Two Stolen Horses Found After Being Sold at Auction

RECOVERED 3/7/05

JJ and Little Man have been recovered. Read an excerpt from a letter sent to SHI from the owners below. Thank you all who helped in any way in the recovery of these horses. -- Debi Metcalfe

Dear Debi,

YES! At 8:50 p.m. last night J J and Little Man came home to Rebel Ranch Stables. J J and Little Man went to each stall to say hello to their missed friends. They were wet and filthy from staying outside for the past 5 weeks, but other than a place on Little Man's neck where he had been in barb wire, they are fine.

Just before we said good night, after 10:00 p.m., I looked on the monitor at J J's stall and Jimmie was sitting on the stall floor singing to him very quietly and telling him how much she loved and missed him.

This all started on Saturday with a phone call to Giles County Investigator Mike Chapman. Yesterday Mike telephoned Jim at 8:10 a.m. and told him he had finally gotten in touch with the woman who had called him. At 11:30 a.m. Jim saw J J in a pasture grazing. Little Man was about 8 or 9 miles away at another farm. After many calls back and forth, owners were not home that had Little Man, They were delivered to the barn.

Jimmie was and is thrilled beyond words. That beautiful smile on her face and the tears in all our eyes that our family had been reunited took much of the pain and heartache of the past five weeks away. All the trips to barns, farms, small towns and cities posting flyers seemed so insignificant to the joy we are feeling.

I did make a call to our vet and intend on putting micro chips in our horses. I never want to go through this again. My heart aches for each and every person who is still missing their horse family. We will never hire another person for our barn that does not get a thorough background check, copies of drivers license, and so forth. We had a good job application, but it is not enough.

Again, Thank you for everything that you do. The Ball family could not have made it through the past weeks without the encouragement and friendships we have made with people who love of their horses has made this reunion possible.

Our Sincerest Affections,
Barbara, Jim, and Jimmie Ball