Thief steals tack from T.H.E. Center

ON LOAN: Volunteer had lent saddles, bridles to Hemet charity, which offers therapeutic riding.

By CHARLES HAND/The Valley Chronicle

In 25 years, no one has stolen a thing from the T.H.E. Center tack room.

Until now.

Someone walked off with about $5,000 worth of saddles, bridles, and other riding paraphernalia, most of it the property of people who volunteer there, Feb. 3.

Among the things stolen were a saddle, breast collar, and show halter belonging to the children of program director Sonya Haffner and on loan to the program.

T.H.E. Center conducts therapeutic rides at its stables on Girard Street just south of the Hemet city limits.

Its clients include emotionally and physically impaired riders, most of them youngsters, but a few of them adults.

Haffner said that, while all of the equipment was important to the program, the loss of several pieces of trophy gear won by her children, particularly one of the saddles, which her son, Cody, won in a speed contest against older youngsters was most painful.

He loaned the saddle and other trophy pieces to T.H.E. Center because the program is run on a shoestring and cannot afford to buy it, said Nancy Bradshaw, a member of T.H.E. Center board of directors and a volunteer.

“That was his pride and joy,” Bradshaw said of Cody's saddle.

Haffner said she believes the thieves entered the property while no one was there by climbing a section of the chain link fence that surrounds it. A portion of that fence was bent over, she said.

Though police have no clue to the identity of the thieves, Haffner said, “I think (the thieves) are clueless.” The stolen property, much of it, can be neither sold nor used publicly because it is so easy to identify, she said.

“It could be in Mexico by now,” Haffner said.

Haffner said officers investigating the theft told her they could get neither fingerprints nor footprints in the dusty atmosphere of the tack room.

She and Bradshaw have distributed news of the theft, along with photos and descriptions of the missing equipment, by sending out e-mails, putting up posters, and otherwise spreading the word.

The theft will not stop the class sessions.

Bradshaw said the rides, which are conducted on outdoor tracks, had to be suspended during the rain and that was interruption enough.

Classes will be conducted using what remains of the program's equipment and some clients can ride bareback.

Anyone with information regarding the theft can contact the Riverside County Sheriff's Department at 791-3400 or T.H.E. Center at 658-7790.