GROOMING IS MORE THAN BRUSHING YOUR HORSE

The relationship of trainer to client in the horse industry is a natural medium for a swindler to develop and groom their targeted victim.  It fits the description of a good quality out of balance perfectly.  A successful trainer client relationship requires trust, earned or not. In grooming their victim the fraudster creates a relationship based on fear tactics disguised as trust to encourage continuing cooperation. Based on that perceived trust, the victim is encouraged to act without thinking for themselves or of their own best interests.  There is always the promise of a reward – “it will be worth it” and the victim is promised a return of all investment.  Recurring crises require constantly increasing investments. Without these investments the victim is threatened that she will lose the entire investment – and the friendship.  The victim is made to feel special – more important than the other clients, which causes isolation within the community and an alienation from friends.

WHY ME?

I proved to be the perfect target of a fraud involving horses.  I was raised in a perfectly dysfunctional family.  Rewards were promised and never delivered because of a non-existent shortcoming in my performance. I was a natural target! My parents cultivated a competition between my siblings and me and constantly compared us to one another. Our parents defined our abilities, interests and accomplishments for us: they set standards that in their eyes were never quite achieved. Fraudsters seem to have a sense of people like me – over achievers seeking approval with a sense of inadequacy coupled with a deep belief in our unrecognized superior capabilities, and unclear boundaries. The isolation that the scam artist creates for us serves to create an environment of secrecy. Now that I have introduced myself, I will begin to tell the story in chapters.