Problem Solvers: La Pine family searches for their missing pony after lease takes troubling turn
Jillian Fortner
(Update: Adding video)
LA PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) – La Pine resident Katherine Rozelle just wants to bring her daughter’s pony home.
The pony, Sam, is a Welsh-Arabian mare with black-and-pink mottled skin that’s especially visible during the summer.
Rozelle told the Problem Solvers she leased out the pony, Sam, several times after her daughter outgrew riding her. Leasing seemed like a way to keep Sam active and cared for. She never imagined it would lead to the pony disappearing.
“This is why people don’t lease out their horses. It’s because of horror stories like this,” Rozelle said.
Here’s the details – and you can watch our Problem Solvers report Thursday night on KTVZ News at 6:00 p.m.
In November 2022, Rozelle made a verbal agreement to lease Sam to a man named Phillip Metcalf, who was living on his aunt’s property in Redmond at the time.
“I reached out to the phone number I had for him,” Rozelle recalled. “Someone answered and said, ‘This isn’t his number any more, but I get a lot of messages looking for him.’”
Rozelle filed a report with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and hired a private investigator to help with the search.
“The second I typed Phillip Metcalf’s name into Google, all these articles started coming up,” said investigator Kurt Van Meter.
Van Meter believes this may be part of a larger pattern.
One Facebook post from 2020 warns a horse group not to buy or sell to Metcalf.
A user writes, “This man buys horses under one name and sells them under another. He is basically a well-known criminal in Central Oregon.”
Private investigator Kurt Van Meter says Metcalf’s pattern is to lease horses from owners, host an auction, and then sell those horses without returning them.
Equine attorney Catherine Hall says verbal agreements are common, but risky.
“A lot of horse people tend to be very trusting of their fellow horse person,” said Hall. “The perception tends to be that by making somebody write it down, that somehow that automatically means that they don’t trust them.”
She says these types of cases are treated as civil disputes, not criminal theft, unless there’s proof the horse was taken intentionally.
Hall encourages horse owners to document every agreement, and to use services like NetPosse to track missing animals.
“Once it leaves your property, there’s no guarantee you’ll see it again,” Hall said.
Both Van Meter and the Problem Solvers have attempted to contact Metcalf, but haven’t heard back.
“It’s important to note that whoever has the horse isn’t in trouble,” Van Meter added.
Rozelle continues to hold out hope for Sam’s return.
If you have any information about Sam’s whereabouts, please contact the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. You can also reach out to the family’s private investigator at KurtVanMeter@yahoo.com.