A thief broke into Iowa trainer Joni Nelson’s trailer Saturday night in Denver during the Denver Stock Show. Nelson parked her trailer at the Quality Inn on Pecos Street about two miles from the fairgrounds overnight in order to pack up and leave the next day. On the way home to Iowa, Joni realized her trailer lock was broken and someone had stolen all of their saddles (show and work – western and english), all bridles, and all of the show and work headstalls. Most of these were Blue Ribbon and some Harris items. Several of the show and work saddles and headstalls were brand new purchases from the 2011 Congress.
CLICK HERE to view pictures of the items stolen.
Joni is filing a police report, but please be on the lookout if you see anyone selling these items. Joni and her crew are in the process of pulling serial numbers together. As of right now, Joni and all of the customers have lost everything. It is estimated that over $75,000 worth of tack has been stolen.
“They stole six Blue Ribbon saddles, one Bobs show saddle, one Bates hunt seat saddle, six show headstalls, four hunt seat bridles, and about seven show bits and reins,” Joni told GoHorseShow. “Three show halters were
stolen. Two of them were Kathy’s brand, one of the two has a leather crown with a stamp
of “IQHA 2010” on it with clear stones. The other has blue stones on
it. The other has Dot Porter on the crown in silver. For some reason, they didn’t take the tails, another Bob’s work saddle, and another hunt seat saddle in the trailer. I thought there was security at the hotel and it would be safe, but I guess that wasn’t the case.”
Here
are the serial numbers for saddles. You can find the serial number by looking
under the fender on the left side.
17″ show Blue Ribbon saddle
BR11229
17″ Blue Ribbon work saddle
BR11163
16″ Show Blue Ribbon saddle, silver horn with Blue Ribbon tree, squared corners
BR11284
16″ show Blue Ribbon, Silver horn Dowdy tree
BR05320
16″ leather horn Blue Ribbon tree, diamond pattern conchos
BR08191
16″ Blue Ribbon roughout work saddle
BR11139
Please contact Joni for any information you may have regarding these items at 563-508-5978.