Magnum Ponies

My daughter has been riding at Shelly's for about 2 years and she has been yelled at, put down, and thrown off by Shelly's horses many times. About a few months into jumping she was riding with the older kids ( they are very experienced ) and they were doing a course. My daughter Hannah was not very confident in her jumping skills yet and definitely not ready to do the bigger jumps especially at a canter. Shelly was yelling at her to do the jumps and every time she went for it the horse that she was riding dodged it which made Hannah cry even more while Shelly was showing no mercy and continued yelling at her to jump it. The third time the horse dodged the jump, it started galloping really fast around the arena while Hannah was as crying and trying to make it stop. Shelly was yelling at her and telling her to stop. Hannah fell off and landed very hard on her back and got a scar that did not heal for months. Another time, Danelle put Hannah on this pony that was still young and not trained very well. She was too fast and Hannah was not comfortable on the pony. Hannah's lesson was costing me a lot of money each month and most of the times Shelly was as not the one teaching it. The kids there were very nice but they all come and go overtime. Shelly also sold me a young pony in which I had no help at all with it. It bucked at Hannah when she was cleaning its paddock and was not used to the halter. She sold it to me for $5,000 and no papers with her. She also sold me a $500 saddle and convinced me that it was a worth more than that but that she was giving it to me for less... I paid for boarding each month even though the place that my pony was in was breaking down and had almost no shelter. I hope that what happened to me will not happen to anyone else.

No one offers kids the kind of community and training that Shelly Smith provides. Over the last 3 years my kids have taken lessons from Shelly and Magnum ponies. We have all learned so much and have enjoyed the community that we have built with other families who enjoy being here. Shelly has continued in her commitment to all the kids, even with overwhelming lies being spread around about her.I sit and watch her teach the kids, and she expects a lot from them, but they know where they stand with her. My kids know they are loved, and pushed to succeed. I've also watched the care she takes with her horses. She takes such good care of all of them, and has even rehabilitated several horses.Shelly Smith has dedicated herself to these kids, these horses, and her program. She could give up, amidst the lies being spread, but she carries on and for that I am grateful!

Shelly Smith rented my equestrian facility in Galt from late 2020 through late 2021. She was under contract to conduct all facility maintenance and repairs during her time here. She verbally and in writing told me many times that she intended to do the maintenance and to fix everything that was breaking. However, she did not. She damaged $1,000 worth of equipment, and the bids I have to fix the damage and clean up the manure she left behind are all for a few thousand dollars.A lot of the damage was caused by her horses not being fed until 10:30 to noon some days. They were very hungry and would fight over the fence and break the fences. She also let untrained people use my equipment even after she was warned that they were using it improperly. She always promised she would fix everything and she agreed with everything I was telling her, but then she didn't pay her last month's rent and did not do any of the repairs. She said that couple thousand dollars worth of my stuff went missing while she was here and she replaced it with stuff that she says she happened to already own that was identical to my stuff that went missing. But she didn't tell me when it supposedly happened. She only told me that when she was moving out and taking all of my stuff. She said it was actually her stuff. That's a crazy story but even if it's true, not notifying me that my stuff went missing and depriving me of the opportunity to file a police report? Not cool at all. I of course didn't notice because everything that was here was identical to everything that used to be here that was mine. But then she said it was hers and took it. The police were here and they said there is nothing they can do. They said if she says it's hers, they are going to let her take it, and my only remedy is to go to court.She also did some very unethical things with the kids she was teaching. I witnessed kids on a horses who were running away with them several times. Plus falls from inexperienced kids riding big moving horses who aren't trained to notice when their rider is about to fall off. These horses got scared from kids bouncing around on them and they sped up. Kids were screaming and crying. An ambulance had to come at least once. Shelly told me that the kids had asked to ride the more advanced horse and that Shelly got tired of them asking and so to teach them a lesson she put them on the horse knowing that they would probably get hurt. I heard her screaming "I told you this horse was too advanced for you, you are not a good enough rider!" She told me she had done that a couple of times. Kids fell off and she blamed them. I also heard her screaming multiple times at her young students, "learn how to ride!" Kind of ironic since that was her job, to teach them.I posted about this issue on a Facebook group and met around 14 other people who she has done similar things to in the area. Especially there are a ton of issues regarding questionable ownership of horses. I didn't have any of my own horses here when Shelly was renting here, so that didn't happen to me. But at other places she rented, she took horses that she wasn't supposed to take when she got evicted. Police reports were filed. But this kind of thing is so hard to do anything about from a criminal standpoint. We are all simply told that we need to take her to court, and that can be overwhelming and time-consuming and possibly result in a win but no actual money. She doesn't have another job and doesn't appear to use a bank. So proceed with great caution!

I would not recommend Shelly Smith to board or do lessons at. I boarded two horses here at her facility. On 9/10/2021, 3/17/2022 and 5/21/2022 my horse 110 gallon water bucked was empty. Horses drink 10/20 gallons a day. On 7/17/2022 I was helping feed at the barn on Thursday and Sunday mornings only(shelly lost all her help which was one gal because Shelly would not pay her). I was concerned that there was no one scheduled to feed that Sunday night. I decided to go down at 8:30 to check on my horses. All 23 horse she is responsible for did not have dinner. I left the grain and counted the bales of hay when I finished my AM feeding. I confronted sue that night I was able to locate her at a bar(drinking while her horses have not ate). By this time it was close to 10:30pm Sunday night and Shelly has nothing to say about the issue but she was heading there after the bar. So I pulled my horse out the Monday 7/18. I new they horses were not being consistently feed because my horse had a hanging feed bag that he doesn't eat a ton and he was eating through his hay bag. As for lessons my daughter took lessons with Shelly and her helper Danelle she wanted to just do lessons with Danielle as she says Shelly is mean and yells. There is also a ton of trash on the property. I see a theme in the trash lots of empty alcohol containers. You would think after this I wouldn't buy a horse from her but I did. shelly had told me she had this horse living at a friends house and has had him for a while. Shelly told me he was 17 years old(I found out today Shelly knew he was in his early 20s). I took this horse to get his teeth done and the vet told me he is 25 yrs old. This poor horse has never had his teeth done. But yet Shelly would use him as a lesson horse to make money off him. It is deplorable that Shelly would do this because she states she has 30 plus years of experience with horses. Me I've had horses for 8 years now know how important proper dental care is for horse to be healthy. I actually have more reasons not to choose her or board at or to do lessons with. But I feel what I stated above is enough to make a clear educated decision on if you would like to do business with Shelly.Last thing I was a paying client of Shelly's and just in June I spent over $700 with her at her facility. I would say I'm a good client and paid my bills. Attached are photos of my empty water pales, trash with alcoholic containers clear as day and this poor ponies mouth she sold me.Do NOT buy horses from her it's all about the money.

Verbally abusive lady. Selling known lame horse as sound. Wasting hundreds of dollars in vetting fees for a failed sale that could have been avoided if injury had been disclosed instead of hidden.

Shelly Smith has stolen property from the ranches she rents from and has withheld rent. She damages property too. Do not rent to her. I would suggest not even taking lessons from her either as she screams and yells at the kids.

Shelly Smith of Magnum ponies has stolen 3 ponies from a woman who let her make payments. The woman moved outta of state, and now Magnum ponies will not pay any monies owed for these ponies. Shelly Smith of Magnum ponies has blocked this lady, hung up on her, and refuses to respond to this lady's requests for payment. This lady does have all her paperwork in order verifying ownership to her, and not Shelly Smith.*stay clear of this HORSE THEIF!