Our Sincerest Condolences Following Devastating Trailer Accident on Way to Congress, Two Champion Horses Euthanized
Tom Robertson and King Coolsified winning Open Yearling Geldings at the 2015 QH Congress.
Everyone at The Equine Chronicle would like to send our sincerest condolences to Team Robertson following a devastating trailer accident that happened yesterday on the way to the All American Quarter Horse Congress.
We had the opportunity to chat with one of Tom Robertson’s clients, Ted Lincoln, who was able to confirm that there was no loss of human life. However, two, two-year-old geldings involved in the accident had to be euthanized onsite.
Initial reports indicate the horses were King Coolsified and Heza Sidewinder, belonging to Keitha Stutzman and Karen Johnson. We send our thoughts and prayers to both Keitha and Karen during this very difficult time.
We remember this lovely interview last year with Keitha, when King Coolsified, aka”Brownie,” was just a yearling and won at the 2015 Congress in the Open division with Tom Robertson, in youth with Keitha’s grandson, Cade Prime, and in amateur with Keitha, herself. Cade also led Brownie to win a Reserve Championship in 2-Year-Old Geldings at the AQHA Youth World Show this year.
Randy Jacobs and Heza Sidewinder, winning Open Weanling Geldings at the 2014 QH Congress.
We also remember chatting with Karen Johnson at the 2014 QH Congress when her then-weanling, Heza Sidewinder, aka “Jackpot,” won Weanling Geldings with Randy Jacobs at the lead. That win marked Karen’s first Congress Championship.
Ted Lincoln did have several horses on one of the Robertson rigs; however, his horses weren’t involved in the accident and arrived at the show grounds in Columbus, Ohio safely last night.
“What happened is they had three rigs,” Lincoln says. “Tom was in the first trailer with my horses, and all three are ok. The third rig had Troy Prime in it, and the rig in between had Keitha Stutzman. For reasons we’re still not sure, the second rig veered off the road into the median. When they tried to jerk it back, the bumper pull trailer jackknifed. The two horses came out of the roof of the trailer. When all was said and done, Keitha was unhurt and she was the only passenger in that rig. There were no human injuries, but it’s still just a huge tragedy.”
Reports of the accident show that the damage was severe, with most of the horse trailer in fragments. “The truck didn’t have anything behind it anymore. All that was there was the flat bed part, that the trailer sits on, which was held to the truck by the tow chains. Everything else disintegrated along the highway, with the horses… They were euthanized on the spot.”
“When the accident happened yesterday, Tom immediately called me. As far as I know, my horses and the others got to the Congress and were settled in late last night.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with Team Robertson following this tragic loss. We are so saddened following the loss of two exceptional horses in Brownie and Jackpot.
