Sarah Dafler said she has always been a horse person – that she was on a horse before she could sit up on her own. She said she’s owned a lot of horses in her life, but described JD as “the horse” for her.
Sarah said she acquired JD because he was too much for the previous owner – and was worried that might be the case for her too – but when he walked up to her in the pasture that very first time and put his head on her shoulder, she was hooked.
Sixteen years worth of exploring, competitive trail riding, drill team, parades, gaming, jumping with JD and Sarah is still hooked. But unfortunately, the unregistered 24-year old Arabian gelding with a star and snip and white sock on his right hind leg is currently missing – suspected stolen from his Snoqualmie home.
On July 11, 2015 Sarah headed off on a Mexican vacation. It was posted on Facebook that she was leaving town with her best friend. On Monday, July 13th around 4PM, JD was in the lower pasture of their home near Tokul Road, where the Snoqualmie Valley Trail dead ends. Sarah said her dad told JD to head to the pasture and “go eat grass” after he kept playfully knocking over water buckets when her dad was trying to wash his trailer.
Around 5PM, he went to find the horse she describes as extremely smart and as “speaking english.” Sarah explained that JD knows when it’s dinnertime and usually comes up to the carport, parking himself there while waiting to be fed. She said he knows when it’s dinnertime, but this time he didn’t show up.
Sarah said JD knows their property, that he never would have left – especially not at dinnertime. Her father said heard their other horse whinny before going to look for JD – and if JD had been chased off by a cougar or another critter (which he’s encountered before), the other horses would’ve been running around.
She stated, “The fact that they were whinnying is exactly what they would have done if JD had been led away.”
Sarah flew home from Mexico the next day to search for her beloved horse. She explained there were no signs of distress. Family and friends scoured every inch of the surrounding area; reported the incident to the sheriff; talked to City Police; talked to neighbors; talked to nearby businesses; talked to construction workers; and flooded Facebook with pictures, imploring people who may have seen anything to contact her.
A couple of people saw a white horse trailer parked on the side of Tokul Road near an electric station the day JD went missing. So Sarah and some friends went and retraced the steps someone might have taken if they were loading JD into the trailer spotted near the property. Sarah said as JD is an older horse, he has trouble processing hay/grass and chokes and spits up big gobs as a result. She said they followed “gobs” along the trail that led to where that trailer was reportedly parked.
It’s been 10 days, but Sarah is still hopeful – hopeful that someone out there saw a horse being led or that someone will notice a horse in a pasture that wasn’t there the day or week before.
Sarah said she contacted all the local horse auctions, kill pens, numerous equine vets, horse shoers and feed stores she could find. And she’s still taking to social media with pictures and posters… just hoping to produce a lead so she can get her “sweet JD” back.
More information is available on the Facebook page dedicated to Finding JD. Good Luck, Sarah.
