Plaited mane in Aston west oxfordshire

J

jholtom

Active Member
Joined
9 February 2010
Messages
45
Location
west oxfordshire
Visit site
Please let anyone you know in the west oxfordshire area that we found my mates beautiful filly with a plait in her mane today, I have 6 in the field and checked them all but only her's had been done, she is the only youngster out there and stunning even in a rug. the owner changed her rug earlier and never see it but a few hours later there it was, so it was done during the morning. we have 10 acres and down the bottom of the field is a field where people walk there dogs so no one would notice a stranger there. we have removed it and asked all the villagers to look out for any strange vehicles going down the lane next to the field as thats the only place they could get them out. please spread the word this makes me so mad as now i won't sleep worrying
 
Those witches have been busy in this wind..........
It's no doubt a wind tangle, there is no evidence whatsoever that any horse has been stolen after supposedly being tagged in this way.
 
I was waiting for a answer like this, well i called the police before we removed it and the police woman who come had heard of this before eas amased to see a 'proper' plait, not a wind twist but a proper plait which had been tucked in at the bottom so it would not come undone. the policeman with her made a interesting point when i told him no one believes it as they say no horse has been stolen with a plait in..he said , if the plait is done on a horse in a field like mine in the middle of the countryside early evening, not a livery yard surrounded by houses , alarms lights and dogs, then how would anyone know that horse had been marked !! it could have been plaited earlier and taken that night, how would anyone know because as I know there is no point going into my 10 acres late at night with a torch for no reason when its normally safe..
 
OP, I spoke to a policeman about this.

He said that there is NO EVIDENCE that horses are stolen after being plaited. He said that in their experience, gypsy people and other thieves would never mark something and then come back and take it - they're not that stupid.

However, if your security isn't top notch, then it should give you a kick up the bum to make it so. If it is, then you can't do any more.

For what its worth, my youngster has had a plait in her mane now for about 3 weeks. The top half is a perfect plait, literally, three strands interwound. The bottom half is so twisted and knotted that I cannot get it out, at all. She's not been stolen yet. How long do they wait???

It is, I'm afraid, a rumour, a story spread about by people with nothing better to do.

Of course, if your security is lax, heighten it. But your horse is not about to be stolen.
 
If the thieves are thick enough to plait the mane of the horse they will steal, they won't have the brains to pull off the theft.

This forum is bizarre.
 
jholtom said:
I was waiting for a answer like this, well i called the police before we removed it and the police woman who come had heard of this before eas amased to see a 'proper' plait, not a wind twist but a proper plait which had been tucked in at the bottom so it would not come undone. the policeman with her made a interesting point when i told him no one believes it as they say no horse has been stolen with a plait in..he said , if the plait is done on a horse in a field like mine in the middle of the countryside early evening, not a livery yard surrounded by houses , alarms lights and dogs, then how would anyone know that horse had been marked !! it could have been plaited earlier and taken that night, how would anyone know because as I know there is no point going into my 10 acres late at night with a torch for no reason when its normally safe..
Click to expand...

Jesus wept - you mean they sent not one but TWO police officers out to see a flipping wind plait! Beggars belief.
 
well i hope your right because it had worried us to death, I do not know if you are in livery or a field but when you live in the sticks and keep your horses in the middle of no where there is not a lot of security you can do, we have no power to put lights on and only have one road running through the village with little lanes running off it, there are some houses around but not a lot. we have post and rails all the way round and electric fencing running off batteries also all the gates have big chains and padlocks on. Life in the sticks is great when all is happy but times like this when you can't sit and watch or put lights on is hard. thanks for giving me some hope that its all rubbish .
 
jemima_too said:
Jesus wept - you mean they sent not one but TWO police officers out to see a flipping wind plait! Beggars belief.
Click to expand...

Not really jemima, when you live in the sticks the police happen to care about their villagers and as we have little stations dotted about the villages we can get in touch with them any time day or night thats why anything that seems not right is taken care of straight away. we are lucky enough not to have any or little crime around our area because we all look out for each other ..so it might have been a wind plait to you but to us it was a threat to our horses and others around us..
 
We have our own yard, in the sticks.

You have to get through 4 gates before you get to the horses in the field. Three in their boxes. All have padlocks on them (different types, and 'non cut' chains).

There is ALOT you can do. Ask your friendly policeman what he suggests.

But seriously, this plait thing is bullwacky. xxxx
 
we have a metal farm gate with 2 padlocks on and like you uncutable chains, then a coral again all padlocked up then the field is cut into 2 large paddocks with chained gates, we have shelters but they rarely go in because they are all mountain and moorland, I hope we are secure enough but when is enough to be honest. thanks for making me feel a bit better :) hopefully i will sleep better tonite and not want to sit on guard with a shotgun :)
 
You're welcome. Don't get me wrong, it is scary. When I found Puzzle's plait a teeeeny tiny bit of me did go OMG! But you just have to think, if you've done absolutely everything you could possibly do, then thats all you can do. It sounds like you're very safe.

My OH always says, if they want your horse, they'll have it, whether you're surrounded by a moat with armed guards or not. If they're opportunists, then you just want to make yourself more difficult than the next person.

Neither steal-to-order thieves, or opportunists, would be stupid enough to warn you that they were going to steal your horse. Honestly. xxx
 
There are 70 horses running round Camarthen at the moment, no-one wants them, they have no value.

If I wanted a horse at the moment for free I would pop down there and round one up. Why would anyone go to any effort to steal one - especially in a protracted and complex manner like this.....
 
Somebody posted up the stats on horse thefts here a while back. There are a mercifully small number of horses stolen every year, many, many less than you'd think when you read this forum. So try not to worry too much.
 
Irespective of the why and how ... it is utterly horrid to know that someone has been so close to your horse

i know as it happened to my hors . here at my home/yard i have maximum security and i live in the middle of no where as you will see from my pic below .


100_1311.jpg
 
jemima_too said:
Deleted because it's really not worth the bother
Click to expand...

glad you deleted jemina as well because i could not be bothered to read anymore of your rubbish either... shame not eveyone on here is not as nice as the people that put my mind to rest with their input and to you that have I thank you very much and i hope all your horses stay safe and well :)))
 
christi said:
Irespective of the why and how ... it is utterly horrid to know that someone has been so close to your horse

i know as it happened to my hors . here at my home/yard i have maximum security and i live in the middle of no where as you will see from my pic below .


100_1311.jpg
Click to expand...

What a fab place to live and yes it is horrid to know someone has been that close, people have told me today that some women where seen feeding the ponies from a field that actually no one is allowed in so that was interesting so have informed the farmer .. thanks for your input really appreciated :)
 
I'm pretty sure that there are remote alarms to be had these days - though expensive - used to ride through an estate shoot that has warning signs hung about and I did manage to spot a few of the sensors - of course, I have no idea whether these were real or fake.

My mare, here in my avatar, was in D.I.Y. livery for all of her time with me and despite being a one man kind of woman - allowed herself to be brought in and groomed by the children of another livery with a grey mare.

I could also recount the tale of two decorators who worked all weekend polishing a staircase at the WRONG house - understandable with almost identical building sites in the area but as far as I know the case of criminal damge is still unexplained at the police station.
 
what the bloomin heck is a wind plait? How can the wind plait a mane? Do you mean like a dreadlock/tangled mess - I can see that maybe but only if you never brush your horses mane and if the OP found a plait in the horses mane, just one and tucked in to the rug, I would guess they brush the mane as they noticed it so would probably guess it was an actual plait done by human hands.

However, no idea why they are done/who does them and if there is any chance that thieves are marking the horses they are looking to steal but they do mark houses suitable for doing distraction burglaries so why wouldn't they do the same for horses? Think I would just mark all my property and stick signs up and lock the gates just in case - not that it will stop a thief but at least its a deterrent!
 
If you are seriously worried about the security of your horses the very best thing you can do is get them freezemarked, if you have several horses it would probably be a full day's work for them so they could be out pretty soon to do it for you
 
Last edited:
Why not just hog (bit drastic) or pull and shine the manes, we all no how hard it is to plait when you have a short, neat slippery mane!, Good luck to them then!
 
sprite1978 said:
Plaits are like crop-circles. Urban myth - probably copied by people taking the p*ss
Click to expand...

*Tries to picture crop circles being formed by wind*

Oh wait...:D

OP, horses aren't selling, when they do it's for peanuts. Hay/fuel/feed etc prices have sky rocketed, and it's the middle of winter. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much, you can get dummy cctv cameras (even battery powered ones, which follow you if you walk past them!) on eBay, which may well be the way forward. If anything, I'd be worried about feed, head collars, your batteries and energisers. That's the sort of thing that's of value to sell on atm, (not saying the filly isn't worth anything, by any means. Sure she's lovely) not a horse, especially not a baby one.

Be thankful you have bobbies who care and are on the lookout :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top