Story by MIKE TIGHE as published in the LaCrosseTribune.com
“It’s been devastating and horrific,”
Angela Joseph describes the theft of her beloved Morgan, Jimmy, as “devastating and horrific.”
LA VALLE, Wis. — Social media sites have been sworn in to the posse trying to track down rustlers who apparently stole two horses from a farm that provides therapy for veterans and children.
“Whoever did it is pretty slimy, because anyone who knows us knows we help veterans and kids,” said Barbara Knopf, the owner and founder of Veterans Equine Trail Services (VETS).
The horses are believed to have been stolen March 14, with no signs that they simply wandered off, according to Knopf and the Sauk County Sheriff’s Department.
“We have a few leads that we can’t discuss openly at this time,” sheriff’s detective Scott Dadam said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Knopf and an Army veteran who owns one of the horses have put out wanted messages on the website NetPosse, a division of Stolen Horses International, Facebook and other social media, in addition to newspaper ads, to find Jimmy and Vicki.
“It’s been devastating and horrific,” said Angela Joseph, a 27-year Army veteran who has owned Jimmy, a 3-year-old palomino Morgan gelding, for two years.
After returning last week from a deployment, Joseph said, “I was so excited to find Jimmy, and he was nowhere to be found.”
A nose count of the nearly 50 horses on Knopf’s 70-acre farm revealed that Vicki, a 2-year-old chestnut Morgan filly, also was missing.
“We trudged through the mud and snow and walked the fence lines, and there was no sign of a broken fence or that they ran off,” said Joseph, of Dane, near Madison, where she works as a nurse.
There is no doubt that they were stolen, she said, adding, “unless they’re with that Malaysian plane.”
Joseph named Jimmy after Jimmy Perry of Tomah, an Army colleague who was killed in a car crash in 1989 before they were to have been deployed overseas.
“He and I were great friends,” she said. “He was blond and my horse is blond, so that’s why I named him.
“It was traumatic for me then, and I feel like I’m living it all over again,” Joseph said.
Although Jimmy is not trained to be a therapy horse yet because he is not old enough, that is her plan for his future.
“He’s therapeutic for me, and relaxes me,” she said.
Joseph declined to reveal Jimmy’s monetary value, other than to say he is a registered Morgan, or whether she has insurance. Online sites indicate that prices for Morgans can run in the neighborhood of $5,000 to thousands more.
Whoever took the horses planned the heist in advance, said Knopf, a Marine veteran who started her farm about 70 miles southeast of La Crosse as a horse rescue operation and added VETS three years ago.
“The cops and we agree that the two horses were close to the gate, so they must have had a rope because none of my equipment or halters are missing,” she said. “We think they went in and walked right out and closed the gates.
“It was a multi-faceted plan, because they would have needed a horse trailer, too,” she said.
“We’ve got the word out to social media, posters, newspapers, veterinarians, auction houses — you name it,” she said.
VETS served 75 veterans and 21 of their family members last year, as well as 20 disabled or troubled children, Knopf said.
“They can show up for an hour or a weekend or a week or two,” she said. “They can have the total farm experience, unloading hay, helping bale hay or grain the horses or watering.”
Offering a reward of an undisclosed amount, Joseph and Knopf hope that whoever took the horses simply returns them.
“No questions asked,” Knopf said.
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Categories: Equine Rescue, Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Just how low can people be? We need to re-establish public hanging!
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I agree with the public hanging…
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Yes, Steve!!!! Have shared this on Facebook…
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Pretty damned low Steve. I saw that they have International Stolen horse net involved but they need contacts watching the borders of this damned country to ensure that the horses don’t end up at the slaughter houses in Canada or Mexico.
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The direct links to the Stolen Horse International reports on these horses are:
http://netposse.com/view_report.asp?reportid=2202
&
http://netposse.com/view_report.asp?reportid=2200
Please share the reports, print the flyers and hang them up at tack/feed stores, auctions, and where ever else will let you!
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Shared! Praying you get your belove horses back
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These horse thieves are another example of the low-life scum-bags that walk among us.
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Had Facebook existed, and thebmedia cared to print it, these stories were a daily occurrance over the United States while the plants were open. I pulled out a friends scrapbook that had all the flyers, clippings, and notes she by herself took of any horses missing in one yr with plants open, she had 375 horses over 3 counties in a4 month span. Had she of collected yrs and more data or had there been social media. My only other fear is now with social media, we are unable to accuractly trace these thefts still. The only ones reportec are those who know to.report it. 3 horses and 6 horse trailer vanished in Illinois and the media did not Even look at it as a story. It never aired. Truck/ trailer found abadoned in another state and horse still gone. So many people do not net posse. So.many people in horses still are.not on internet. Its amazing how many just still like myself have no private facebook pages. I hope they.recover these animals, well, and the farm should do what most r doing. Cameras, wireless and hardwired. Screen when bringing in new people and keep track of who you tell your hours,including sleep cycles, and your times away too. Sad, you have to know every detail of everyone to keep horses safe now.
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LOCK YOUR GATES.
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Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
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I think I read someone had their horses shot in WI too.
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i live in another state now but know exactly where that town is. and the big horse auction is just down the road from there . where ever they are i pray that they are warm and have a full bellies. i hope too that those flyers are also at the borders because the border to canada is very close. and everyone is right about the public hangings ,make people think about their actions . i’m pretty sure to that those jerks that took the horses knew a whole lot about the way this farm operated,
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cameras are needed every where now..chances are who ever took them and drove right passed a camera in town…share share hope they come back home.someone knows something .someone seen or heard something..
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