaper upped his value because she jumped his sales price from $5K to $6K I think those were the figures. In fact, she is still trying to sell this poor horse--- see here and here
Now I am all about getting what you can price wise, but I knew he would never sell like that and he would be stuck with her. She had not even really started him--so nothing to recommend him but his looks and his pedigree. Although I do believe she lied about that some too, regarding whether he was ever trained. Her horse, her story, I do not care. It is just frustrating to see a nice horse not be properly served, especially when he was the product of so much hard work by Carrie and me (the story of his shipped semen conception was one for the history books on its own).
I finally moved on and quit hoping someone would mow her down with a semi, until tonight. Tonight I learned that in December, Molson starved to death, along with some other horses she owned and kept on the family farm.
That is right. Starved to death. Do you have any idea how long that takes? That does not happen over nite. That does not happen in a week. For an easy keeper like Molson, a five year old stallion--it does not happen over several weeks. This took TIME. Time that he suffered, and was scared, and hurt from hunger and his organs shutting down on him. Time that he was in hell, because she did not do her part.
Now I am not unfamiliar with neglected and starving horses. Through Linda, I have seen more than my share of them, because she was a hooved animal humane investigator. I know from the racks of bones she has dragged home how hard it is to get one in that shape, and how easy it can be to fix one if you will just FEED IT.
This story gets worse. Just two weeks ago, Carrie ran into this disgusting piece of filth at a tack sale. To her face, Rosemarie told Carrie she was getting good money for Molson's "registerable" foals. Not only is that another lie, because they were not registerable without Carrie's signature which no one has asked for even though she is still the sire's registered owner--but she had the perfect opportunity to tell her then that Molson had died. Now I certainly would not have told her that, if I had starved him to death, but then again, if I was that evil, who knows what I might have done?
And now we know, via one of Rosemarie's "friends" that she starved Molson to death. And has bought a replacement stallion, this time a palomino, from here in the States somewhere.
I do not know what the worst part of this story is--probably that the cycle is going to start all over again so she can starve some more to death.
And nothing is being done. It has been three or four months and the news is just now making it out into the world.
There is a special place in hell for you Rosemarie Ortman. I hope you treat your children better than your animals. And the vengeful part of me hopes that you someday learn what it is to be hungry--sooner rather than later, so you can get to that special place in hell where you belong.
And in case anyone thinks that I should not be posting this publicly, I invite Rosemarie or her cohorts to come here and tell me I am wrong. Prove it to me and I Will take it back. It won't happen, I know, but I would be thrilled to know I am wrong. Maybe the story got twisted, but considering the source, and Rosemarie's history, I seriously doubt it.
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