California Riding Magazine • April, 2010

The Gallop:
Happy ending to stolen horses story.

by Kim F. Miller

It’s not too often that a story starting with horse theft has a happy ending. But that is the case in the tale of Duchess and Rose, two equine senior citizens living in pleasant retirement at a Riverside County ranch.

Linda Moeller bought the now 29-year-old Quarter orse/Thoroughbred, Duchess, as a polo pony when the mare was 7. Moeller has owned her ever since and enjoyed hunter/jumper, dressage and even a little eventing with the mare before retiring her last August.

Moeller was mortified to get a call on Wed., Feb. 17 that Duchess and a pasture-mate were missing. She immediately contacted the police and posted flyers at tack and feed stores throughout the area. Most effectively, and with the help of the retirement property’s owner and Kim Magdaleno, Moeller used e-mail and the Internet to ask the horse community to be on the look out for her 15.2 hh, dark bay mare.
Three miserable days passed without word. “The days were just a blur for me,” says Moeller, who rides dressage with Steffen Peters’ assistant Lientje Schueler in San Diego. After the flurry of generating fliers and e-mails, “I was just very depressed.”

On Sat., Feb. 20, Moeller got an encouraging call. “I think your horse may be at my stable,” said Stacy Thunstrom, who operates her own SMT Performance Horses at her boarding and training stable in Mira Loma. On Tuesday of that week, she had received two new horses, trailered in by a young woman and her boyfriend. “The girl called me at 8 that morning to see if she could bring the horses in,” Thunstrom recounts. “She told me she had been given the two horses by a friend whose house was in foreclosure and couldn’t afford to care for them. It was a believable story.”

In retrospect there were clues something was amiss. Thunstrom recalls the girl, approximately 18, didn’t know much about the horses, but that fit with her story. And, the trailer they arrived with smelled of fresh paint. “I asked them if they were re-doing their trailer, but otherwise I didn’t think too much of it.”

Linda Moeller with Duchess.

Backed by the Internet, the equestrian community kicked into gear at news of the horses’ disappearance. Thunstrom is not a slave to her e-mail in-box, but she noticed an e-mailed alert about the two stolen horses, forwarded from a friend and fellow member of her local horse club. “I called Linda and said, ‘I’m not sure these are your horses, but based on your description, I think they are.’” The retirement facility’s owners were closest and came by to verify the horses’ identity, called the Sheriff’s department and hauled Duchess and Rose home.

Once under arrest, the thief confessed to stealing the horses and the trailer she hauled them in. Thunstrom is worried that a third horse the girl earlier brought to her stable may also be stolen. The approximately 4-year-old, gray Tennessee Walker mare appears to have been abandoned. Thunstrom says she has tried to no avail to contact the young woman about what to do with this horse. Her boarding agreement stipulates that if a board bill is 30 days past due, the horse can be placed under a lien. Thunstrom has a prospective owner for the horse, but wants to first confirm that she doesn’t belong to somebody else. The Duchess and Rose thief had told boarders the mare came from a trainer Thunstrom knew in Chino Hills, but a call to that trainer didn’t bear that story out.

In addition to her relief at having her horse back, Moeller was delighted to see that Duchess and Rose were well cared for in their absence. They were carefully groomed and the thief had had them wormed. “Rose’s owner and I joked that they came home looking better than when they’d left,” says Moeller.

Once in police custody, the thief explained that she and her accomplice had cut through the chain link fence where Duchess and Rose were pastured. Reportedly, the boyfriend opened the pasture gate from the inside, while the young woman jumped on Duchess bareback, without a halter or bridle, and rode her out of the pasture and some distance down the road to where their trailer was tucked away. Rose apparently chose to follow of her own volition, so they put her in the trailer, too. A single-horse trailer, Moeller relays.

The Sheriff’s Department responded to the case and it was later investigated by the Riverside Police Department. In 24 years with the department, Detective Steve Christensen says he’s only seen a few cases of horse theft. As for preventative measures, he recommends exactly what Moeller had done: “Have photos of your horses and notes of any particular markings, brands, etc.” He acknowledges that such thefts are tough to prevent when horses are stabled in large pastures where they are sometimes out of a caregiver’s sight. Bringing horses in closer to a residence at night is one good preventative measure against this relatively rare crime.

The Detective would not provide the thief’s name or confirm reports that she has several prior felonies. At press time she was awaiting an arraignment date. Her plea will influence the next outcome, but a prison sentence for grand theft, a felony, is a possibility.