34 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren R. Giannini
In 1997, Harold and Debi Metcalfe discovered that their spotted
racking horse Idaho had been stolen out of the pasture via a cut
fence line bordering a dirt road. Debi taught herself how to use
the relatively young Internet to send out what she called the Idaho
Alert. Over time, the press picked up the story, coining a clever
nickname – “NetPosse” – to describe all the people who joined
the Internet based community of volunteers united by the single-
minded intention to fnd the stolen horse.
The “Idaho Alert System” enjoyed the happiest of endings: 51
weeks later, in September 1998, the mare was recovered and
returned to her overjoyed people. That marked the birth of Stolen
Horse International Idaho Alerts: a digital fyer that provides
pictures of the missing equine, detailed description and other key
information that might help in its recovery.
In 2010, the Metcalfes made the tough love decision to change
Idaho Alert, named in honor of their spotted mare, to NetPosse.
com Alert. The new name branded the 501(c)3 non-proft as a
global partnership.
Approximately 42-52% of the horses reported missing annually
have been found through NetPosse. In July, a virtually miraculous
recovery took place, nearly 10 years after the theft of Sultan’s
Grand Opus (Opie). In March of 2003, Opie’s owner, Michelle
Pool, fled a report in San Antonio, Texas that her fve-year-old
spotted American Saddlebred had been stolen out of her father’s
pasture. Michelle also reported Opie’s theft to Stolen Horse
International and the alert went out to thousands of NetPosse
volunteers, who forwarded the alert to thousands more. The horse
vanished without a trace – until last July when a tipster contacted
Stolen Horse International about an ad on Craigslist, prompting
Debi to put NetPosse into action.
“People have no idea what we do,” said Debi. “We have
volunteers around the country and they will ride fence lines and
drive up and down roads, looking into pastures. They pose as
buyers to see if the horse is there. All of this is volunteer – nobody
gets any money for this. I don’t get paid for what I do and I put
50-70 hours a week into NetPosse. It’s called paying it forward
and it started because so many people helped me when Idaho
was stolen. It was symbolic, having my horse returned to me in a
church parking lot. I say my prayers every night.”
The reunion of Opie and Michelle was emotional, to say the
least. But the years of distress and pain, anger and fear for your
horse’s life mark you in subtle ways. Harking back to that fateful
day in 1997 when they realized that Idaho had been stolen and
they were beside themselves with worry, Debi recalled clearly how
her husband Harold peeked in at their children and whispered,
“Thank God it wasn’t one of our kids.”
“But you know, when it happens to you, you feel as if your child
Idaho is now 27 and lives the good life with Debi and Harold. Debi recalls her emotions when Idaho was stolen: “It’s a horrible feeling
– that a creature you know, love and care for has been stolen out of the safety of your pasture…”
Photo by Sean Lyon
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