Horse stables should be licensed and inspected by the State of Oregon, to prevent people like Marty Brown from running them as a scam. This stable is unsafe and unkind to horses.
I started boarding my horse Hampton at Marty Brown's Holiday Rose stable in Nov-Dec 2007. Hampton was 4 years old at the time, a big 17.2 percheron-quarterhorse cross. Hampton was healthy and chubby, and I was not graining him at the time when I purchased him as he was way too hot.

In February, Hampton was fine and I had to leave for Arizona, so I left some checks with Marty, so that I could call her and have her cash the check when ready.

In April Marty called me and said Hampton was loosing weight, and I needed to add some money for grain. He had been wormed just before that so it was not worms.

I sent Marty the extra money for the grain, and asked her to keep me informed of his situation and I would come back as soon as possible. Due to an auto accident related injury I was not able to get back until May. I was shocked by what I saw. Hampton looked like a prisoner of war. Marty had been paid in full at this time, but certainly was not feeding Hampton. So where was my money going?

I had to buy more and more grain, starting with Strategy and Rice pellets, and I had to go out to the stable every day or every other day to make sure he was being fed the hay I was paying for, I also bought orchard grass and alfalfa as what Marty was feeding him was also crap. But when I was not there, he was only getting a flake a feeding, mind you this is a big horse, and all the other stables were full. I was now spending about $400 a month on extra feed and gas to make sure he put his weight back on. I had to add one more horse and there was no stable that was close enough by that I could move the horses too, without increasing my gas expense considerably, gas now being over $4 per gallon.

Marty never gave receipts, and as far as I know never gave anyone else receipts either. Other horses were also going skinny. Worried horse owners had their skinny horses confiscated when they could not pay their bill. Yet the stress was visible on all of us. (There is no state licensing or inspection standards of these stables).

Naturally it was easy to get behind, with the long enough drive, fuel costs, extra grain costs. Repeatedly when I went to stable Hampton and now Cookie's stall was empty of hay, and they were kicking their stalls, and the other horses all still had hay.

Below I have pictures and video of the condition of Hampton when I returned from Arizona.

When I asked for my bill it seemed it had gone up considerably, and since I had lost my own note paper, where I kept tract of it, due to no receipts, I did not have much I could argue on, and could only pay the higher price.

People who run their shabby stables as Marty runs hers are a good example of why Oregon needs horse stable licensing laws. Horses are big, they are not easy to move, or relocate to new stables, and there needs to be some regulations that protect horse owners from odd stable practices.

When I confronted Marty with hay that was substandard, similar to yellow straw, in my lean horse's stall, she said that she was "experimenting" with his feed.

I have never had an experience where the stable owner was willing to starve the customer's horses before. Marty has made very good money off me. My horses could have used better care.

I did not feel my horses were safe or would be fed what I was paying for. No amount of talking to Marty would change that. Marty charged $300 a month per horse for full care. She has no turn outs, no pasture, and not very good riding area. She has a large horse trailer gate which does not open, making access to the barn difficult at best due to a narrow driveway. Her barn has no visible fire fighting equipment or alarm systems. There have repeatedly been tack, blankets and a gear such as a new saddle stolen from the barn.

Due to project demands and costs, I have not been able to quickly relocate my horses. But keeping them at the Holiday Rose has been nothing less than an ordeal for both my family and the horses.

Please send letters of your experiences at this stable. We will print them here.

1. All pictures taken in May 2008 after my return from Arizona. I was not notified by Marty Brown until April that there was a "weight problem" with this once large and beautiful horse. Marty did not compensate me in any way for the weight loss of my horse.

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