Horse thieves marking horses with plaits... definite info?

OldNag

OldNag

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The "horses plaited to mark them out for theft" thing is doing the rounds on local horsey fb pages and is making people panic. But people do really seem taken in by it, as apparently, do our local Police :eek:

Does anyone have a link to anywhere that disproves this?

(mine have got some wicked wind plaits at the moment, so I can see how people think there is an increase of this furtive horse-marking going on).
 
It always makes me giggle a bit. Do people not think that a thief nowadays would not take a pic on his camera phone and send it to whovever he wanted to steal it, rather than stand in a field plaiting a mane (and it strangely always happens on the windiest, wet night!).
 
fallenangel123 said:
I came in tonight and had a massive tangle at the back of my neck. Does this mean I've been marked to be stolen? I'm all nervous now!
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Have you had yourself freeze-marked, somewhere highly visible? And micro-chipped? Watch out for any dodgy characters hanging round your living room and bedroom (not including family members ;))....
 
fallenangel123 said:
I came in tonight and had a massive tangle at the back of my neck. Does this mean I've been marked to be stolen? I'm all nervous now!
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EffyCorsten said:
Best sleep with one eye open...
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FionaM12 said:
Have you had yourself freeze-marked, somewhere highly visible? And micro-chipped? Watch out for any dodgy characters hanging round your living room and bedroom (not including family members ;))....
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These are some of the best responses to this subject ever!

I must say and have posted before that I did experience it many years back and it happened quite a bit, but times have changed. The facebook scaremongering is beyond sometimes.
 
All the photographic evidence i have seen have been wind plaits, and i have always said it is all a load of crap, ...but, my OH told me last week that someone quite local caught someone plaiting one of his horses , not a child either but a bloke, he confronted him and although the bloke was threatening threw him off his land!!
I will make enquiries and find out exactly what happened (even though i cant stick this man). Someone else had rugs stolen in the same area around the same time!
 
Fii said:
All the photographic evidence i have seen have been wind plaits, and i have always said it is all a load of crap, ...but, my OH told me last week that someone quite local caught someone plaiting one of his horses , not a child either but a bloke, he confronted him and although the bloke was threatening threw him off his land!!
I will make enquiries and find out exactly what happened (even though i cant stick this man). Someone else had rugs stolen in the same area around the same time!
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I'll be interested in the outcome of your investigations Fii. I must say I'm still not convinced. ;)
 
fallenangel123 said:
I came in tonight and had a massive tangle at the back of my neck. Does this mean I've been marked to be stolen? I'm all nervous now!
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You had better check you haven't got a plastic bag tied to your front gate or any dodgy chalk markings on the pavement. Look out for eastern europeans or travellers in a white van too! ;)
 
There's a debate on our area horsey FB pages at the mo too - one guy said he found wind plaits and a X and three dashes marked on the gate. Apparently the cross means good quality and the dashes means there's a buyer (or vice versa) and three horses with plaits in manes. Someone passed on this link from the police:

https://www.thamesvalleyalert.co.uk/da/25068/Horse_Watch_-_Plaiting.html

Interestingly it says there is no correlation between horses being stolen and horses being marked with plaits.

Personally, I think the plaiting thing has been going on for so many years with people saying it's gypsies, and owners camping out in fields as a response to these plaits, that surely gypsies would have come up with some other way of marking them rather than using the same thing over and over again even though everyone 'knows' what this means.
 
Morgan123 said:
also must mean they never steal a hogged horse ;-)
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So THAT'S why people hog! ;)

Three horses in with mine at present. Two have plaits. Field contains: one sound, well covered young ISH with a long mane. One older TB mare who is never sound and has shockingly bad feet. One older ISH type pony who is sound. One older TB ex racer who is difficult to keep and looks like a hat rack. Guess which ones have the plaits? :D Hint: they're not the ones I'd be nicking...
 
Lol the people who owned the horses at the back of my school must have been really freaked out. They had hoof oil and all on!

I wish some kid would groom my horses for me now
 
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