Apache's Recovery - Five-year effort by his owner, Tina Clement

I allowed a "friend" to lease my horse back in 2004 to give riding lessons on, as her two lesson horses were unusable (one lame, one pregnant.) Anyone could ride Apache, even total beginners and small kids, and he'd been used as a beginner's lesson horse many times. We wrote up a contract, had it notarized and off they went to her barn two cities away. I checked on him regularly and he was doing great, soaking up the attention and treats he was getting from the children.

When the time came for the lease to be up and for Apache to come home, Diane packed up all animals and belongings at her barn, including Apache, and disappeared during the night. I filed felony theft charges with the police department and hired a private investigator. They found Diane, who first denied ever knowing Apache. When shown a copy of the lease she claimed I gave Apache to her (which of course I never did) and that she sold him (as an unregistered horse, since I had his registration papers.) She refused to tell my attorney or the investigator where he was or who had him, and since she doesn't keep a job or stay in one place very long, there was nothing to gain by suing her for his value...I would never see a dime and just end up with a pile of legal bills myself.

Diane was convicted not long after in Portage County, Ohio, for starving 5 horses to death and spent several months in jail. I was thankful then that she DID sell Apache, so he wasn't involved in that nightmare.

Over the years, I put up hundreds of fliers at every tack, farm, feed and pet store, and sent or took fliers to every stable or private barn I could find within a couple hours' drive of me, as well as livestock auctions and on craigslist and several other online sites, hoping someone would recognize him and call me.

Finally, five years after he was stolen, someone did. The man who currently had Apache called me and offered to let me have him back. (After I paid him a huge, overinflated "finder's fee". Creep) I was offering a large reward anyhow, so I gladly/grudgingly paid for my own horse and went to get him.

Apache remembered me after 5 years and brushed past everyone else that was there to come right to me. He hung his head over my shoulder and nickered in my ear, giving me a horsey hug like he always did.

We brought him home and he settled right in. I spent weeks just sitting out in the pasture watching him do absolutely nothing, which was his favorite thing to do. He got to meet my daughter, who was born while he was gone.

I lost my sweet boy to cancer this spring, about two years after finding him. I'm bitter that five years were stolen from us but so thankful that we got that one awesome summer together before he got sick. I swore when I got Apache back that he would never, ever leave here again, and he won't. He is buried in his pasture underneath his favorite butt-scratching tree, home forever.