From what I heard, her ex finally managed to get (temporary) full time custody of the son. I’m sure after all this comes to light it might become less than temporary.
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Totally agree. How could he have NOT known what as going on at his property for AGES?
Something else doesn’t smell right here…he doesn’t seem that pissed at the actual people who destroyed his property. Worst he says is “yeah come get your shit”.
Where are all the literal buried bodies here? The property is pretty trashed but it’s obviously been cleaned up somewhat. Why is there NO word from him about the shooting and other horrors here?
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My thoughts, too. I find it offensive that after years of complaints about Hi-Caliber the property owner is just now taking a look at the place and whining publicly about the damage. What? He leased the place out and never thought to check out the condition of the property? The damage done didn’t happen overnight. I have no sympathy. None. They were okay with their tenants up until the money ran dry last spring.
Sheilah
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As a former volunteer from back when they were in their first location in Escondido, I can say with some confidence that they started off doing good things. I always had a weird feeling about her, but I saw horses being rehabbed and rehomed and in the beginning it was fairly legit and transparent. Sometime around the summer of 2016 that changed, there were too many horses to properly care for each of them, the armies of volunteers did what they could, but it was overwhelming and heartbreaking. I would show up and immediately get to work mucking out stalls and doing water buckets as the need was so great. After the Louisiana scam, I aired my misgivings, and stopped volunteering, as I saw the writing on the wall and as an experienced, lifetime horsewoman I walked, as my input was not valued, nor was the input of other experienced and knowledgeable volunteers. It was not sustainable and I said as much only to be ignored and blown off by her.
As for the owner, I feel terrible for him, he did an amazing act of kindness when he leased them the property at WELL below normal rental rates, only to be repaid with a horrific, tragic mess. However, I too feel that he should have been more pro-active in regards to knowing what was going on. It’s been documented for a few years now by Shedrow and others and I am surprised that he did not know the extent of what was going on there. This is not to minimize his loss, there’s a whole bunch of blame to go around, state, federal, county, and most of all M and her crew that KNEW they were destroying the property, but kept stuffing horses on it and expecting the cash cow to keep flowing.
It’s a horrific situation all around, but at least now they are out and the owner can start rehabbing that poor, poor lost bit of paradise. 
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I am bored and on Facebook. Never a good combination. I posted a response to someone posting the property owner’s video rant, questioning why anyone should see him as a full fledged victim in this mess when he dropped the ball on many occasions and the response has been truly frightening. One person even stalked my Facebook account and commented about how it is scary that I am in the profession I am in.
What is the obsession with some people about making this guy a martyr to the Hi-Caliber scam machine? He knowingly continues to rent to her, despite multiple attempts to get him involved in shutting her down. Wha-wha-wah…she evicted his property manager and there was nobody there to over see what she was doing. Wha-wha-wah…it took him months to evict her. Wha-wha-wha…that property was paradise and she has literally shit on it.
Is he not a successful business man? A quick phone call to a lawyer would have given him a clear path forward YEARS ago. The real tragedy in all this is the fact that there is no electricity? Not the scores of horses who passed through those gates, many who never came back out? Oh, and if you can donate some of your labor or materials to help him rebuild, please feel free because CALIFORNIA DID NOTHING TO SHUT HER DOWN!
What the heck?
Sheilah
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How is it possible he did not know? Even if he lived a thousand miles away someone had to have told him. He obviously had the means to go inspect periodically. Why didn’t he? At the very least he could have hired someone locally to go inspect the property.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
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One of his apologists said his on-sight property manager was evicted by the Hi-Caliber grifters, so he had no way of overseeing the property. Let that sink in for a minute. They evicted his employee and he just shrugged and turned the other way.
They are also saying that every time he tried to inspect the property he was blocked by whatever her name is, the Hi-Caliber nutjob. And again he just shrugged and turned away. But some how it is the state’s failure? There is more than enough blame to go around for all the people who enabled her over the years, including this guy.
It is my understanding that he had been contacted by concerned people and he ignored what they had to say.
Sheilah
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I’m sorry the hive jumped on you for having a skeptical mind. This is just another reason why while I try to do small acts of mercy, I will NEVER get involved with a big animal rescue org. Once the $$$ gets to a certain level, shit gets complicated.
So he’s a successful help help/life coach guru type guy,in some circles known as professional bullshitter. I don’t know enough to know the timeline but I have been following Shedrow for over a year, so this has been going on at LEAST that long.
If I’m allowed a bit of creative scenario making…he meets the Hi Caliber people in some sort of way, and over many scotches they imagine a horse rescue/people’s soul rescue type org. Imagine the donations, the ritzy celebrity fund raisers, the tear-pulling Instagram posts with millions of followers. Imagine leveraging that into lifestyle/self-help retreats for the CEO who trades his smartphone for the healing liquid gaze of a horse in pain. $$$$$$$$. Ok Hi Caliber, I’ll lease you my fancy ranch for a song, you build social media following and rescue a few horses, the more pathetic the better. Then we will cross pollinate and rake in some real money, errr tax exempt donations.
Fast forward…things going great. Lots of scraggly nags, LOTS of money pouring in. Good social media branding. We have amassed our VILLAGE. Money is now filtered through some charitable foundations, don’t mind if property owner takes a nice salary for administration or whatnot, and some fat write offs for the property.
Months later, that’s a FEW too many horses but hey money is good.
Ok regulators are are starting to take notice. You need to clean this place up and keep X number of horses, no more.
And the rest we know from shedrow.
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I too thought it was strange that it took THIS long for him to get them out of there. If I were him I would have began the process immediately! His blaming of county & state services is a little much.
I do hope he’s able to recoup, sue M & R, and restore his property.
This has been very interesting to follow.
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Are we sure he wasn’t trying to evict all this time, that process can take quite a while after all.
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It does not take years to evict someone, not even in renter-friendly California. By his own rant on Facebook it took seven months. But people have been contacting him for years, and he ignored it.
Sheilah
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That may be, but I have no idea what he did or didn’t know, do, etc… And regardless, what this woman and her minions did isn’t his fault. As you say, many, including authorities, were alerted, and did nothing.
Also, I find this situation at HC and the recent threads grousing about hyper stringent rescue adoption contracts interesting.
This woman and the neglect and abuse she brought these animals is exactly why legitimate rescues have these annoying, picky contracts… because people like this are out there.
I know if my choices are jumping through hoops or seeing incidents like this, I will choose hoops, every time.
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Of course she is operating under a new name! That is what grifters do!
Sheilah
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The TV news report says the new name used by the HiCaliber founder is Alpha Mare.
I found this site, which sounds a bit… well… cult-like ala Jim Jones ‘drink the Kool-Aid’… http://www.followalphamare.com/signup
i just heard she is back and rebranded as AlphaMareVillage on FB. Anyone confirm?
Yes, Alphamare Village is Michelle Knutilla. She is no longer trying to do a 501c3, it’s just straight up donations for her and “her” horses. Apparently getting a job hasn’t occurred to her yet.
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luvmytbs, I messaged you 
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“She and her husband called it the Pura Vida Ranch and lived there for 6 years before moving to Nevada. They wanted to make a difference and rented the property not to a bed and breakfast, or AirBnB, but to HiCaliber, hoping the property would be a horse rehabilitation center and special education enrichment facility.”
HA I called it.
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It might be over for High Caliber, but Michelle still has other animals. She still has her villagers supporting and defending her. She will try to reinvent herself and resume scamming people. She has said in her live videos that she will always “help” animals. I hope eyes will stay on her, and the authorities will do their job and not let her get off easy.
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Wow, Her new alpha mare website reads as a women’s empowerment page. Women helping women and animals. I feel sorry for women joining that page looking for any kind of real help. Its a place for co-dependents and enablers. The only help Michelle can give is draining them of their money.
I hope the village remembers there can be only one alpha mare in the herd. Live by her rules or face the pinny ears, bitey kicky alpha who doesn’t give a shit about you or your troubles.
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