Plats in manes for thieves?? Please advise

Tifferss

Tifferss

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Now i always though gypsy plats/fairy plats were urban legend - this is where a HO brings a horse in with a mysterious plat in its mane and this is said to be horse thieves "marking" which horse they want to steal for "collection" later.

However. I have had two text in so many days regarding local farms having horses with plats coming in and one of the yards have blocked all entrances with machinery

Urban myth or fact?? Do I need to be worried?

any thanks
 
Why?! There has never EVER been a horse stolen after plaits have been found. And why would the thieves alert you to the theft before they did it? And WHY would they be stupid enough to do it on a variety of different farms so that you can all talk to each other and guard each others stuff before they did it - cos they like the thrill of the chase?

Wind plaits can be extremely persuavive. xxxx
 
your right - I know your right. Easy to get caught up in the hyseria though eh?

Before its was the farm next door i used to think - why would they warn you their going to pinch horses?? but as its the feilds adjacent to ours...ive gone all jittery :S
 
My hairy cob comes in from the field with strange 'plaits' in his mane all the time...it's just wind, rubbing his neck against the fences and mates who like to chew. Honestly any stranger who got close enough to him to plait his mane is welcome to him...cos he won't let any stranger near him.
 
It is scary and its worth upping security regardless because your horses can never be "too" secure - BUT they're not in imminent danger of being nicked cos of a few wind plaits =]x
 
scenario...

man walks into field..5 minutes
man selects horse.... 3 minutes
man walks up to horse..2 minute
man "plaits" horse.....3 minutes
man walks out of field..5 minutes

around 20 minutes?.....would take 2 or 3 men less than that to load the damn thing up and be gone...

Urban Myth.
 
Sorry although I am tempted to agree with NP, as seems really daft there was a big article in a reputable Scottish paper (with victims). I'm at work but will try to find it. The pony was the only one stolen (red ribbon in plait). Love to think urban myth but must admit although I don't believe all I read, this gave me the wobblies.
 
I have had ponies for over 30 years and have between 10 and 20 ponies at a time. I have mainly native ponies with longer manes. In all that time I have found these plaits in their manes which I was told were "fairy plaits" . They can be very intricate and hard to get out and seemingly impossibly to be done naturally but equally impossible to have been put in by a human. Often it is the vey difficult to catch or the ones that wouldn't be worth anything that have these plaits.

I have NEVER seen one in a pulled mane and i have never had one that was plaited vanish. Last week my hairy very lame pony who is on box rest in a stable in garden had one in her mane.

Am I worried, no I'm not. URBAN MYTH.
 
ginadrummond said:
Sorry although I am tempted to agree with NP, as seems really daft there was a big article in a reputable Scottish paper (with victims). I'm at work but will try to find it. The pony was the only one stolen (red ribbon in plait). Love to think urban myth but must admit although I don't believe all I read, this gave me the wobblies.
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ginadrummond said:
Found it - think you should take action

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Fi...rned-mystery-plaiting-may-signal-thieves.html
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GINAREADthe article you posted. No horses were stolen. It was yet another instance of this scaremongering getting out of hand and continually being reported to the police.

Think about it. You have a nice car that someone wants. One morning you find it with "I'm watching this car because I want to nick it" written on it - does that sound likely? Nope, the prospective thief would have taken it then and there.

Same with your horses.
 
Granted Jemima but the reason I looked this up in the first place was because it was on BBC Scotland last year or maybe year before. Not scaremongering at all but wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry. Horse thefts are hugely increasing up here and the more vigilance the better. I agree it seems ridiculous to plait manes but I dont KNOW whether its true or an urban myth.
 
And how many times in the article did they mention microchipping and the vets practice that could do it for you (at a considerable profit to the vets may I add). I'm not saying chipping isn't a valuable tool..cos all my animals inc the horse is done but it was a lovely advert for the vets and the services they offer. The horse wasn't stolen or any indication given that her fields were entered illegally other than the horse having a few plaits. Not convienced...more convienced by the 'fairy' plait idea than some random people deciding my horse is worth the effort of nicking. ;)
 
i'm sitting on the fence with this one as my pony ended up with plaits in her mane when she was in the stable. i went down in the afternoon to feed her and groom her (she was on box rest) nothing was there, i went down a few hours later (in winter) and she had the 'plaits' in her mane. i took them out, moved her down a couple of stables, asked a few people who lived locally if they'd seen anything, only thing they saw was someone parked up by the yard (could have been anyone).
i moved her the next day just to be on the safe side.

now she would have been seen out and about a couple of days before with 2 youngsters so would have looked like the 'mum'.

i allowed people to go on and on about it being wind knots. after a couple of days of listening to all these things i told them she had been in the stable, no wind or anything.

i don't know what it was but i know i took precautions and moved her, why leave her there IF there was the smallest chance it was man made?
 
A good point JSR and I hope everyone is right (my cob is hogged LOL). Just another thing to worry about really but then I am one of life's worriers. Think it may have been on landward too but not sure - which doesn't mean its not an urban myth, just a very well publicised (sp) one
 
nativeponies said:
scenario...

man walks into field..5 minutes
man selects horse.... 3 minutes
man walks up to horse..2 minute
man "plaits" horse.....3 minutes
man walks out of field..5 minutes

around 20 minutes?.....would take 2 or 3 men less than that to load the damn thing up and be gone...

Urban Myth.
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Yes, it all makes sense but house theives spend ages 'casing the joint' before they rob it an most horses worth more than 2nd hand TV's - I hope you are right (and suspect you are!)
 
Urban Myth or not (and i beleive it is) if it gives people a jolt to be a being more alert - cant be a bad thing eh?

Or maybe it a government plan to keep us all scared and controlled....Fear creats consumerism....how profound of me!!
 
Tifferss said:
Urban Myth or not (and i beleive it is) if it gives people a jolt to be a being more alert - cant be a bad thing eh?

Or maybe it a government plan to keep us all scared and controlled....Fear creats consumerism....how profound of me!!
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Goodness me, glad I logged on now, being profound before 10am, that would be a record for me!!!!!
 
nativeponies said:
i'm sure they do, but they dont tie a ribbon on the front door!!
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LOL, you are correct and they'd be a bit miffed if the ribbon fell off - mind you in a recent spate of thefts here, the police found a map with a road with every house without a dog marked with a cross. Not the same I grant you but amazing how organised these things are. Anyway we all have to chip by December don't we?
 
jsr said:
Well all our microchipped animals can be monitored....won't be long before they are chipping us too......;)
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They are already I reckon - you can get a fix on mobiles (if you watch the Bill) and apparently all the advertising that comes up on google etc is streamed to your profile of searches (probably why weight loss comes up on mine)
 
ginadrummond said:
My understanding that yes we do. Either by 6 months old or by end December 2010 whichever is the later. I had to chip my yearling as nobody would passport otherwise. Not sure if this only applies to newly bred horses though NP. Did my foal (so, so much easier) too.
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Ah...it only applies to new borns and those bought without passports
 
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