Fairy Plaits, or horse markings??

[dray123]

Hey everyone.

Basically Im not convinced that our pony who has been marked 3 times with proper plaits in her hair in the past 3 weeks are just "fairy plaits".

Not only has she been plaited, the fence has been marked, the wire fence has been pulled so its slack and gappy where someone has climbed through, on more than one area of the fence and in more than one field.

Things at the yard have also been moved, and someone close by said that their farm had stuff stolen and some people who have horses near us have had horsey stuff stolen.

I reported it to the horsewatch and they just said shes not the type of horse that is normally targeted as she is freeze marked.

Not sure what else i can do, any ideas / thoughts about fairy plaits / horse markings?

 

[Bettyboo222]

Beauty was 'marked' the other day, it was a complete plait though so I just moved her to the inside fields for a few days.

 

[dray123]

Yeah we moved Star from one of the fields where she was on the public footpath to the field at the back so no one can see her and she was marked again. Its deffinatly a plait, I dont know what else people can do to protect their horses!

 

[Bettyboo222]

Are you sure its no-one on the yard ? A kid or something ?

 

[dray123]

We have a private yard which is literally at the end of a lane. No body knows its there unless they walk along the public footpath which runs along side one of our fields, so im not sure it would be kids, we are all really worried because if they have marked her 3 times, they are obviously persistant and want our horse. Last night they marked the fence aswell.

 

[Bettyboo222]

I would move her asap, in that case. Like really move her as much as you can, how far apart where the markings ? Days ? Weeks?

Is there anyway you can make her look different ?

 

[dray123]

They are about a 5 days to a week apart from each other. She was at a village down the road just in a field and was first marked there, but travellers/gypsies were seen stealing metal nearby so I think it was them, we then moved her back to our yard immediately and shes been marked 3 times again, i think its just a coincidence though that shes been marked here aswell.

A friend suggested labelling her with a L to temporarily try and deter them?

 

[Skippys Mum]

I would get a can of that bright sheep paint and mark her myself. Better painted orange and screamingly noticible than stolen! Its pretty easy to spot the horse with the big orange circle on its bum (or something similar). Not quite so easy to slip it through a market unnoticed!

 

[Bettyboo222]

I would get a can of that bright sheep paint and mark her myself. Better painted orange and screamingly noticible than stolen! Its pretty easy to spot the horse with the big orange circle on its bum (or something similar). Not quite so easy to slip it through a market unnoticed!

As long as you arn't planning on showing her I would do this, or use purple spray

 

[dray123]

tbh shes just a hack, so im not bothered if shes sprayed. Where would i get sheep spray from? I think purple spray might come off or not show, shes a dark chestnut.

 

[Bettyboo222]

Argicultural stores or a friendly farmer because I know that we won't be spraying our sheep until next year so i'm sure a farmer would happily give you some.

I would put your postcode or something as well as loads of spots so they can't get it off if (touch wood) she is taken

 

[aduffield]

Have you reported this to the police or your local horsewatch. You can log it as a sus. incident with the police so they are aware of it. Is your horse freezemarked? as this will def. put them off, or put up a sign saying all horses micro chipped.

 

[*hic*]

Hey everyone.

Basically Im not convinced that our pony who has been marked 3 times with proper plaits in her hair in the past 3 weeks are just "fairy plaits".

Not only has she been plaited, the fence has been marked, the wire fence has been pulled so its slack and gappy where someone has climbed through, on more than one area of the fence and in more than one field.

Things at the yard have also been moved, and someone close by said that their farm had stuff stolen and some people who have horses near us have had horsey stuff stolen.

I reported it to the horsewatch and they just said shes not the type of horse that is normally targeted as she is freeze marked.

Not sure what else i can do, any ideas / thoughts about fairy plaits / horse markings?

If they've "marked" her three times in the last few weeks and she hasn't actually been stolen any of those times doesn't it appear to you that it might just be coincidence?

FWIW (yet again) I have five horses in my field, three look or are valuable and have short pulled manes, none of those have been "marked". My two natives however have both been marked - they have long manes. One of those is freezemarked - and he's the one most often "plaited". What is particularly interesting is that he is uncatchable by normal means. He is also very wary of strangers and would no way allow anyone he didn't know well to even bribe him with food, let alone stand there whilst someone fiddled with his mane or tail. He's 25, 13.3 Welsh and freezemarked - hardly a desirable sort especially when all the others in the field would come over and want any newcomer to play with them whilst he will be standing very warily way off.

I honestly think you need to look at all the evidence - and AFAIK there is no evidence of any horse being stolen after having been marked - before you panic.

 

[dray123]

Yep she is freezemarked although not microchipped yet.

The fact that the people behind us have had horsey stuff stolen and close by areas have had horses stolen makes me worry she will. We did report it to horsewatch and the police but was told it was "fairy plaits" and not to worry - Although it is quite blatently a horse mark. Not quite sure what else to do

 

[Tinypony]

There was a scare in my area a few months back about some horses said to have been marked in this way for stealing. The owners panicked and moved them. My friend rang the local police and, I believe, Horsewatch. She was told that there are no reported cases of horses being marked with a plait and subsequently stolen. I'm not saying don't be vigilant, but it's maybe a bit of comfort.
I believe that the case highlighted all over the Net last year, of a mare plaited and then found abandoned at a port, was found to be trolling fiction? Anyone know if that is correct?

 

[dray123]

Yeah we panicked and moved her the first time it happened. But its happened 3 times since then! We phone horsewatch and the police every time just to make sure. Stuff at the stables has also been moved aswell, although not stolen, but someone is deffinately going down there!

 

[Tinseltoes]

Put CCTV cameras up or fake ones.If they think theyre on camera it may well put them off.Or set up an alarm by the field.#
There is a lot of this talk going around about this but NO PROOF of stolen horses. I think its best to keep an eye out.
Should'nt worry too much as you say the horse is freezemarked.

 

[SuperSketch]

A lady in my local tack shop was telling my mum about something like this happening to her horse a while ago. She used sheep paint and painted the first part of her postcode underneath her horses freezemark and hasn't had a problem since. She got the sheep paint from a local agriculture shop. I'm sure it could be ordered from the Internet though. You could always ask your local sheep farmer - if your lucky enough to have one LOL, if you could use some of his if not. She also installed CCTV cameras and extra electric tape around the gaps in her post and rail fencing so that nothing - not even a mere slip of a potential horse thief could slip through now!

 

[dray123]

deffo sounds like a plan to me! I was looking on the web and they do solar panel cctv cameras?

I know nothing has been proved with the plaits and horses being stolen but I don't want to risk it. I will do absolutely anything to make sure not one of my horses is stolen!

The electric fencings also a good idea, we have double locked the gate aswell, but I suspose if anyone really wanted to get in they could do. They will do anything they can to get a horse its easy money I guess.

The past 2 days nothing suspicious has happened. So fingers crossed nothing will do again!

 

[Bedlam]

I would think it's a bit odd that someone would take the trouble to come into your field and plait your horse in order to mark them for a subsequent theft to be honest.

Why not just come in and take them?

 

[dray123]

I would think it's a bit odd that someone would take the trouble to come into your field and plait your horse in order to mark them for a subsequent theft to be honest.

Why not just come in and take them?

They do it so they can work out how quickly the plait is brushed out so they can work out on a later basis when to steal it.

Theres articles on the h&h website, explains it there.

 

[Bedlam]

OK - so I don't need to worry then because I see to mine everyday.

Doesn't everyone.....?

.....and these people posting about them don't need to worry either because they are seeing their horses everyday and removing the plaits too presumably?

 

[dray123]

Well done. I see mine everyday also, sometimes being up there all day (Y)

For a percentage of people, sometimes its difficult for them to see them every day for whatever reason.

The point is, the post is about horse marks being mistaken and ignored as fairy plaits not about how often people see their horses.

 

[Bedlam]

Well then let's hope that this thread makes people realise the need to see their horses at least daily to stop them from being marked for theft.

I would have thought that most horse owners would have wanted to see their horses at least once a day to check that they are healthy and safe without even having imagined that someone may have plaited their mane to mark them for theft if it's not removed.

There we go - at last a pressing need to visit your horses daily - to remove the theft marking plaits. Perhaps that reason needs to be included in BHS & PC exams?

 

[dray123]

The aim of this thread was to ask genuine peoples opinons as to whether considoring the suspicious behaviour or not was a marking plait, which you can see in the origional posting.

Maybe you should try another thread if you want to discuss how often people see their horses or not?

 

[lillith]

Are you certain it wasn't kids? I feel really bad now thinking I may have given some poor horse owners cause for concern but when I was a young teen I was old enough to be out on my own and loved horses. If I saw one in a field willing to wander over to the fence for cuddles and scritches I'd spend a while stroking them and if they had lovely long manes I would sometimes put a couple of long loose plaits in.

 

[applecart14]

Thank god for common sense re: your horse being freezemarked. I'm not being funny but why in God's name would anyone want to plait a horse prior to freezemarking anyway when there is the danger they could a) get kicked b) get bitten c) get spotted by someone. People don't normally 'mark' horses in order to steal them. I think you will find its local kids as a result of something put on some socialising network like Bebo or Facebook or something. Not saying it is for definite but that's how these things get started and then they just escalate and escalate as everyone joins in.

 

[dray123]

Its deffo not kids because there aren't around or even near us. Our fields are in the middle of no where near a farm. A farm where gypsies also broke in and stole some stuff, so it is them. They were seen in our field aswell by someone from the farm walking the dogs.

 

[Serenity087]

How can it blatently be a mark when NOT ONE SINGLE HORSE IN THE ENTIRE OF THE UK AND IRELAND HAS EVER BEEN MARKED PRIOR TO THEFT?

How do you know what a horse mark looks like if thats the case?

Spray paint it silver for all I care, no one is going to steal your horse. Also, if the fence got pulled down, I'd actually have checked my horse for injuries instead of claiming it was another mark. You're so obsessed that someone is coming to steal your horse that you're missing the obvious here.

If a horse theif wants a horse, they're not going to be stupid enough to warn you, are they.

But then, this is another 20 something post new user with nothing to say other than to stir up rubbish about plaits.

Admin, can't you start banning these people?

 

[Kallibear]

How can it blatently be a mark when NOT ONE SINGLE HORSE IN THE ENTIRE OF THE UK AND IRELAND HAS EVER BEEN MARKED PRIOR TO THEFT?

How do you know what a horse mark looks like if thats the case?

Spray paint it silver for all I care, no one is going to steal your horse. Also, if the fence got pulled down, I'd actually have checked my horse for injuries instead of claiming it was another mark. You're so obsessed that someone is coming to steal your horse that you're missing the obvious here.

If a horse theif wants a horse, they're not going to be stupid enough to warn you, are they.

But then, this is another 20 something post new user with nothing to say other than to stir up rubbish about plaits.

Admin, can't you start banning these people?

Not just me who rolls their eyes and thinks, god, what a bunch of gullable idiots then

We had a 'scare' in our area a couple of months ago because somone started scare mongering. Yard up the road had a couple of 'plaited' ponies and arranged a midnight vigel for 4 days, everyone in the yard taking turn on checking the horses every hour through the night Couple of people on our yard started to get hysterical too and we ended up moving the horses fields (mine included since I don't want them split up from thier friends) Amazingly not a single horse was stolen, even in nearby areas

It's such a load of boll*cks. Why the hell would a potential thief WARN you that your horse is about to be stolen? Why wouldn't they steal the horse there and then? And why would they plait the mane anyways to 'mark' the horse. It takes time and effort and is noticed.

My pony (who has a proper traditional cob mane) gets amazing plaits in it in windy weather. Not been stolen once yet