‘Our family’s back together’: owners’ joy as stolen Shetland comes home
The delighted owner of a 25-year-old Shetland who was stolen nearly two weeks ago said she is “overwhelmed” by the public’s support and help in finding her.
Whisper was brought back to her home in Kent yesterday (8 March) and owner Julie Sinclair said she “can’t explain” how much it means to have her back.
“The best feeling was going to the yard this morning and seeing her little face over the stable door,” she told H&H. “I’ve missed that so much.”
Whisper was taken from that same stable overnight on 24-25 February and Mrs Sinclair, her daughter Yasmin and friends have been searching ever since.
Yasmin was at home yesterday when the phone rang.
“Someone said they’d found a pony by the side of the road and my daughter asked them to send a photo as we’ve had a few calls from people saying they’d found her and it wasn’t – but it was her.
“My daughter rang me and said: ‘You’ve got to come home, we’ve found her.’”
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The girls who made the phone call had found Whisper wandering in a road in Swanley. A friend of the Sinclairs’ hitched up her trailer and they collected her straight away.
“As soon as I saw her, I was out of the car and running,” Mrs Sinclair said.
“My daughter was the same, we were overjoyed.
“Whisper didn’t have her rug on; she had lost some weight and seemed a bit quiet and depressed; we don’t know what had been happening to her. But when we got home, we took her over to the others and she did this deep whinny.
“They all greeted her, then they all galloped off like mad things.”
Mrs Sinclair believes Whisper had been kept inside, as she was “not clean but not dirty either”, and that the publicity around the theft contributed to Whisper’s return.
“When we went to collect her, the police were there too,” she said. “Someone had recognised her and phoned them. Even the policewoman, who isn’t horsey, knew about her.
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- ‘Our lives are on hold’: appeal for help after Shetland stolen from stable
- Joy as stolen horse is found
- Stolen Munnings found 13 years on
“I’m so overwhelmed with all the support and help we’ve had. We wouldn’t have done it without everyone sharing the pictures; I’ve got so much faith in the human race again.
“It’s absolutely amazing; our family is back together.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.