Did someone try to take my horse last night?

[Racing_Gal]

I got a bit of a shock this morning when I arrived at my parents, where my horses also live, to be told by a dog walker that one of the horses was on next doors land. I have a naughty section A who can escape from anywhere within our boundry, he lets himself in and out of different paddocks and on the the footpath that runs thorugh, thinking it would be him I wondered down to send him back into the right paddock. But it wasnt him, it was my warmblood, J, who is scared to death of the electric fencing and most other things in life. (he wont even walk over the electric tape if it's on the floor).

To give you an idea of the set up...There is a footpath (12ftwide) we own the footpath and fields on the right, our horses are fenced of the path by electric fencing. The fields on the left are not ours and the fence on that side is sheep netting. (hope that makes a bit of sense?!)

To get from where he was last night at to where I found him at 7am he has had to cross an electric fence, a footpath then and a sheep netting fence, the sheep netting has bared 2 strands of barbed wire on top and it is at the top of a 6ft+ bank..he's a good jumper but not that good! he's got no marks or cuts on him and his rug is still in one piece. There are no 'take off' or 'landing' style marks anywhere along the fences.

I was expecting to find the fences broken in some way (the section a often pulls our electric tape down, but even then J will not cross it) As well as J and the section a there are 2 others in the field, sec a was out of his paddock (standard) the other 2 were where they should be. All the fences are fine, the only sign that something has gone on is that there are hoof marks, skid marks all the way along the footpath the whole lenth of our land, about 500 yards, they are J's hoof prints and he has clearly ran up and down there more than once, it is a mess. I wold say something had chased him, maybe a dog, but he has no bite marks and all the other horses are fine, as are the chickens, pigs etc.

He's a nervy horse and can be a pain to handle, all I can think of is that someone tried to take him in the night...there is a gate at the far end of our land that he would fit through if forced (we cant lock it due to the public right of way, council wont allow us to change the size of the gate or change it to a style because of cyclists), though it would be a very tight fit. I just keep thinking someone tried to take him and had to dump him because they wouldnt of been able to hold him. He didnt have a head collar on and there are no signs of him having any rope around him or anything like that.

Can anyone sugest anything else that could of happened? my parents think I'm mad in thinking someone tried to steal him, but there have been horses stolen from places 20-30 miles away in the last week. Out of the 4 in the field he is the only one worth anything, the others are old ponies, he stands out. Have I got that 'irrational mother' syndrome or am i right to be worried? For now he's back where he sould be, but I'm worried about tonight.

I'm off work sick (been in hospital, should be on box rest!) and just need an answer or something to put my mind at rest

Thanks for reading, sorry its so long, and about my spelling! xx

 

[Littlelegs]

I think its more likely that something has scared him enough to squeeze through the gap/ jump out & someone passing by has shoved him back into the nearest field when he was running up & down the footpath. We found two ponies in our resting field once that had got out from a nearby yard, a passerby had obviously shoved them in the closest place with an open gate. Tho in that case it was clear where they'd got out & been by the trail of destruction. Might be worthwhile making sure the cyclists gate isn't accessible for the horses though, there's one near me in an in & out shape with a gate in the middle that even an 11h pony would struggle with.

 

[HowenEdward]

Sounds very likely- People will do anything to get a flashy horse cheap, particuarly Warmbloods ect.. as they are often expensive.

If you can, maybe keep him in for a couple of nights so that if the person comes back he wont be there??

If you are on a livery yard, let others know so they can take their own precautions and maybe put up a note in a local newsagents or tack shop warning people

I hate stories like this and i hope you get better soon xx

 

[SusieT]

If they'd wanted one they probably would have taken them all and the fences wouldn't be intact. They'd jus thave opened the electric fencing. He probably spooked, jumped the fence and somehow scrambled through the sheep netting fence. I imagine he ran up and down the footpath trying to get back in and then somehow got into the other field. Horses learn new things all the time-hopefully he will not retain this skill!