Owner’s desperate appeal after horse and pony stolen
An urgent appeal has been made after a horse and pony have been stolen from a field.
Barney, a 15.2hh piebald cob and Toby, a 14hh black cob went missing from a field in The Lakes, New Road in Bishop’s Waltham, on 19 November.
Kathryn Golightly, who leases the land with Barney and Toby’s owner Natalie Inkpin, discovered they were gone at 2.30pm.
Kathryn told H&H: “I have been caring for Barney and Toby for the past two years. My own horses are on a track system which surrounds Barney and Toby’s paddock but they were the only ones taken. Someone has had to walk through my horses to get to them.
“We found electric fence handles on the floor but we can’t see any wire that has been cut and no fencing has been broken. The gates have a combination padlock and only Natalie and her husband, and my partner and I know the combination. It’s like they have vanished.”
Kathryn said Barney suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and has to be fed haylage as he cannot have hay.
“Barney is on a really strict diet. He struggles with his weight and sweats a lot, we are supposed to be getting him tested for PPID and equine metabolic syndrome,” she said.
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“If someone feeds him the wrong diet he could die. Even putting a lightweight rug on him would cause him to sweat up.
Kathryn has been distributing posters in the hope someone has information.
“In the posters we’ve put information about Barney’s condition. I just hope if someone has them and sees the posters they give him the correct care,” said Kathryn.
“I’ve never been through something like this in my life – I’ve not been sleeping since it happened. I love Barney and Toby like they’re my own. I’m terrified of being at the yard alone in case someone comes back and my daughter is frightened her pony will be taken.”
A spokesman for Hampshire Police said: “We are appealing for witnesses or information relating to the theft of two horses stolen from a paddock in Bishop’s Waltham. The theft is believed to have occurred from a field in The Lakes, New Road between 11.30am and 3pm on November 19.
The spokesman said a separate incident of an attempted theft of a horse from a paddock in Hill Rise, Meonstroke has also been reported.
“The owner reported that someone had broken into the paddock overnight by causing damage to electric fencing. She had attended to the 14-year-old piebald cob horse at 5.30pm on November 21.
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“When she returned at 7am the following day, the horse was wearing a headcollar that had been placed on it since she had last seen the animal. The collar had been stored in a shelter in the field.
“The owner believes the suspect(s) had damaged the fence with the intention of leading her horse away but potentially were distracted and made off empty handed.
The police are linking the two incidents.
Anyone with information should contact Hampshire Police on 101 quoting reference 44180434698.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.