[Lauruffian]

Hmm. Now I'm wondering if it may just be best to donate my few items to a local auction rescue group. I haven't heard from her, she's obviously not needing the items at this moment, and the rescue group (and others like it) could always use some items.

I'll check and see upon FatPalomino's return what her update is.

[fivehorses]

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...=357188&page=9

I don't really understand how someone with so many possessions(animals) and no money...how many times did she say she was flat broke, goes on a holiday in europe. Most vet students who graduated recently are either doing internships or going to work to pay back all those student loans.

I did a search on fp and read this thread, since I don't follow many of the personal lives of people, and found it absolutely amazing how many cothers, and many who I think are tough and who I respect, oogling how great FP is.

this reminds me of Pintopiaffe...she knew how to spin a great story, and then gets arrested.
So many encouraged FP to write a book....good gawd.

[Calamber]

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...=357188&page=9

I don't really understand how someone with so many possessions(animals) and no money...how many times did she say she was flat broke, goes on a holiday in europe. Most vet students who graduated recently are either doing internships or going to work to pay back all those student loans.

I did a search on fp and read this thread, since I don't follow many of the personal lives of people, and found it absolutely amazing how many cothers, and many who I think are tough and who I respect, oogling how great FP is.

this reminds me of Pintopiaffe...she knew how to spin a great story, and then gets arrested.
So many encouraged FP to write a book....good gawd.

I agree, she leaves someone with a sick dog, broken down car, husband is a poo, boo hoo hoo. She left him in Colorado with multiple rescued horses, for months she was playing in the sun with dogs everywhere, constantly rescuing, meanwhile back at the ranch in the dead of winter.

Now, multiple I am so poor stories, racing around the country every which way, no job, and now off to Europe? And people think this is normal behavior? I am sorry C&C and any one else who was taken in by this bipolar type of behavior but I think FP needs to take a hard look at the using type of behavior that she has undertaken. No one, in no animal hospital or clinic is going to keep anyone around like this for long. Good luck to the government for the student loans but they do get nasty when they are taken advantage of. It seems like it might be time to grow up and take real world responsibilities. I could see this coming for years but she is so charming and engaging and gee whiz!, she rescues horses and dogs. Right.

[katarine]

Add me to the list who felt bad for her, and offered her a stopover if she came this way. With less than 48 hrs notice, she said she was coming this way.

With three dogs in tow.

I declined.


Something about the whole thing just got way weird when suddenly there were three dogs in tow and almost no notice of her itinerary/plan. I just find that to be too far outside of my comfort zone, and I'm glad I declined to meet her.

[LauraKY]

Those of you who sent her money...I imagine it's being spent in Euros right now.

[Stellaspeed]

Thinking based on what? Geesh. A nasty and unsubstantiated comment from someone too cowardly to post from their own user account?

I have no dog in this fight but even with all that was posted above there really doesn't seem to be anything nefarious going on. But carry on with the stupidness.

Or rather, post some facts, under your own username or STFU.

I offered up help to FP, and her drunken behaviour almost got my son ARRESTED. My son wants NO more contact from her, that's why I posted under an alter. I will not expand on things because I don't want his life disturbed any more that it was. I am still horrified that I placed him in that situation.

[BasqueMom]

Hey guys, let's not be eating our own so early in the day.

Perhaps she went to St. Kitts for vet school because she couldn't get into CSU vet school. Vet school is at tough, if not tougher, to get into than med school. Either way, it's none of our business. I wish her well....she's got a long road ahead to get a career established and loans repaid.

[rabicon]

I read the old thread and wow. Sounds like a good spin. I don't see how someone that has no money and everything taken and animals has money to travel across country numerous times. All sounds fishy to me. Now in Europe. Lol. We make a good living and I still couldn't afford for someone to take care of all my animals pay my bills and travel across europe for weeks and weeks. Where is that money coming from? We take vacation but a week at a time couple times a year. I couldn't imagine months and that cost.

Anyways I've been gone a few years off here till recently. What happened with pinto piaffe? I remember that one from years ago.

[sketcher]

Hey guys, let's not be eating our own so early in the day.

Exactly!

BTW, my comments were not at all directed at cc who described a situation without accusation or rampant speculation.

My frustration is the people who want to jump right in and filet someone.

There are a lot of scenarios to explain what on the outside looking in might be flaky behavior.

Someone could be in a miserable or abusive relationship - what to you on the outside looks flaky in reality might be that someone finally got the nerve to skip town and follow a dream which may include popping around hostels in europe of staying with friends and eating rice and beans. You just do not know unless you know this person well.

[abrant]

what to you on the outside looks flaky in reality might be that someone finally got the nerve to skip town and follow a dream which may include popping around hostels in europe of staying with friends and eating rice and beans. You just do not know unless you know this person well.

I had no idea that popping around hostels in Europe was equilivent to being poor, lol, or when I was rebuilding my life I would have done things very differently. Getting a job and living with my dad for a year? Gosh, I feel stupid, I could have just gone to Europe instead!

That being said, I figure there is more to it than we know. I know that's it's possible that people can be so brazen, but conning people then bragging about the exploites online is still very, very unlikely.

[FalseImpression]

omg... Coth is great but don't cross the line... I don't begrudge FP her trip to Europe. It looks like she is doing it on the cheap anyway.. and if she has 30 yrs to repay her loan, what's another couple of weeks in Europe going to add, except benefits to her mental health....
C&C, you may be generous, but it always seems that there are strings attached to anything you do or give. I am kind of amused though that you got taken (if that's really what it is and I doubt it), because omg... you are always the first one to cry wolf.

It reminds me of years ago when people donated $$ to my friend.. $600 in total and were all upset because she bought a new truck to offer trailering services and make a bit of money... she had a business plan and got the money from the bank for the truck and trailer which she paid back in full.

I hope FP comes home refreshed to a good job. And there is more than one vet student going to St. Kitts instead of the US vet schools and for many different reasons!!

[sketcher]

I meant to say - eating rice and beans in Europe - meaning to do it on a shoestring. That didn't really come out clearly.

I once got out of a seriously bad relationship and did what some people would have considered "irresponsible" based on their judgypants lack of knowledge of my situation and my need to save what was left of my sanity.

I'm just saying, FP could be an irresponsible, drunken user or a spoiled, entitled brat or someone going through a tough stretch or just a normal person who might lack a little self awareness on how they might be perceived by others. I have no idea. But why speculate on the worst when it could be a far different scenario than people judge it to be based on almost no information. It is just disturbing to me that people get piled on around here. And I don't particularly have any issue with piling on someone who clearly deserves it but in this case I'm not so sure that's the case.

[pony4me]

Anyone on here can donate, or not donate, and it's entirely their decision. I try to use common sense when donating, or meeting someone new. FP and I had a very nice dinner when she came through my area this summer, and we had an enjoyable evening with good conversation. Since my idea of a risk is having a third cup of coffee, I admire people who take chances and try to live a full and interesting life. I wish her the best, and look forward to seeing what she can and will contribute as she uses her education and experience.

[LarkspurCO]

I am not FatPalomino's official apologist, but I am her friend and feel the least I can do is step up say this:

The theft and loss of her truck, trailer and belongings is true. I was there when the COTHer "friend" was helping to load up the trailer, and I was there in New Mexico helping Margaret piece together the story. This included retrieving some items from the former friend's abandoned property and mother's garage and accompanying the cop to the home where the horse trailer now lives, as well as interviewing people at the auto repair shop and the salvage yard.

She may not operate the way you would, and it's not how I would do things either. But I do not question her motives or her integrity or her commitment to animal welfare and volunteerism because I've been there, seen it, helped her with it, coached her through it and sometimes talked her out of it.

As for questioning why she didn't go to CSU...all I can say is really? Don't you think she would have gone there if she could have? It's the reason she moved here in the first place.

I don't know who gave her money or donated items and that is none of my business, but I seriously doubt it was enough ($100?) to fund a trip to Europe and I have no doubt she would willingly pay it back after she gets home and starts her new job.

Nor do I know or care how she financed the trip to Europe. Perhaps it was a loan, perhaps a gift from her father. Would I have done it? Probably not. But taking a trip after graduating from vet school doesn't seem like the most outrageous thing a person can do, especially knowing there is a good job waiting when she returns.

As for losing track of which COTH member lives in what state, well, when you have dozens and dozens of online friends you have never met in person and an ADD personality, it's easy to forget who lives where.

Traveling back and forth across the country was necessary for vet school, externships and job interviews. I'm not even going to comment on the carousing. I was young once, too.

I'm going out to ride. Carry on.

[hundredacres]

I felt really bad for FP and was ready to help and offered her a place to stay of she came this way...but I slept on it, and decided I would help someone else, because at the time, I could. She never contacted me again, so I never had to tell her otherwise.

Some people attract nuisance and trouble. I work in a field where people have a million excuses for why they are in the bad position they are in - and it's is always because of what other people did to them. We have to teach these adults that the reason they are in the tough spot is because of their own choices. A hand up, an uplifting word is useful, but bailing them out is counter-productive.

[cloudyandcallie]

I offered up help to FP, and her drunken behaviour almost got my son ARRESTED. My son wants NO more contact from her, that's why I posted under an alter. I will not expand on things because I don't want his life disturbed any more that it was. I am still horrified that I placed him in that situation.

OMG. I cannot believe she did that to your son! OK people, beware! Stellaspeed did a terrific favor, and then her son, but for the video cameras that are everywhere, might have gone to jail! OMG.

We should all learn a lesson from this. Not to quit helping people, but to be careful of whom we help.

PS, Zakkandtoto. You and Heath are on Cloudy and Hattie's permanent Xmas list. Too bad our lotto luck is bad or Heath would have his own air-conditioned barn.
Falseimpression, get over the suns kissed acres issue. I'm not the one who solicited for expensive slings 2 years in a row. I give money with no strings attached. But when I catch someone lying, I'm not happy that I solicited others to give their money to that person. So while I don't snitch when I am taken for a ride, I do snitch when others get taken for money.

[LauraKY]

I've received quite a few private messages, none of them positive, most about being taken for a ride by FP. So, just be careful.

I know some of you have a hard time believing that someone you know (or think you know) and like could behave badly, but it happens.

[Kwill]

I read the original thread, and if the story has any truth to it, she might very well be kind of a vagabond if she is trying to escape a creepy ex-husband (who was arrested for felony stalking, she says). I can't agree with hiding marital assests the way she did -- rather underhanded, but I understand trying to get away from a bad ex.

She states that she likes travelling around -- the whole thing about she would drive to Mexico and do charity work -- so it's not surprising that she's bumming around Europe and didn't have a fixed address.

Not everyone is a solid, live in the same place kind of place person.

You can get cheap flights to Europe, and there are hostels and all kinds of places you can stay that are inexpensive.

I wouldn't suggest anyone give her any/more money, but I am sure those who gave helped her out when she needed it. It doesn't seem like she's a con artist, more of a free spirit.

Edit: Obviously we don't know what happened with the drunken incident, but again, these sorts of people should probably just go their own way and help themselves. Sorry that happened to your family.

Edit again: I trust LauraKY, so if she says it's more of a con thing, I guess it is ... so beware.

[LauraKY]

You know, I hope I'm wrong in my judgement, and if I find out I'm wrong, I'll be quick to say that I'm wrong, but her situation just doesn't pass the smell test. All I'm saying is be careful. If what I'm hearing in PMs is true, you should be very careful.

[FalseImpression]

If you read the blog, she is staying with members of "Couchsurfers". That's free! I did that in the US years ago with Servas... cheap, interesting and fun.

C&C, you never miss an opportunity to say you will send money to someone... so, if you get caught sometimes, you only have yourself to blame. Plus, I really don't care to know every.time. that you can and will send money. Stop patting yourself on the back. And you can't even write SA correctly any more.
And, really, it is not fair to crucify someone without her being able to explain herself. But Coth is also known for that... ie jumping to conclusions.