11 September 2018
BACKGROUND
Our case studies are produced as part of the Educational Outreach Program with Stolen Horse International, Inc.
Stolen Horse International, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization, also known as NetPosse, is the equestrian world’s lost and found for horses. One of the first things we do for a victim is serve as their advocate during their missing horse situation.
THE ISSUES WE FACE
We know Facebook is full of rumors, falsehoods and out right misinformation. That is why we do not work with cases that are not filed through our website. We try our best to separate truth from fiction, a task that we take seriously.
ACTIONS WE TAKE
The main issue we face is how to verify the information given to us when a report is filed on our website, www.netposse.com. We may take different steps to verify information, some of which follow:
We are an organization of volunteers which works hard to get each report as accurate as we possibly can with our resources. We even include a rebuttal form on every alert webpage just in case we get it wrong. People do not always tell the truth to law enforcement or to us.
POSITIVE OUTCOMES
Of course, the outcome we want to see in all of our cases is location and recover of missing horses. We are here to support our victims during the entire process from filing a report, issuing press releases, consulting before and during recoveries, serving as liaison with law enforcement and attorneys and much more. As a result of our hard work we have grown tremendously.
NEGATIVE OUTCOMES
LESSONS LEARNED
The bigger we become the more help we need processing information, disseminating alerts, writing articles, communication and raising funds—all of which help make our miracles happen.
Our supporters love happy ending stories and we love to provide the updates to our cases. We can never sufficiently thank those who share our posts, the many people who have birthday fundraisers for us on Facebook, and especially our donors. Without you none of what we do would be possible.
We try our best to bring verified information, fairness and education like none other to the equine industry.
OUR EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH EXPERIMENT
On the other hand, we’ve seen more need to educate the public on in regards to criminal theft vs civil theft. Not every ‘stolen’ horse post is a stolen horse. Many are civil situations that anyone can find themselves in if they are not careful. A civil theft occurs when someone who has legal access to your horse takes him or sells him without your permission. A criminal theft is when someone takes your horse who does not have legal access to the horse.
We’ve generally keep our cases calm and civil in our public forums. We’ve also found that most people do not understand the seriousness or complex issues involved in these types of cases. What better way to teach you than to show you?
As an organization, let us go on record saying ‘we hate drama’. However, we have statistically found that many people are drawn to drama like a moth is to a light. In light of these statistics, we’ve started allowing a few of our more drama filled civil cases to expand, showing the full reality of ‘civil theft’, our label for such cases on Facebook.
Our hope is that our public involvement:
Article updated 10/19/18
Founder | debi@netposse.com