The Serendipity Seven are back home.
But the story of the six horses and a mule who broke loose from their pen in rural Ringgold, and subsequent efforts by local horse lovers to protect them, sparked intense debate about horse care — and whether the Serendipity Seven received the care they needed.
The herd was spotted March 29 roaming properties in Catoosa County. The Catoosa Sheriff’s deputies began searching for their rightful owner when local horse lovers set out to cage the unruly animals to prevent them from getting lost or injured.
They were rounded up and taken to Serendipity Farm and Rescue, but Serendipity management were reluctant to return the animals to the owner as they viewed this as neglect. After ownership was proven by a series of photos growing up of the youngest members of the herd, Serendipity staff relented and the herd was returned to owner Mike Teague.
Vicki Wigington, a horse trainer and member of the Ringgold horse community, said Teague was a nice man and a good Christian who just found himself in a difficult situation.
She said she understood Teague’s situation: he had health issues and his children were grown and moved out, but he still wanted to keep the flock, which reminds him of his daughter, who was tragically killed while walking near his property .
Wigington said every horse has its own personality, and the relationship between a horse and its owner is as deep and complex as that one would have with a significant other. They’re around 800 pounds, muscular and beautiful with the potential to be both shy and brave, and she said horses are just kind and trusting when they allow us to ride them.
This is a bond horse that people don’t take lightly, and Wigington said it explains why the community has stepped up to help the Teague family. She also knows that horses require a lot of attention and are expensive to care for.
“And we said, ‘Well, you just have to ask. In our equine community, we all help each other — we try anyway,” she said. “We were all ready and there’s a bunch of us. I’m a trainer, several others are trainers and a lot of people who have had horses all their lives…we’re all willing to go there and put in the effort to help him keep his horses.”
The horses aren’t in terrible shape, Wigington said – their ribs are a little visible coming in from the winter, but that’s not unusual or unhealthy.
(READ MORE: Roaming Horses in Ringgold spotlights animal care challenges and changing times)
In a telephone interview, Teague pushed back on the idea that his horses were being neglected. He said he feeds and checks them every day and cannot take care of their hooves due to his own medical condition and another illness in his family. He said he has owned horses for 25 years and has worked with cattle his entire life.
Serendipity founder Tonja Wilkes told the Times Free Press last week that the horses needed help, citing problems with their teeth and hooves and also said they were underweight. A report from the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office states that she was reluctant to return the horses to Teague for this reason.
On its website, Serendipity says its vision is to provide a sanctuary for slaughter horses “to provide a second chance to both them and to members of the community who are facing a variety of needs,” with a focus on women in recovery located. In a phone interview, Wilkes said she believes horses have the power to heal.
Teague also said his horses had been out twice in the past five years. Both times they were nearby, in the woods behind the fence or in a small subdivision just beyond. “I always just took a bucket and brought them home,” he said.
On March 29, when he saw the horses missing, he searched near his home well after sunset. The next day he unsuccessfully walked the property lines of neighbors and nearby woods within about 5 miles – then his nephew learned online the horses had been found and taken to nearby Serendipity Farm and Rescue.
photo gallery
Ringgold horses brought home
View 10 photos
According to John Pless, Catoosa County’s public information officer, no complaint of animal cruelty has been filed with the county. According to Pless, residents can contact their counties if they suspect animal abuse or contact the Georgia Department of Agriculture directly.
“It’s interesting that state law requires sheriffs to be called and installed [loose domestic animals] somewhere safe and then try to locate the owners,” Pless said.
If an investigation is needed, the Department of Agriculture should be called, and Pless said the Department has a dedicated phone number for dealing with problems with horses. Issues with pets like dogs and cats are handled by Catoosa County Animal Control, he said.
A concerned resident could have filed a complaint with the state, Pless said, but officials with the Georgia Department of Agriculture didn’t respond to multiple requests for information before Friday’s deadline.
Like many in the area, horse lover Vicki Scoggins has been following the controversy on social media. She became interested in horses through books like Black Beauty and The Black Stallion, television shows and movies like Flicka.
Growing up, “horses were on my mind all the time. It’s just in my blood!” She wrote in a text message. “I think they represent power, strength and freedom to me!”
Everyone involved with horses has a different opinion on the definition of neglect, but she said she doesn’t have strong opinions on the case.
There have been serious cases of horse neglect that Scoggins has reported to the state, but getting officials to act is difficult.
(READ MORE: Catoosa County Animal Control shelter ends adoption Saturday)
Even though the horses are home, Teague said his wife and daughter are still angry at Serendipity staff. Teague admitted staff and parishioners “worked their ass off” rounding up his horses, but said when he, his wife and nephew, who has a broken leg, first came to the rescue on April 2 be to pick up the animals, nobody helped. So they ended up having to leave with just one horse, the eldest, he said.
Wilkes said in a phone interview that she had to come to her daughter’s wedding that day. She said money raised online for her rescue organization as a result of the Serendipity Seven situation will be deducted from what the rescue charges the Teagues for boarding the horses. Wigington and Wilkes have had an argument online, and Wigington said she wishes Wilkes could be less judgmental and hear Teague’s side of the story.
On Monday, Teague said he had about a dozen people willing to come out and help transport the animals home, but the farm’s management initially wouldn’t let them onto the property. Ultimately, however, with the help of Serendipity’s staff and his surviving daughter, they collected the horses and returned them to his property later that day.
“She [the horses] will come to her [Teague’s daughter] better than anyone else on the planet. In just a short time she was able to get them into the barn for us to load,” he said.
In the end, the horses were returned home and Teague said he learned a lot through the process. Teague has an appointment this week for a vet to visit his property for a health check, but he said he knows his horses and thinks they are healthy.
Many in the equine community have offered to help the Teauges, and he said they are grateful for the offers. People from Serendipity have also offered to help, but Teague said the family would rather work with others in the community if they need anything. The next task is to work on the horses’ hooves, which he has identified as needing care. They will also run some tests.
“I’m getting my horses back and they’re attached to my late daughter…” Teague said, trying to find the right words amid his grief and the importance of horses to him and his family. “They’re not just cattle.”
Kimberly Teague Dotson, his daughter, was killed six years ago while taking an evening stroll down her cul-de-sac. She just moved home two months ago, Teague said. An impaired driver, drunk and on heroin, hit her at 50 miles an hour, Teague said, dragging her body 160 feet under his truck before she was thrown out and came to rest between her driveway and her mailbox.
“You never get over it, but you learn to live,” Teague said.
The horses are a living memory of his daughter, he said.
Teague said his horse Duke, a stud farmer, was born exactly one year to the day after his daughter’s death on June 30, 2016.
“And then I had a colt around the same time every year for the next four years,” he said.
The horses are forever a memory of his late daughter, Teague said.
None of his horses have been ridden since 2016, but Teague said they are very friendly. If you go to the fence and whistle, he said, they’ll come running. He wasn’t surprised that the horses were difficult to round up, as only one of them has ever left his 30-acre farm in his entire life.
It took a while, but Teague said the animals finally calmed down after the ordeal.
Despite some issues, Teague thinks they are a good working weight for horses and has discussed riding two of them in junior rodeo. He and the rodeo organizers find that they are the right height and weight for this.
A medical condition prevented his daughter Kimberly from barrel racing, but it was something she always wanted to do, Teague said.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.
