Idaho was stolen. Who steals horses anyway?

Idaho was stolen. Who steals horses anyway?

15 May 2015

Our horse Idaho was stolen. Why?
 
In September of 1997 one of our very loved pets, a horse named Idaho, was stolen from our pasture. Crime had made a visit to my home. We were shocked beyond belief that someone would steal a horse. Who steals horses anyway?  Didn't that go out of style with the wild wild west days? 
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The following year was one that our family will never forget.  Instead of letting the "thief" get the best of them my parents decided to find Idaho themselves.  My mother worked daily on the Internet spreading the news of our horse theft and also by phone.  My entire family spent time stuffing flyers into envelopes, addressing them and sealing them to be sent out to many strangers across the USA and Canada.  Horse sightings were followed up by trips to other cities, horses auctions were traveled to in several states and leaflets were placed on the windshields of all vehicles in the parking lots of these sales and horse shows.  
 
You would think that as time went by that my Mom and dad would give up.  But they didn't.  There were letters daily from strangers who had heard of our horse offering help and prayers.  Newspapers across the US carried the story, picked up through the Associated Press report after the Charlotte Observer did a front page story on my mom's efforts and the development of her "NetPosse."  TV news programs, radio and many national and local magazines carried our story.
 
Mom and Dad brought Idaho home!
 
Most stolen horse stories end in tragedy or with no end at all.  My mom never gave up and in September 1998, 51 weeks after Idaho was stolen, Mom and Dad brought Idaho home from Tennessee.
 

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Yes, that is right.  We found her!  She had changed hands five times and had traveled up and down the East coast.  What a miracle!  
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Other miracles occurred that year also.  Our trust in people was shattered the day this horse was stolen out of the pasture near our home.  We didn't know who they could trust anymore.  A stranger took Idaho. In the end it was strangers who helped to restore our trust and faith in people again through their unselfish acts of kindness.  Without them there would have been no way to continue on what seemed sometimes, to be a hopeless journey.
 
Our day in court
 
In July of 1998 the man who stole our horse was caught.  My mom found the thief too.  Last Monday, August 23, 1999, we had our day in court with this man.  He plead guilty and was ordered to pay restitution to my parents for the thousands of dollars they spent in our quest to find our pet.  
 
The adventure this man forced us on was finally over.  The lessons we learned will never be.  I learned from my Mom and Dad to not give up when times seem hopeless.  I learned how a family can pull together in a time of crisis.  That year was tough on our whole family. My mom read this quote, sent to her by one of the people on the Internet, daily.  I didn't understand it totally in the beginning.  I do now.
 
Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes  strongly has within him the gift of miracles.  ~ Samuel Smiles ~
 
By the way.....Mom never let us give up hope.
 
Written by Cory Metcalfe, August 1999
                   
 
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