Stolen Horses- A pain one never wants to feel

This is the missing ad I made for my missing mini Pedro. There were all those days most horse owners hate to think about...colic..lameness etc. But one day I realized I got hit by the worst. I live in Bay St. Louis,MS and got hit by Katrina. Due to our fences being down I had no where to keep my horse. For that week after the hurricane I had to beat all odds to make sure my horse was fed and watered and exercised as usual..inbetween living for a week with my family with no food and water myself. I called around to different Equine Rescues and found one in Opelousas,LA..about 5 hours away. A lady ran a licensed petting zoo and rescue for livestock. I talked to her on the phone once we had phone lines up and told her I really needed help. She said that she had a few horses from New Orleans as well that she was free-of-charge looking after till the owners got on there feed to take there pets back. I figured she was a great candidate and a good person...since she was on Petfinder.com and on several rescue sites. The week after I talked to her she came and picked Pedro up and brought him back to her farm. For a few weeks she was doing great I thought..got his feet shod..got his shots..etc. I once in a while did send a hundred or two dollars to help her out. Well one evening I couldnt contact her..she wouldnt anwer for days. I finally got her to pick up the phone..and all she said was "Leave me the **** alone" and hung up. I was astonished. To make a long story short..come to find out she returned the horses from New Orleans to there owner...but fell very much in love with my mini. She was also using him for her Petting Zoo business without my permission...Making money off of him. So I contacted the police and had her area investigated..and I guess it scared her ..She ended up (me finding this out later) illegally selling him to a trader in Opelousas and took off out of state. So far they found her in North Dakota...her farm has been searched and Pedro is not there..Thats when the police interviewed her and found out that she did sell him. My baby! My heart was sold to a trader...and now I have no clue where he is. She had also had a hookup with her vet. In her area and got Pedro microchipped IN HER NAME. Now I know never to trust just anyone with my baby. That was 2 years ago..and my heart still believes that one day I will find him......I hope and pray that this will never happen to another horse owner. It is the most painful feeling ever. But I know my love for him will bring him back one day....

Your first move should be posting a clear pic( with no tack or other horses around him) on www.netposse.com it's a site for stolen horses, second you said he was micro chiped ( good thing and this can work in your favor) have you consulted a vet about the last known data entrie on the pony?. Please don't not count on the police or sheriff dept finding your horse....i know i'm married to a sheriff dep .....only to recover is your best bet...it's a lot of work to find a stolen horse but the average person can do it just being wise on what you are doing.

First step like I said post on netposse.

2nd have you track down the trader in that area....i know there could be sevrel but they can all lead to you down to one.

3rd get a court odderd satement changing all info on the micro chip to be put in your name and list it as stolen...a vet by law will have to turn new owner info over to law enforcement it chip reads as stolen.

4th contact all vet's in that area and with in a 300 mile raidus with phone calls or emails to see if any one has had him vet checked before buying.

5 HAVE PROOF OF OWNER SHIP.....

That's all good luck let me know if you need more help

Thanks so much! :)
I do have him on netposse.com already with more pictures. As well as on a couple other smaller Stolen Equine Sites.

For some odd reason never thought about calling the vet...I will do that thank you.

Yes, contacting the traders was one of the first things I did... I have contacted many traders in the area...everyone had said they have not dealt with a miniature before. So that wasn't much of a help

Yup have all my proof of ownership waiting and ready :)

If you have proof of ownership couldnt you trace him through the microchip

Ok I talk to my husband tonight and he wanted to know why she was not charged with any thing? Horse theft is classefied and live stock theft which means ......i.e over $1000.00 , means jail time for this women.

I went back to netposse and having a strange feeling that if you move him from lost pets from katrina to stolen you will really have a better chance....trust me I just have that odd feeling about it, as I see it he's not lost he was stolen, on netposse explain what happen to the full exstent...do not be afraid to mantion her name on it, i've seen other poeple do it and .....more horses have been recoverd that way, a name will ring a bell and the ball starts rolling from there.

I've only have had a saddle stolen from me once...it took me less then a week to track down the guy( a stable hand) and had him charged. But I was lost with out my saddle.

Good luck

What a sad story. I realize that you posted some time ago but I was wondering, did you ever find Pedro? (I’m asking for more than just curiosity. )

You will find him! Believe!

What a horrible person! You can find him! Just don't give up!

Hello yall I am the bad woman that "stole" her mini. Yea right. Her whole story is wrong. The only true part was that she left him during Huricanne Katrina and we went to Gulfport, Ms to pick him up. I ran a petting zoo in CARENCRO (NOT OPELOUSAS) during that time and helped horsepeople after the hurricanes. I was not a rescue at that time nor was I listed anywhere as one. I contacted a rescue group during the aftermath and said I had barn space and pasture space to house horses. Never said I was a rescue just wanted to help. We were never listed on Petfinders until last year when we started a 501c3 animal rescue. She called me we drove to Gulfport picked Peddy up in an Astro (no trailer involved that is how small he was) He was TIED on a concrete slab with no access to shelter food or water. Peddy stayed with us from Sept 05 to May 06 she called maybe twice and sent money maybe once. She knew that we had a petting zoo and gave permission to use Peddy as we wished. She also asked us to have him vac and coggins done. La microchipps the horse the first time a coggins is drawn. She refused to give me an address or anything to have the coggins paperwork done in her name. She did not have one to give she said. We lost our business due to the change in the area after the hurricanes and were being evicted. We called her many times during Apr left messages telling her explictly that if she did not come get her horse we would have to do something with it or the court would. We never received any replies before we were forced to rehome him with a trusted friend. He never went to a trader. Back then horse slaughter was legal and he was FAT!!! I took him to his new home and as far as I know he is still there. I will not tell to whome I gave him. By law when she refused to reply to my messages or pick him up he was ours to do with as we wanted. The only time I got a call back from her was weeks after we moved. Yes my number changed we moved to Minnasota then SOUTH dakota. We have never lived in ND. Our place was never searched nor were we ever questioned about this horse by anyone. If she loved this horse as much as she claims she would have never put him in this position. I have ALWAYS had MANY MANY animals and I always take care of my animals. I would never expect a stranger to care for my stock no matter how inconvient or hard it was for me. Yes I lived thru the hurricanes too. Lost my home, my business, everything. She was not the reason we moved. We moved because La was not where we wanted to be anymore. I was never and am not afraid of her. Hence this post. I will never run scared. She should have made plans incase of hurricane (big surprise considering she lived on the gulf coast!) We did and we had 9 of our own horses.
So like they say there are ALWAYS two sides of a story.

And this story needs to go off the public radar!

Thank you!