More Than $70,000 Of Horse Gear Stolen From Woman's Trailer

DENVER (CBS4) - A thief has rustled thousands of dollars worth of horse gear from a National Western Stock Show visitor in a Denver hotel parking lot.

The victim, Joni Nelson, had been in town for events leading up to the show. She thinks someone broke into her trailer at the Quality Inn on 48th Avenue near the Mousetrap.

Nelson says expensive horse saddles, bridles and other equipment were stolen from her horse trailer. She was in town for two of the horse shows at the stock show.

Nelson says on her trip back home she noticed something was wrong with one of the latches on her trailer. When she opened it up, she saw that everything was gone.

"It was so devastating. It wasn't so much the stuff's gone; it's all that hard work and your money that you put in to this stuff," Nelson said.

The estimated cost of the stolen items is between $75,000 and $80,000.

"It was probably one of the ugliest, darkest feelings I have ever had in my life," Nelson said. "My heart just sank."

Nelson has filed a police report and is hoping the hotel's surveillance cameras picked up something. She says the horse world is small and the stolen items will soon turn up along with the thieves.

"They will eventually be found and they will have a price to pay," she said.

The hotel said they have two security guards on hand but recommend always bringing valuables inside.