UPDATE–July 2, 2009

Many thanks to all who have offered support and suggestions after the recent burglary.

After cleanup and inventory, our total loss exceeds $400,000 and we are struggling with our insurance carrier to address the problem. The adjusters seem to think we can just stroll down to our local fabric store to replace the stolen materials. We are working to educate them.

Unfortunately, our local police department has been disappointing as well. After a delay of 9 days between the burglary and their detective's initial interview with us, they have been slow to start detectin'.

So, the bad news is our stolen items have not been recovered and our insurance company is not acting like they do in TV commercials.

The good news is we still have lots of beautiful, sensibly-priced show apparel and accessories to help make your summer show season the best ever.

And we have the best people to work with: from our dealers and employees to customers to the horse world at large, this has been a financial tsunami, an emotional roller coaster, but ultimately, a tale about getting past the rough spots because people are mostly wonderful.

With a little humor, you keep going. Our Internet alert about the burglary seemed to lap the world in just a few days, and yielded this humorous message from an unknown (but much appreciated) horseman:

"What a night-mare! I hope they can stirrup the pot and saddle the perpetrators with a bit of time in the mane jail. All you others hoof it over to Hobby Horse and pony up with some extra purchases to help them rein in the losses. If everyone helps it will be a cinch for them to recover."

Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern, and especially to Shannon, our horse-world Angel private investigator. There's always a silver lining, it just takes a while to find it sometimes.

Suzi Vlietstra

Hobby Horse's warehouse in Chino, CA was burglarized on May 23rd and many garments were taken. We still have plenty of inventory and are working with local law enforcement trying to recover what was stolen. Many thanks to all our horse community friends for passing along the word.

We believe the thieves will try to fence our property in large lots; please report any suspicious offers for quantities of Hobby Horse leather chaps and apparel to: suzi@hobbyhorseinc.com

Our trusted employees, who have been with us for many years and feel as angry about this burglary as I do, are closely watching Craigslist, eBay, etc. and horse events around the world to see if large quantities of our products are offered by unknown sellers.

Please do not worry about Hobby Horse products at our Authorized Dealers or offers for individual items on auction or forum sites. Again, thank you for your concern and assistance in this matter.

Suzi V
President