Lost Ponies Wandered Onto Our Yard 2 Day Ago Remain Unclaimed

devilwoman

devilwoman

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Night before last turned up at yard, yard owner was out, her son came out and told me he'd found 2 ponies loose on the farm, thinking it was one of ours got out went with him and found a brown/white shetland mare, looks quite heavy in foal and wearing a headcollar, and a 12hh (ish) bay gelding, no headcollar, both in very good condition, feet trimmed etc. Couldn't catch either of them so between us we rounded them up and into an empty paddock, gave them some water. Yard owner returned and said she'd make soem phonecalls next morning to find owners, up to tonight they remain unclaimed, my YO has phoned Police, local pound, horsewatch etc, and no-one really wants to know they just say they've not had any ponies matching the description reported missing. She's now worrying that they have been dumped, does anyone have any suggestions what to do next ?
 
Could you post some pics on here in case anyone recognises them?

Have you had a horse sale recently near you? Just wondered if perhaps they didn't sell and thats why they've been dumped?
 
Suppose that could be a suggestion although YO will be reluctant to pay for a call out vet fee to have them scanned for microchip. They are right over over side of farm to my horses, I specifically put them over there as it was the day my foal was born didn't want them anywhere near my mare and foal.

Forgot to say I have personally driven round all local yards and put a notice up in our 2 most local tack shops. Local radio is a good idea too, i'll do that in the morning.
 
This happened to me a couple of years ago; a welsh stallion was wandering about the village, so I stuck it in a spare paddock, sure that somebody would be desperate to find him and rang the police. A week later he was still with us, so a friend arranged to take him, she had just brought the box down when the owners turned up - they hadn't even realised that he's been missing as they didn't check him every day. So it may be that they are missing rather than dumped, although tbh I think dumping is more likely.

I think that once you've given notice to the authorities, if nobody comes forwards then you can claim them and sell them on (although I'd be too soft to) after a certain length of time. Other than that maybe a rescue organisation might take them if they have the space.
 
The most local recent sale to us was Ashford last week, but thats a good hour to hour and half from us. Not sure if theres been any local travellers around that maybe have moved on and didn't want to take them with them.
 
Only one I had any dealings with the owner responded to a found notice within days!! Any travelling folk nearby? Put notices up on lamp posts nearby if so, local garages are a good one too, you could ask your local dog warden if they can come and scan them as the microchip scanner is the same. As said earlier, if they are on your property, after notifying the authorities you have 7 days, if no owner comes forward after that you can claim them, keep or sell to recoupe expenses.
 
competitiondiva said:
Only one I had any dealings with the owner responded to a found notice within days!! Any travelling folk nearby? Put notices up on lamp posts nearby if so, local garages are a good one too, you could ask your local dog warden if they can come and scan them as the microchip scanner is the same. As said earlier, if they are on your property, after notifying the authorities you have 7 days, if no owner comes forward after that you can claim them, keep or sell to recoupe expenses.
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Its 3 months or so as it happened to my friend and she had to wait 3 months.She ended up keeping the horse.
 
If your yard owner has reported them to the police then the police will have given her an incident number. Contact Horsewatch with the incident number and photos of the horses and they will circulate them nation wide both by E-mail and on their web site.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, will speak to YO tomorrow about them and try to push things forward, there's no way they can stay on the farm, no-one on the farm wants to accumulate 2 more ponies. Hopefully owners will go to check them and then start ringing/driving around looking for them.
 
law of abandonment is correct, however it is likely the horses have been left for collection at a later date a thing travellers do it happened to a friend of a friend of mine and law of abondonment was correct police informed , etc horse was handful thin unkept nervous farmer had kept it in field for three month <couldnt catch it anyway > friend took it on turned horse round still nervous but better weight on and happier, well nearly ten month later end of winter they took that horse back police will say its a litigation case .Charitities will advise the same .Anyone can claim your horse, you have to prove its yours sad isnt it ,my advice would be as winter s on its way is to drop them off at local rspca centre harsh as it is tied to the gates sorry i hope this has a happy ending or some misunderstanding but dont get involved in costs trying to trace owner like my friends friend did or vets, or keep as it will end up a financial cost and emotional cost. If i found one or one was dumped at my place, i would not keep .Sorry, people can legally take them back in the middle of the night they have passport and say they were left with so and so who was looking after them .It may be someone looking for free winter keep .
 
did apologise before i said it but please remember i know what happened to someone who took one in loved, cared and helped handled paid vets fees feed bills farrier etc, financially and got emotionally involved for horse to go missing all of a sudden and owners who had left/lost/abandoned/thought was in someone elses care and police say sorry litigation route to claim costs cant get involved .
They even asked what a passport was for a horse .In all the months of care for this horse roughly add up the costs yourselves never mind emotional attachment .Who will pay for these horses care and costs, and how will you feel when they just go one day and you have no right a pregnant mare and horse is even more financially .I just speak the truth of seeing what happened to a friends friend .The charities /rspca will not take them in otherwise .
 
I have been involved in an abandonment case before and helped the RSPCA. In this case it was 2 shetlands (mare and colt) and the RSPCA man was pretty sure they were travellers ponies dumped in a field to use the grazing. The 14 day notice period is correct - the RSPCA posted flyers everywhere and on day 15, we moved the ponies to a friend who took them on. I paid for shoeing, injections and gelding and she then took them on in her yard. Needless to say, the RSPCA did get calls in week 3 but advised there were costs attached to retrieving the ponies and that is as far as it went.
 
competitiondiva said:
It's not 3 months for stray dogs, and I'm pretty sure it comes under the same umbrella, as both are classed as lost property!!!
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My friend contacted the police and they told her she needed to advertise the horse in the paper for 3 months,then if knowone claimed it after thaen ,she could keep it.
So she did all that and endede up keeping the horse.
You cant sell someones horse after a week.
WHY NOT CHECK TO SEE IF MICROCHIPPED?????
 
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