Where Is Dreamer's Faith?

She was stolen on, or the day before, Labor Day (7 September 2015).  Two men took her away from her family.  She's a little girl, alone, lonely, and greatly missed.  Is she still alive?  Is she being fed what she needs?  Is she being handled and taught her manners?  Has she already been killed to feed people in Europe and Asia, or is she starving to death in some back alley, desperately wanting food, water, fresh air and freedom?  No one knows. - Except, maybe the two men who took her from her family, and from her home.
   She's a very pretty little girl - a Chincoteague pony, born this past spring.  She is the daughter of Dreamer's Gift and Courtney's Boy.  She was born wild and free on the island of Assateague in the state of Virginia.  Faith was made much of during Pony Penning week because of her unusual markings - and she was one of the foals chosen as a "buy back" by the Pony Committee of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, for breeding purposes, because of her bloodlines and her different markings.  Faith was only four or five months old when she was stolen last month.  She had received a freeze brand reading 15 on her left hip, since that is the year of her birth.
   She was with her sire, Courtney's Boy, several friends of her own age who were also "buy back" foals, and a few mares with foals whose new owners are due to pick them up next weekend, during the Fall Round-up.  This particular small group of horses/ponies were being kept on the CVFC's Carnival Ground corral on Main Street, on Chincoteague.  Two men with a white Chevrolet dually truck and a white horse trailer were seen trying to separate Faith from the rest of the ponies.  No one who saw the men in the corral thought it was strange; our Salt Water Cowboys visit frequently, as does our veterinarian.
   This is the first time in the 90 year history of the Fire Department's owning and selling of the ponies, made famous by Marguerite Henry's Newberry Award winning book Misty of Chincoteague, that a pony has been stolen from either Assateague or Chincoteague Island.  I hope it is the last.  The filly's markings are impossible to mistake.  She is a red (or chestnut) paint.  She has four high white stockings, and the left fore goes up to her elbow.  On her right side is an odd puddle of white that has a chestnut heart shape behind her withers and on her backbone.  On her left side, on her neck, withers, and shoulder is a bird in flight - or a cross made of clouds being blown by the wind.  She has a small star above her wide-set brown eyes in the shape of a backwards comma or apostrophe.  And she has that 15 freeze brand on her left hip.
   There is a REWARD offered.   She is stolen property, and her theft is a felony, considering what was donated to the CVFC for the right to name her.  If you see her, hear about her, or hear about any young horse or pony being kept hidden, please contact your local law enforcement agency - police or sheriff.  The local contact for the Chincoteague Police Department is Corporal Tyler Greenly and his phone number is (757) 336-3155.
   Here are photos of Dreamer's Faith, at one day old, and at 4 months old:

Dreamer's Faith, one day old

 

 Dreamer's Faith, four months old

In this photo, you can see the rectangle on her left hip where the 15 freeze brand was applied.

This and That

Blue skies, a humidity level of 70%, sunshine, and a nice brisk 49 degrees (F) greeted me this morning.  We've had several days of gloomy grey skies, with occasional light rain, and one hail shower.  Since it's now October, we have our apartment door and balcony decorated for Halloween.  Beatrice is getting used to the demands of my cats, and Nedi is playing the "poor pathetic, unloved kitty" to the hilt with her.  Lovey is getting upset with me, at the moment, because she is bound and determined to sit on the keyboard, and I keep blocking her.
   South Carolina is still undergoing flooding rain.  On "my" islands, the Virginia Department of Transportation closed the 175 causeway between Chincoteague  and the mainland for several hours on Sunday afternoon, but it was opened for traffic again Sunday evening.  Due to high fall tides and the northeaster, there was some normal flooding on both Chincoteague and Assateague.  The usual low-lying areas were under water and the normally high and dry areas stayed that way (other than the rain).  On Chincoteague there was minimal damage - but, on Assateague, the parking lots and the beach areas were flooded.  There are wash-outs and sand where there wasn't before.  The ponies and other wildlife had no unusual problems with the storm - they have weathered hundreds of them.  Someone posted a photo of Maddox Blvd/Beach Road from the Hurricane Sandy (2012) flooding on Facebook, and a lot of folks thought it was a current photo....  It wasn't, and the water did not rise that high with this little ol' nor'easter.
  Back in Boulder, Rosie has an acupuncture appointment this morning, so I'll be walking her about 1 this afternoon.  The Dalai Lama has canceled his visit to Boulder due to ill health.  Jane Goodall visited last week and enjoined the 8,700 people in the auditorium to educate other folks about the world's wildlife, and to "Save the prairie dogs!"  Naropa, the Buddhist University here, had just applied for a permit to exterminate all the black-tailed prairie dogs living on the campus...
  I'll be taking care of Finn and Maggie May this up-coming weekend, then I'll be at Lynn's for 6 nights, home for 2, then back at Lynn's for another 4 nights.  Thank goodness the kids love their Auntie Bea!  And she and I spoil them rotten!

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Dreamer's Faith is still missing.  This weanling filly was stolen from the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's Carnival Grounds corral on September 6 or 7, 2015.  There is a reward offered for information leading to her return and the arrest of the thieves.  Please keep your eyes and ears open for news about this red paint pony with a 15 freeze brand on her left hip.

Old Mountain Cemetery

Looking at fall leaf colors yesterday - a lot of green pines and yellow/gold aspen, but very few red or bronze leaves…  I know they don't normally grow where I was driving, but, still…..   (sigh)   I did take a dirt road that I hadn't followed before, and ended up on a big hill over looking Central City - and there was a huge Catholic Cemetery spread all around us.  I know there are over 538 interments there, as I looked it up on the web last night - but most of the monuments that I found fascinating weren't even listed…  There was a concrete log cabin that was four feet high (not counting the chimney), about four feet wide and three feet deep, with the name WALTER spelled out in branches above the door lintel.  At the foot of the grave was a concrete log, with a scroll draped over it, stating this was the resting place of a beloved son, aged 21 years and 7 months, who had died in 1899.  I have got to return with my camera and document these burials….   There were several cement/concrete cast tree boles scattered throughout the cemetery, and I assumed they were markers for members of the Woodmen of the World - but they were not.  Several, in fact, were markers for women, who were "cut down in their prime."  It was a very interesting place.  Several of the old stones, placed in the 1800s were indecipherable, and while I know it is silly, I was distressed how all the heads of the lambs on children's' graves had been knocked off.  The other odd thing is a large apartment or condominium complex that has been built within the past two years that hovers over the cemetery.  It has been built for the workers in the casinos - but the buildings sure don't blend in with the scenery.
   We saw several crows during the drive, one chipmunk and one squirrel, but plenty of livestock.  Oh.  Beatrice went with me.  She hadn't been in a cemetery since the burial of her parents, so she felt strange wandering through this old, forgotten place.  She wasn't creeped out by walking on graves, trying to read the markers, but there were a few folks who had their campers and all-terrain 4-wheelers outside the cemetery fence, who kept giving her long stares.  I realize that African-Americans are a minority in Colorado - but why do people have to stare?  It's ridiculous.
    I found quite a few of the verses on the gravestones to be rather different from the ones I am used to seeing along the coastal areas.  But the views were stupendous, and the colors glorious in the area.  I fell in love with Quartz Valley Ranch - and their horses and donkeys.
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  Please keep your eyes open for Dreamer's Faith. She's been missing for almost 4 weeks now, and the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, the Chincoteague Police Department, and those of us who love the ponies are beginning to worry about her well-being.  Please report any weanling that might be Dreamer's Faith to your local police or Sheriff's offices.  The Chincoteague Police contact number is (757) 336 - 3315.

White Truck & Trailer Sought in Dreamer's Faith Theft

Questioning locals and tourists, the Chincoteague Police Department has determined that a full size white Chevy pick-up truck with dual tires that had a white horse trailer attached was most probably the vehicle tandem used in the theft of Dreamer's Faith.  On the 6th or 7th of September, two men were observed trying to catch a foal at the Main Street Carnival Ground corral.  The white Chevy dually truck and trailer were also seen, as well as a parked electric golf cart.   Late in the afternoon on Labor Day, the 7th, it was noted that the chestnut and white paint filly, named Dreamer's Faith, was no longer with the other ponies in the corral.  Her theft has been covered by television stations, newspapers, on my blog, and on Facebook.   Over 808,000 views have been made on the Facebook site.  I have sent information and photos of the stolen filly to equine veterinarians in Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, and Wyoming.  Faith is easily identifiable by the number 15 freeze brand on her left hip.  These freeze brands are placed only on ponies that are to be kept on Assateague Island in the herds belonging to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company.
   Please keep spreading the word that Dreamer's Faith is stolen and there is a reward (now $1,500) offered.

September Chincoteague Ponies

Middle three - Dreamer's Faith (stolen - reward!), BlingBling, CLG Surfer's Blue Moon

Fire Star and her September foal

Sunrise Ocean Tide (aka Sunny)

Surfer Princess

Sweet Tea and mother, Too Grand

Butterfly Kisses and (under her neck and head) new September foal

Making faces - from left: Goober's butt, Tidewater Princess'colt, Sweet Tea

Wild Chincoteague Pony, Dreamer's Faith, Stolen

STOLEN!  That's right… someone, or some people, had the audacity to steal a 6-month-old Chincoteague pony from the Main Street Carnival Ground corral on Chincoteague Island, Virginia.  As you can see, this little girl has very striking and unusual markings.  The last photo (click on it to enlarge it) shows the shaved square on her left hip where she received her freeze brand.  The freeze brand simply reads 15, as that is the year of her birth.  Her name is Dreamer's Faith.  She was stolen on September 6th or 7th. and could have trucked, trailered, or vanned to just about anywhere in the United States, Canada, or Mexico by this point in time.  

   She is a chestnut paint (or red and white pinto, if you prefer) with a small star, shaped like a  backwards comma or apostrophe above her eyes.  She has four white stockings.  On her right side, she has a white blotch from her withers to her croup,  with a "bleed-over" dot of chestnut from her left side.  On Faith's left side, along her neck, withers and shoulder, ia what can be viewed as a cross, or a dove flying;  she also has her 15 freeze brand on her left hip.
    The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company is offering a reward of $1,000.00 for information that leads to the arrest and capture of the thief (or thieves).  The main investigative law enforcement body is the Chincoteague Police Department, and the person to contact is Corporal Tyler Greenly at  (757) 336-3315.  The spokesperson for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company is Roe Terry, who may be contacted at  (757) 336-3138.  With the lapse of time since Dreamer's Faith original disappearance, she may have been trailered, trucked, or vanned  to almost any point in the UnitedPlease keep your eyes open for this pretty little girl.  And call your local authorities if you see her, or anyone trying to sell her, anywhere….
    Also, many thanks to Deb Iddings Noll for the use of her photos to help identify this stolen horse.