Michelle's Story of Christmas Fire and Odie

Christmas in July for one Horse Owner!

The Story of Christmas Fire and Odie is a common one with one happy ending and another tragic after being entrusted to a trainer ...

I'm like any other horse person, 1 it not enough and 2 is to many. For this reason I placed an ad to sell a couple of my horses in April. I had a message on the machine one night and called the guy back. After talking with the trainer for awhile he asked how much I wanted for my grey gelding, with prices so low this year I said $500 hoping it was still high enough to keep away slaughter buyers. The trainer felt this price was too high, so I asked what his plans for the horse were. When he said he wanted a kid's horse I said this was not the one. The man was confident that since he was a trainer he could put in the extra time on the horse if needed.

The next day I called the trainer back again and told him I had an idea that would work for both of us if he was willing. I had an 8 yr old mustang mare that I needed to be broken. She had out smarted 3 trainers so far and I couldn't find anyone to work with her now that she was older and a mustang. He said he would train her in exchange for the other horse that he was interested in.

For 1 reason or another we were unable to deliver the horses for a couple of months but I stayed in contact with the trainer the whole time. We talked about how I wanted her trained and what type of tack and discipline I planned to use her in. Finally my fiancé delivered the horses on May 5, 2007.

Each week I called to check on the horses. I was always protective of my mare, Christmas Fire. The other horse, not the original grey, was one I had recently gotten for my fiancé that had not worked out for us and we were pleased to learn he was working well for the trainer. Then the first week in June when I tried to call I got a recording that his phone was disconnected. My fiancé said it was not a big deal he probably forgot to pay the bill and it would be re-activated when he remembered or got paid.

After another week went by and still nothing, I got worried. I had just recently gotten a Horse Illustrated magazine, and there was an article that had advice from Stolen Horse International about things to do if your horse is stolen or missing. I started the process just to be on the safe side.

First I called the local sheriff. He said there was not much that could be done because I had a contract and so it wasn't stealing - it was a breach of contract which is a civil matter. But he still suggested I call the sheriff in the town that the trainer lived in. So I called the other sheriff. He wasn't much help either other then to say that he had gotten a call about a dead horse, and that when he got there the people said it was the trainer's and that they were going to burn the carcass as required by county law. He never saw the horse so I had no idea if it was one of mine and if so which one.

Next I contacted Netposse.com and filed a missing horse's form with them. They were a lot of help and spread the word faster then a tornado could have. I also emailed everyone I could think, joined online groups and forums and made calls to all the auction barns, vets, stables and trainers. If he was going to try and sell my mustang it would not be easy since she had a freeze mark, but the gelding was just an average horse. I printed and hung the flyers that NetPosse had made for me and asked everyone that got an email to forward the email and hand the flyers as well.

I got many emails and calls of people wanting to help. We all did searches to find out more information on the trainer and see if we could locate him. I had gone to the town where he lived but no one seemed to know where he was or could be, come to find out he had a couple of warrants for him and even the police were unable to locate him. Since this was considered a civil matter, I contacted a lawyer and he said we could serve him with breach of contract papers and take him to court - but again, we had to find him before we could do anything.

I was contacted by another person who was able to tell me that the horse that had died was the gelding. Although I was happy to hear Christmas Fire was alive, it is never easy to learn a horse has passed away, even if it is one you had planned to sell. I was told Odie, the gelding, had not been fed and gotten hurt at a rodeo or something and had not been taken care of. Exact cause of death was unknown, but basically, he'd been turned out in the pasture and left to die. The owners of the land where they were being boarded found him and couldn't save him - at least that was the first story I was told. They told the trainer to move the mare because they did not want to be responsible for her. This when I was told she might have been moved to Topeka.

I had also contacted the BLM since my mare was a mustang, but they were unable to provide any assistance since she was already legally titled to me. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry did come out and file a report but again there was little they could do till the trainer was found. I even contacted the Texas Cattlemen's Association which helps in livestock recovery.

After doing a lot of research, all I could come up with was that he was raised in the same town, been married a couple times, his mother was sick and there was the possibility that he was wanted for petty stuff in a couple different states. This led me to believe he may have moved out of state to avoid being arrested. The question was, did he still have Christmas Fire or had he sold her or something worse?

I told my cousin about the situation when I went to visit family for an early 4th of July. She had a couple of websites she thought might give us more information than we already had. After hours of searching we seemed to be no better off, but she was optimistic and suggested we call a number in the area where he grew up and see if they were related. I was a bit concerned as to what we would say since I didn't want him to run off and it even harder to find him.

But my cousin made the call and told the guy the trainer had won a raffle and we needed to contact him. He took my cousin's number, and a few minutes later the trainer called back. My cousin Dee and I had already decided she would do the talking since he would not recognize her voice. She told him that her daughter had sold him a ticket for a saddle or $500 cash for the Round-up Club fundraiser. He "remembered" buying the chance and wanted to know what the saddle looked like, but then said to just send the money. We had prepared a story, and she told him that was not possible - that she had to see ID before distributing the prize, and he suggested meeting the following weekend. The net was set, even if I didn't find Christmas Fire that Saturday at least I was a step closer. I felt once confronted he would tell me what had happened to her. He also gave her a new phone number he could be reached by.

A couple days later, the trainer called me out of the blue. He said that he had tried to call and even left messages on my answering machine, which somehow I never got. He swears that he thought I had the other contact phone number and had never intended anything illegal. He was concerned that he had heard there was a warrant of something for him about horse stealing and asked if I knew anything about it. I explained that I had searched for him to no avail and that once I got Christmas Fire back I would call off the hounds. I asked him what had happened. The trainer said the land owners were supposed to be feeding the horses and when he found out they weren't it was too late for Odie. He moved Christmas Fire for her own good. He said she was trained and ready to go home, if I could meet him that weekend he would bring her half way so neither of us had to drive as far. He was in Missouri with his mother and had to pick up Christmas Fire in Topeka, Kan. We agreed to meet in Wichita.

I called a of couple days later to make sure I was still picking her up, and we decided that Friday night would be better then Saturday. I was to meet him in the parking lot of a dance hall that has a small arena inside where they have bull riding on the weekends.

Friday night we got there before the trainer arrived. Once he arrived, we unloaded Christmas Fire. She seemed a bit skinnier, but it was not like she couldn't afford to loose a few pounds when she'd left for the trainer's. She was nervous being in a strange place and was thirsty, but all-in-all seemed okay. I was unable to determine if she had been trained or not. Once we got home, I turned her loose in the corral. It was nice to finally have Christmas in July.

She has a few marks on her from the halter not being removed, but other then that she seems physically unharmed. I still can't catch her worth a dang and to be honest am a bit intimidated about seeing if she is ridable or not, but either way she has a lifelong home with me.

I have learned that to be on the safe side - a contract is not always good enough in this day and age, whether the crime is intentional or not. I would not recommend him to anyone. What I would recommend is an extra contact phone number, getting a copy of the driver's license of anyone that takes your horse for any reason, and it wouldn't hurt to get additional information as well such as their vehicle make, model, and plate number. Above all make sure that they know if you can't reach them action will be taken.

Thousands of horses are stolen or missing. I am one of the lucky ones. Not only did I know what to do and who to contact, like NetPosse.com, but I was also able to recover my baby and she is safe. To help prevent this in the future, I have already registered a freeze brand and plan to brand all my animals and maybe my son, too, just kidding.

~ Michelle Orlovetz, July 8, 2007

Note: If you are considering a trainer in the areas mentioned in the story or Christmas Fire's case, feel free to contact Michelle for the trainer's name.