Collett has talked to people at auction markets and meat plants in her search for the missing animal. She said the horse has more sentimental than retail value. Because so many horses have been stolen, neighbors are looking suspiciously at each other, she said. Everybody is starting to turn on everybody. Lapointe said police have few clues.
People sometimes wait until they drive home to report a suspicious vehicle.
Some have even waited a day or a week before phoning police. Call right away and follow. Lapointe suspects the horses are being sold across the Prairies at meat markets or as quiet horses for children, which may prove to be the thieves' mistake. Stealing a horse isn't like stealing an all-terrain vehicle, he said. People become attached to their horses and will go to great lengths to recover them.