29 December 2018
One of our Stolen Horse International, aka NetPosse victims recently saw the ‘happy ending’ story of a horse recovered months after she was stolen. Her comment is echoed by many of our victims who are still missing their horses. It was also a reminder that we needed to remind you that your help is very important.
Susan said, “We see everyone’s solid colored horses being found and yet our loud leopard yearling filly just got over 4K shares within the first month and then nothing. And the lead we got from the sheriff’s department said it wasn’t enough to waste man hours on. People don’t care. It is sickening and sad but thank you for posting the happy endings. It still gives me hope that one day we will see our Sunshine again.”
As a victim myself, I understand how Susan feels. Our horse Idaho was stolen in 1997 when there was no social media. We still licked stamps and paid for long distance calls. We had Yahoo list groups, message boards and websites to use for contacting people about our horse. We drove to horse auctions in multiple states to see if Idaho was there and to post flyers. It took hours and days to do what social media can do in minutes today.
A group of people formed to help us search for Idaho as soon as we sent out our first email. The group included many victims just like us. We helped and encouraged each other. It was bittersweet when someone found their horse and we didn’t. We felt both happy and sad. We were happy they found their horse but were sad we had not found Idaho.
If you know our story then you know that we did find Idaho 51 weeks after her theft. It was our hard work and the support of thousands who offered hope when they shared our “Idaho Alert”. It was the emails, the prayers that encouraged us to hang in there and not give up. The support kept us hoping that one day she’d come home. She did on September 17, 1998. We also found and prosecuted our thief.
Stolen Horse International was founded because of Idaho’s theft so that people like us would have the help we didn’t when “it” happened to us. If we had given up then this organization would not be here today.
Reading Susan’s comment reminded me that people often forget about horses that are not found within a few weeks. Victims sometimes give up the search when they do not get quick results. This is a world where everyone wants everything instantly. Finding a stolen or missing horse rarely works that way. It is more like finding a needed in a haystack when the haystack keeps moving.
SEARCH TIPS FOR VICTIMS AND VOLUNTEERS
These tips are here to remind victims and the people who help how to keep a search moving forward.
This is a short list of reminders for us all. An article that defines more search tips can be found on www.netposse.com under the SERVICE tab in Resources. When a horse is missing it takes the whole horse community sharing and caring together to bring them home.
DON’T FORGET TO GIVE—WE CAN’T DO WHAT WE DO WITHOUT YOU
Stolen Horse International has been helping victims for 21 years. We cannot do what we do without you. Each year we have to raise $30,000 - $50,000 to continue our Victim’s Services and Educational Outreach Programs. Without your support we will not be able to continue helping victims, which is our most expensive program.
Please visit www.netposse.com and make a donation today.
Never Underestimate the Power of One—You!
Founder | debi@netposse.com