The Serendipity Seven are back home.
But the story of the six horses and a mule that got loose from their enclosure in rural Ringgold and the subsequent effort by area horse lovers to protect them sparked an intense debate about horse care - and if the Serendipity Seven were getting the care they needed.
The herd was spotted roaming through properties in Catoosa County on March 29. Catoosa sheriff's deputies began looking for their rightful owner, as area horse lovers set out to corral the wayward animals to prevent them from getting lost or hurt.
They were rounded up and taken to Serendipity Farm and Rescue, but Serendipity management was hesitant to return the animals to the owner due to what they saw as neglect. Once ownership was proven through a series of photographs depicting the herd's youngest members growing up, Serendipity staff relented, and the herd was returned to owner Mike Teague.
Vicki Wigington, a horse trainer and member of the horse community in Ringgold, said Teague is a nice man and good Christian who is simply in a tough spot.
She said she understands Teague's situation: He'd had health issues and his children had grown up and moved out, but he still wanted to keep the herd that reminds him of his daughter, who was tragically killed on a walk 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 what one would have with a significant other. They're 800 or so pounds of muscle and beauty with the potential to be both skittish and brave, and she said horses are simply being kind and trusting by allowing us to ride them.
This is a bond horse people don't take lightly, and Wigington said it explains why the community has stepped up to help the Teague family. She also knows horses demand a lot of attention and are expensive to maintain.
"And we said, 'Well, all's you gotta do is ask. In our horse community, we all help each other - we try to anyway." she said. "We were all willing and there's a bunch of us. I'm a trainer, several others are trainers, and a lot of people who've had horses all their lives ... we're all willing to go over there and put forth the effort to help him keep his horses."
The horses aren't in terrible shape, Wigington said - their ribs are a little visible coming out of winter, but that's not uncommon or unhealthy.
(READ MORE: Roaming horses in Ringgold spotlight challenges of animal care, changing times)
In a phone interview, Teague pushed back on the idea that his horses were neglected. He said he feeds and checks on them every day and that he hasn't been able to tend to their hooves because of his own medical condition and another illness in his family. He said he's owned horses for 25 years and worked with livestock all his life.
Serendipity founder Tonja Wilkes told the Times Free Press last week that the horses needed help, pointing to problems with their teeth and hooves and also saying that they were underweight. A Catoosa County Sheriff's Office report said that because of that, she was hesitant to return the horses to Teague.
On its website, Serendipity says its vision is to provide a refuge for slaughter-bound horses, "providing a second chance for both them and the members of the community who are facing a variety of hardships," focusing on women in recovery. In a phone interview, Wilkes said she believes horses have the power to heal.
In the past five years, Teague said his horses have been out two times besides this. Both times they've been nearby, in the woods behind the fence or in a little subdivision just beyond that. "I've always just took a bucket and walked 'em home," he said.
When he saw the horses were missing on March 29, he searched near his home until long after sunset. The next day, he walked property lines of neighbors and nearby woods in about a 5-mile radius with no luck - then his nephew learned online that the horses had been found and were taken to nearby Serendipity Farm and Rescue.
There's no complaint about animal cruelty on file with the county, according to John Pless, the public information officer for Catoosa County. Pless said residents can contact their counties if they suspect animal abuse, or can contact the Georgia Department of Agriculture directly.
"It's interesting that state law does specify sheriffs be called out and put them [loose domestic animals] in a safe place and then attempt 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 specific phone number for dealing with issues involving horses. Issues with domestic animals 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 at the Georgia Department of Agriculture did not respond to several requests for information before deadline Friday.
Like many in the area, horse enthusiast Vicki Scoggins has been following the controversy through social media. She became interested in horses through books like "Black Beauty" and "The Black Stallion," television shows, and movies like "Flicka."
Growing up, "I had horses on my mind all the time. It's just in my blood!" she wrote in a text message. "I believe to me they represent power, strength and freedom!"
Everybody who deals with horses has a different opinion on the definition of neglect, but she said she didn't have a strong opinion on this case.
There have been severe cases of horse neglect that Scoggins said she reported to the state, but it's difficult to get officials to take action.
(READ MORE: Catoosa County Animal Control shelter ends Saturday adoption)
Even though the horses are home, Teague said his wife and daughter are still angry with Serendipity's staff. Teague admitted the staff and community members "worked their butts off" to help round up his horses, but said the first time he, his wife and nephew, who has a broken leg, came to the rescue to pick up the animals on April 2, no one there helped. So they eventually had to leave with only one horse, the oldest one, he said.
Wilkes said in a phone interview that she had to attend the wedding of her daughter on that day. She said the money raised online for her rescue organization as a result of the Serendipity Seven situation is being deducted from what the rescue is charging the Teagues for boarding the horses. Wigington and Wilkes have clashed 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 ready to come out and help transport the animals home, but the farm's management wouldn't let them on the property at first. Ultimately, however, with the help of Serendipity's staff and his surviving daughter, they rounded up the horses and returned them to his property later that day.
"They [the horses] will come to her [Teague's daughter] better than anybody on the planet. In just a little while, she was able to get 'em in the barn so we could load them," he said.
In the end, the horses were returned home and Teague said he's learned a lot through the procless. Teague has an appointment for a veterinarian to visit his property this week for a wellness check, but he said he knows his horses and thinks they're healthy.
Many in the horse community have offered help to the Teauges, and he said they're thankful for the offers. People from Serendipity have also offered 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 acknowledged need care. They'll also conduct a few tests.
"Me getting my horses back and them being attached to my daughter that's deceased ... " said Teague, trying to find the right words amid thoughts about his grief and what the horses mean to him and his family. "They're not just livestock."
Kimberly Teague Dotson, his daughter, was killed six years ago during an evening walk down their dead-end road. She had just moved home two months prior, Teague said. An impaired driver, drunk and high on heroin, hit her at 50 miles per hour, Teague said, dragging her body under his truck for 160 feet before she was thrown clear, coming to rest between their driveway and mailbox.
"You never get over that, but you learn to live," Teague said.
The horses are a living reminder of his daughter, he said.
Teague said his horse, Duke, a stud, was born exactly a year to the day after his daughter's death on June 30, 2016.
"And then every year the next four years about that same time, I had a colt," he said.
The horses are forever a reminder of his deceased daughter, Teague said.
None of his horses have been ridden since 2016, but Teague said they're very friendly. If you go up to the fence and whistle, he said, they'll come running. He wasn't surprised the horses were hard to round up, because only one of them has ever been off his nearly 30-acre farm in their entire lives.
It took a while, But Teague said the animals have finally calmed down after the ordeal.
Despite a few issues, Teague thinks they're good working weight for horses, and he's been discussing letting two of them be ridden in junior rodeo. They're the right size and weight for that, both he and the rodeo organizers think.
A medical condition prevented his daughter Kimberly from barrel racing, but it's something she always wanted to do, Teague said.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.