Jefferson County couple hoping for return of missing therapy horse

Jefferson County couple hoping for return of missing therapy horse

21 July 2016

Cooper4990.jpg

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on July 21, 2016: JEFFERSON COUNTY • It's been a bad 11 days for Mark Lenz of Cedar Hill since his therapy horse, Cooper, went missing from his family's pasture in north Jefferson County.

Lenz said he and his 12-year-old Palomino Missouri Fox Trotter horse had a special bond from the day the family took Cooper in 10 years ago. But after a near-fatal car accident in September 2014 crushed Lenz's legs and left him unable to even stand for more than a year, Cooper was crucial to his ongoing recovery. 

"Riding with him didn't just help rebuild the strength in my legs, it brought me out of a deep depression," he said. "My whole mental attitude was changed." 

Lenz said doctors initially wanted to amputate his legs after he kept contracting gangrene because of the crushed capillaries in his legs. Lenz resisted, buying special stirrups to help him ride with Cooper. Now he's able to stand and use a cane. 

Cooper would come to Lenz's bedside window to greet him and was patient with him as he struggled to regain control of his legs. The horse would even kneel down to make it easier for Lenz to mount.

"I trust my 2-year-old around him, he's just that docile," he said. 

Lenz's wife, Suzanne Lenz, received a call from a neighbor around 7 a.m. July 11 asking if one of the family's six horses had gotten out of their pasture. The neighbor said she had tried to get ahold of the horse but it had run away. She sent the Lenzes a photo — it was Cooper. 

Mark Lenz found nothing was out of the ordinary at the pasture. The fence was intact and the heavy gate was shut. The couple found no footprints and don't suspect foul play. 

Mark Lenz said residents of the area often fish at the three-acre lake on the family's property, and he believes someone may have accidentally left the gate open and Cooper slipped out. 

The couple have put hundreds of miles on their vehicles searching rural areas for Cooper. They've gone door-to-door and posted more than 200 fliers. 

Mark Lenz said he's gained weight and lost sleep since Cooper went missing. 

"I'm not afraid to say I've cried over him," he said. "I stayed up for 35 hours looking for him that first night. I'm just devastated."

Suzanne Lenz described Cooper as a gentle, golden-blond horse with a white mane.

"He's just beautiful," Suzanne Lenz said. "Big, but so sweet."

The couple believes Cooper is still within a two-mile radius of their pasture about half an hour's drive southwest of Fenton and is offering a reward for anyone who returns the horse. They  set up a website with Stolen Horse International, a nonprofit that helps locate missing horses, with more details. 

Resource: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nassim Benchaabane, http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/jefferson-county-couple-hoping-for-return-of-missing-therapy-horse/article_27851779-43e3-526d-929a-859875660ed6.html

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