After allegations of animal abuse and neglect the owner of Serenity Ridge Farm defended her business against complaints made by some of her former clients.
Serenity Ridge is a horse boarding facility in Pullman, WA and owner and manager of the stable Katie Peet-Walker said the allegations were “malicious,” “frustrating” and “disappointing.”
Whitman County Sheriff Brett Meyers said he received a concerned phone call regarding animal neglect at the stable earlier this year. When he went out to the farm to investigate it he said he found the claim to be unfounded.
“I didn’t see anything that rose to the level of concern where we would get involved,” he said.
Meyers said often times people have different definitions of neglect however he found nothing criminal.
The Whitman County Sheriff’s Office received a similar complaint in September of last year, he said. A different officer investigated the claim, but concluded it was also unfounded.
Since January, about 10 clients have taken their horses from Serenity Ridge, former boarders Erika Matson and Alexa Rolin said.
Walker said that number is not true and only five clients have left since then. She also said many clients at the stable are happy with it and love being there.
In her first phone conversation with the Daily Evergreen, Walker said she was “in the middle of a lawsuit” against some of her former clients. Later when she met with the Daily Evergreen she said she had not filed charges yet but is working with a lawyer to see if they have a case.
“We are exploring a libel case just because we don’t want it to impact future relations,” she said. “It’s a small town. There is no basis for the very malicious attack.”
Regional investigator for the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Zan Deery said they are also investigating a pattern of complaints with the farm.
“We’ve gotten enough complaints to raise a red flag,” Deery said.
Serenity Ridge is doing their best to work with the BBB, Walker said, however she has doubts they will reach an agreement.
“We don’t see that we will ever get to the same page because the complaints are so malicious,” she said.
Walker alleged most of the complaints were written late at night, after “dinner parties” and after the complainants had “gotten drunk.” She also said former clients came drunk to barn meetings.
“There is only so much you can do when the requests are just so absolutely ridiculous,” Walker said.
A main concern of many former clients was the weight loss of the horses due to the feed, former boarder and WSU veterinary graduate student Melissa Best said.
“The hay she was feeding (the horses) was really sub-standard,” she said. “(Walker) had tried to grow and harvest it herself.”
Walker insisted the quality of the hay was not sub-standard and there is no way to know its nutritional value by looking at it, she said.
Another former client Alexa Rolin said she was also concerned about her horses’ weight loss.
She began boarding at the farm in August 2009 and had no complaints for the majority of her time there, she said. However she said she kept a close eye on her horses because she began to suspect they were not fed or given water on a regular basis.
“After winter break I came back (this year) and both of my horses had lost quite a bit of weight,” she said.
Walker said it was not uncommon for horses to lose weight during the winter because of the weather. She also said she does not think any horse on the farm was emaciated.
Last summer another former boarder at Serenity Ridge said her horse also lost a significant amount of weight in a short period of time.
Senior communication major Amy Dean said she and two friends boarded their horses at the stable for a few months but left earlier than planned due to dissatisfaction.
“We found our horses without water a lot of the time and it was 90 degrees last summer,” Dean said.
Walker said the problems were due to miscommunications because the agreement with Dean and her friends for pasture board, and the stable’s only responsibility was to provide water, not food.
“This is a boarding facility but your horse is your responsibility,” she said. “If you are not communicating to the management what you need than it is not going to get changed.”
Another former client Erika Matson said she kept her horse at the stable for about three months before she left in early March.
When she arrived, she said there were a lot of things promised to her by Walker that were not provided.
“Pretty soon stalls weren’t being cleaned and horses weren’t being fed,” Matson said. “So after that we had to take care of our own horses but still pay for a full-care facility. Things really just went downhill.”
Walker said she thought it was unfair the focus was on her farm because many other stables in the Pullman area have issues as well.
“The sad truth is that there isn’t anywhere to go in Pullman,” Walker said.
Many people have to do their own horse care but pay full board, she said. A lot of students at first have unrealistic expectations because they come from places where they pay a lot more money, and then come to Pullman and are shocked by how much work is required of them.
