Stolen Saddles have been Found!!!
Thanks to everyone who emailed, reposted the
information on my stolen saddles, or called to offer me support or a loaner
saddle. In addition to posting
the information, and talking to
many police agencies (most of whom don’t appear to contact each other), I
called around to every tack shop, sale and /or tack/horse dealer that I could
think of, or that friends told me about.
Shortly after noon on Saturday (day after the saddles were stolen), I
got a call from a dealer about 60 miles from my house. A guy had called him wanting to sell 5
saddles, “a couple of which are endurance saddles, worth $800-1600 a
piece”. After getting not very
far with the state police then, I asked the dealer to but the saddles, get as
much info on the guy as he could, and that I would reimburse him for what he
paid. The deal went down about 4
hours later. The guy took a $300
check for my 5 saddles plus another older, dark, basket-weave western
saddle. He signed a receipt, told
the dealer his name and where he lived.
He had a vanity plate on his green pickup with his last name (mostly)
on it. The police managed to not
be there when this happened.
Funny thing, the guy
had a motor vehicle accident on the way home from the dealer. The local police were there, ticketed
and fined him, and let him go because they didn’t get the info. in time. We’ll see if they manage to get
him. The state police were
surprised that I managed to find the saddles!
BOTTOM LINE: Make
sure that your saddles all have some identifying mark/number, etc on
them. Do your own legwork; the
sooner you let everyone who might come into contact with them know, the
better; your chances of getting them back. Don’t rely on the police to get the
job done.
Thanks again to
everyone!
Heather
