Lost and Found

In my post about people bragging about low end accomplishments, I mentioned a horse who another person (we will call her M) had been searching for, for quite some time.

M had known the breeder and the horse back when he was a youngster, had taken a shine to him and there was just something about him. The horse had been sold at one point, sat around doing nothing for 6 months and was bought back by the breeder. Later he was again sold and wound up here in Arizona.

It was rumored that horse had broken his navicular and was unsound. The owner deemed him a 'killer' and claimed he had injured a few people because of his bad behavior. So she she put him up for sale. The breeder offered to buy the horse back, but the owner balked. Refusing as she thought her purchase of the horse was part of a scam. M had seen the ad and contacted the 'seller' in hopes of bringing him back home. Both M and the breeder were offering to take him in. **I also wish to note- the breeder also has the first right of refusal written into all of her sale contracts.**

The seller however, upon learning M was also in the same state as the breeder, was having no part of it and stated something along the lines of "I will send him to the auction before letting him go back there!" In other words, she would rather the horse die a horrible death than go back to a loving home.

*Go ahead, vent your frustrations and speak your mind. Probably similar to what others are thinking anyways.*

Fast forward a couple of years.

A while back M contacted me after reading and posting on another blog- FHOTD where a lot of us initially met... She was looking for Al, he was last known in this town, I would love to find him and just know he's ok.

Well drop me an email- I live there! I'll see what I can find out. Happy to do so, know a lot of horse people across the spectrum of disciplines- you just never know.


Missing, as if on a milk carton...

So over the past year and a half or better, M and I have emailed back and forth about a number of things, sent Horse for Sale ads back and forth and been in touch pretty frequently. Recently we started texting, which is great because a couple of weeks ago in digging for the 'dirt' I was asked about, there on the one website pops up a picture of a horse similar to what I remember Al looking like, as being described and listed under the same 'alias name' she had mentioned that miss "I'll send him to the killers" had given him. WOW!

I text her that "OMG! I think I just found your horse!" I fire off an email with links and tell her where to find him on the website. She in turn fires back the picture above and we both start comparing the markings.



We find one thing that throws us off. The front sock. In one picture it's on the left, the other it's on the right. What the??? So we both look closely and are skeptical and critical. We determine that's gotta be him or that horse has remarkably similar markings! What are those odds? We also consider one of the pictures being flipped around... Something has to explain it!

In looking up the listed owners name, I came across their address and phone number. Copy, paste, chanting "Google maps is my friend" and BAM! They live almost directly behind one of our friends. How's that for a small world?

But it doesn't end there...

M looks up the owners info on USDF and finds an email address. Types away in excitement and tells the new owner where she seen pictures of the horse and asks if it is him? I knew him as a youngster and he's always been "the one that got away". That was last Monday.

A few days go by and she receives an email from the current owner that YES! It is the horse she has been looking for all this time and he is just as sweet and wonderful as M described and remembers him. Saturday I received a text from M- "OMG! That horse IS Al! You Rock!" or something like that. (Honestly I don't remember word for word and since I had to reset my phone because it had issues- poof it's been erased. Phooey for technology sometimes!)

So M forwards the email where I learn, the new owner has had him almost 5 years now. Yes, when she bought him he had hoof issues, but since moving across the country to the Carolina's, he has dramaticly improved. They are both there while the owner is on a temporary assignment. So Al's owner is wishing to contact the breeder and has attempted to do so, to let them know that the horse is fine and doing great. M has offered that if he ever needs a new home- he's got one waiting for him. No question about it!

The twist you are all waiting for? The new neighbor 3 doors down from them, came by one day. Turns out she had bought this horses full sister a couple years back!

How is that for a GREAT story and a happy ending?