Pot of Gold Stable : My experience

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So, as I was writing about horses earlier, I realized that I actually have a few horse stories to share. When I was a kid, up until my later teens I was a total horse fanatic. I had magazines, movies, books, posters. I had specialized magazines and in one of such I saw a lot of ads for a stable near my area/about 1 hour away. I believe the stable was dealing with paint horses. Amazing that a stable nearby should have ads - when you consider this was a national magazine. The ads were for **Pot of Gold Stable and usually featured *Carmen and her awesome paint Saddlebred ,*Rhodes. So, me, being me - I wrote to Carmen. She was in her 30s. I was in my teens. As a side note, I'm probably about the same age now, that Carmen was when we first became friends. And we became pen pals. I was fascinated by the stable, the horses, and also the many animals she had. Dogs, a fox, cats, birds including a loudmouthed parrot that would laugh loudly for hours on end. The trick to getting him to stop was to shout *Rory tastes like chicken! (Which he seemed to understand, because he would stop at that point.) I'm not sure what her interest in me was, other than maybe getting to know a young horse enthusiast. And we met in person, I would go to horse shows where Carmen and her Husband *Bob were showing horses. They would come visit my parents and I. For one season - It must have been the summer that I was 15 or 16 - she came up with a great idea. I could come stay overnight for a few nights. I would help with chores but we would also go eat, go shopping, I could ride, etc. Fun! So I did it. The first time or 2 was awesome. I helped clean stalls, brush horses, feed horses, exercise Rhodes, but in return rode (my favorite of her horses was an Arabian named *Hank.) , we went out to eat and did shop together. It was amazing. As a side note my parents actually moreso my dad had always been fairly controlling, so the fact that here I was alone by myself at someone else's place was entirely new and exciting. Well, the first time or two I did this it was great. Sure I did work, but we had lots of fun and good conversations. As time went on it was less and less socializing, less and less riding, and more and more chores. Keep in mind, I was not getting paid. This thing was presented to me as "friendly visit". Well, I said nothing until the one time where I barely saw her and didn't get to ride. She said she was going shopping with one of her clients. I wasn't invited. Instead she suggested I could polish the silverware in the house. Uhm. No. She stayed gone until late at night. I was positively hungry. I didn't feel comfortable helping myself to cooking in her home, though I did help myself to a few snack items. Shopping trips to town no longer happened. They started mentioning that I could come out on weekends where they were gone showing horses - and take care of the remaining horses. However no funds we mentioned. I started feeling used. I wouldn't have minded to help out every once in awhile, but don't use me as a stablehand on a regular basis, under the guise of friendship. Well, I did take it up with her and it didn't go over well. Our friendship ended I'm sad to say. I did learn a lot both about horses, and people's behaviors. * All names are changed to protect actual identity ** The stable wasn't called "Pot of Gold" but it did have an equally catchy name. "Carmen" had an answering machine message (because at that time it was answering machine and not voicemail.) that had music playing in the background. A thing I have tried to duplicate many times only to have it not work out as well as hers did. Here's a video about the noble Saddlebred horse :