Thieves steal WOW tack worth £7,500 from Lanarkshire saddler

Horse owners are being asked to keep a lookout for components to WOW saddles, after a saddler in Scotland was raided.

Thieves stole around £7,500-worth of saddle flaps and seats last Wednesday morning (13 October) from a vehicle parked outside the south Lanarkshire home of saddler Alison Binet.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do with them,” said Ms Binet, who is probably uninsured for the loss.

“They’re distinctive, and are going to be very difficult to sell on. There’s not even enough there to make an entire saddle.”

WOW saddles are made of a series of components, pieced together to fit each individual horse. A series of dressage, GP and cross-country saddle flaps were stolen, together with two saddle seats.

While many of the components were new, others were used — and few were marked. They were taken between 8.30am and 11.30am on Wednesday morning.

“One thing I’ve learnt from this is that everything you own must be postcoded,” said Ms Binet.

“If it’s found in a pile in Cornwall, the police won’t have a clue where to find the owners.”

Ms Binet told H&H that two men had appeared at her home the previous day (Tuesday 12 October), asking to buy scrap metal and taking particular interest in the car that contained the WOW components.

“They knew I was a saddler,” she said. “It may just be a coincidence, but I do think they were casing the joint.”

The Lanarkshire theft is the second time that tack has been stolen from a saddler over the past month.

At the end of September, £60,000-worth of tack was stolen from a vehicle outside the home of master saddler Michael Marren. He was also uninsured.

• If you have any information about the stolen WOW components, call Strathclyde Police on tel: 01555 552400, quoting crime reference number 0763.

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