Marking to steal horses? Rugs?

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Stroppy Mare

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Has anyone ever heard of thieves marking horses before by crossing the front straps of the rug they're wearing? Only, one of mine got rugged up this morning normally - 2 buckles, and now they've been crossed.

Can't tell me they've crossed themselves...
 
No, there's a lot of nonsense spoken about marking horses for stealing. Plaiting manes etc. If someone wants to steal a horse they will go & do it. Going & plaiting or messing with rugs etc means they are visiting the paddock/stables twice to steal & that is an unnecessary risk.
 
Make sure your horse is freezemarked on it's shoulder so that in the event of it being stolen or straying it can be identified by anyone. (Microchipping is a waste of time).
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
No, there's a lot of nonsense spoken about marking horses for stealing. Plaiting manes etc. If someone wants to steal a horse they will go & do it. Going & plaiting or messing with rugs etc means they are visiting the paddock/stables twice to steal & that is an unnecessary risk.
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yes there is a lot of nonsense about but personally I wouldn't like to take a chance
 
Could the horse maybe have caught the fastenings on something and pulled the front open, and someone (another livery, passing walker) fastened it back up? I went to catch mine the other day and one of the other livery ponies had somehow managed to undo the front of her rug, goodness knows how, and was stood looking rather silly with it flapping in the wind! I was worried she'd get cold or get it tangled on something so fastened it back up for her. If it was done by someone who doesn't know much about horses/rugs or someone who's used to a rug with a cross-type front fastening that could maybe explain it?

Personally I agree with Toby_Zaphod in that most of the time 'marking' for stealing doesn't really make much sense and I don't see what a thief could gain from it.
 
Were on our own land with no close public right of way. I've never believed it all before either tbh. CT - the chances of anyone getting close enough to actually mount her and stay on, then rerug at the end is highly unlikely - I've hopped on her to bring her in before and ended up baling out as she took off. No other signs to say anythings amiss except this.

E69811DB-ADD5-4835-AC0A-87181B4F9584_zpsos5wst4d.jpg
 
Stroppy Mare said:
Has anyone ever heard of thieves marking horses before by crossing the front straps of the rug they're wearing? Only, one of mine got rugged up this morning normally - 2 buckles, and now they've been crossed.

Can't tell me they've crossed themselves...
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No they haven't crossed themselves - how can you be 100% sure you didn't cross them this morning. Easily done (holds hand up in shame)
 
Very odd! It's not a marking rumour I've heard of before, though can see why it would worry you. At our old (very rural) yard a few years ago, a similar thing happened on several occasions with one of our horses rugs - it really upset me at the time as I couldn't think of why anyone would go out of their way to do such a small and pointless thing, it did stop after a while but was very strange and despite the field being next to the farmhouse it did make me very anxious.
Hopefully this is just a very weird one off xx
 
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