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The Washington County Sheriff’s
Dept. made a request for the pick up of a horse that had been at large for
3 weeks according to the property owner, only at night and early morning.
The man had told the Sheriff and IHAHS that if someone did not come and
get that rouge animal that night she would be shot on sight!!! Statements
amounting up to the fact that the horse was seen on the owner’s private
property during certain hours of the day, "regular as clockwork"
, lead IHAHS investigators to believe that this horse was someone’s pet.
Sure enough when Investigators arrived after dark on the property as
predicted by the property owner, a silhouette emerged from the woods.
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Investigators called out shaking
a bucket of grain. There Kelsey came, running through a small valley
right up the man’s drive way as if she owned it. She let us catch
her, pick up her feet, examine her for injuries, and loaded like a
perfect lady, after the property owner identified her as the
"offending horse at large". Kelsey, turned out to be a
beautiful Rose gray colored Paint mare. Her hooves looked as though
they had been trimmed with in the last couple of weeks. Her weight
and condition was pretty good. There was not a doubt about it, this
horse belonged to some one. So why had such a nice horse not been
reported missing when all evidence pointed to Kelsey being at large
for three weeks? |
Experienced investigators know
this scenario well, We suspected Kelsey did not live very far away, was at
home during feeding time, and roamed at night. Obviously someone did not
know she was getting out, and that their fence was down. The area was
canvassed and flyers stuffed in mail boxes. Later that evening the owner
called. Sure enough the fence was down. They had been replacing parts of
the fence way back in the woods for just about 3 weeks. They did not think
Kelsey had noticed. According to them they had never seen her frequent
that area.
It’s just like a horse to notice
something when you least expect it or don’t want them too.
Indeed Kelsey had been showing up
at grain time, except she suddenly quit showing up on Tuesday morning, (we
had picked her up on a Monday night). The panicked owners had searched and
called out for her, with out results. They were very relieved to hear that
Kelsey was safe and un-injured. Kelsey is going to stay at a friends barn
until the new fence is completed. Kelsey had not caused any damage other
than un-nerving the property owner, so all was forgiven. |
