Rugs stolen off horses' backs AGAIN

RobinHood

RobinHood

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Getting so fed up now. Members of the no fixed abode community have stolen our rugs yet again, leaving clipped horses naked in the field. They've even taken them in the snow before off fully clipped horses, seriously these people have no morals.

The rugs are plastered in our postcode and surname in white paint. Other owners have tried writing messages like "I have ringworm" or "this horse kicks and bites" but they still get taken.

They must have taken over 30 rugs in the last few years. I've really had enough if it.
 
I do sympathise, I hate all thieves with a vengeance not sure what the answer is though apart from breaking their legs.
30 rugs is a hell of alot to lose and very expensive, poor bloody horses, shame the horses dont keep away from them or better still, attack them.
Were you insured, can you still get insurance if you have had so many stolen?
No point in asking you what the police are doing!
Not alot they can do is there.
 
R yes, but it's their human rights you know to be taking stuff.....wonderful misunderstood culture of theivin lying flytipping intimidating....... lovely misunderstood downtrodden people with everyone against them, can't possibly think why...........
 
Oh god, I'm sorry :(

They stole the rugs off our lot when they were stabled. We went up there to find them loose on the yard, freezing cold in the middle of winter.

They were replaced the same day, so they returned and stole them all again the next night :mad:
 
Buy some small padlocks that are all keyed the same - and lock them on leg straps and chest straps. It's a pain when you have to undo them all but at least they are less likely to be pinched.

We have the same thing happen here in NZ - friends lost a whole load of summer sheets at the weekend, I lost one off the oldest horse in the paddock - they left him naked in the snow.

I don't have much money to spare and find it really hard to replace rugs. The past three winters I've left mine unrugged.
 
they are b4rst4rds


my friends yard got done and they only left one rug where horse was nasty and they couldnt get near it.


I know she padlocked her rug on her horse.

another sign used is * postcode* or else its a stolen rug.
keep eye on ebay tho most prob they use them on their horses.
they are the scum of the earth:mad:
 
Dont necessarily assume that it is travellers. A friend of ours had rugs stolen off her two horses backs in the snow and sub zero temperatures. The next day the rugs were spotted by someone on horses at a livery yard less than 10 miles away. They were able to identify and recover them as they had their postcodes on.
 
ISHmad said:
Dont necessarily assume that it is travellers. A friend of ours had rugs stolen off her two horses backs in the snow and sub zero temperatures. The next day the rugs were spotted by someone on horses at a livery yard less than 10 miles away. They were able to identify and recover them as they had their postcodes on.
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what d1ck he4ds :rolleyes: to use a rug with an obvious post code on it hope the thiefs got a rollicking
 
Leviathan said:
what d1ck he4ds :rolleyes: to use a rug with an obvious post code on it hope the thiefs got a rollicking
Click to expand...

UMMM ones who have absolutely no fear of the police and know that the police wont go into the site unless arms are involved, there are eye witnesses and CCTV (and then sometimes still wont!).

unless you have lived near a site, you wont understand the complete contempt some travellers hold the law in and how hard it is to get any authorities to enforce the law! They just do not want to go into sites. It costs a lot in police backup (if they dont take backup, the officers are threatened and even police car wheels are spiked or removed!) and they just dont want to get involved unless they have to. And 'petty' (to me theres no such thing, theft is theft and unless nipped in the bud leads to the untouchable attitudes) theft is not something the police are interested in.

You might know it's your rugs but unless you are up to confronting 20odd very threatening men on your own, you may as well whistle for them.
 
sorry for that not a great deal you can do tho.
keep an eye out for them being on horses in odd places then you can go and steal them back!!
This is why its actually useful to have a horse that wouldnt stand still for a stranger in a field no matter if you ahve food or not!! Pain in the ass when he also decides to run around in dusky skys as doesnt want to be caught til he has 5 mins of fun!!
 
Dizzydancer-sounds like my two!! The only way someone could get to mine is if they're in the back fields. However, to my boys that would be scarily not normal for someone to approach their field from the opposite direction to the gate, therefore two neurotic horses, galloping about, no chance of anyone they don't know getting anywhere near them!!
Op- sorry to hear about you rugs, people can be so disrespectful.
 
I know how you feel. The same thing happened to our horses in minus temperatures last year. I have delayed clipping and rugging the horses so far this year because I am dreading the same thing happening again.
As far as I am aware you are unable to insure the rugs because they are not locked up.
I didn't know you could use Smartwater on the rugs I will have to look into it!
 
So sorry this has happened again. Scumbags whoever did this,obviously aware that you will replace the rugs again time after time and know its easy pickings.Grrrrrrrrr

My cobblet and section A were rugged last year but not right now as of yet.Neither will let anyone BUT ME near them which is a blessing.

Id hold off on replacing with new rugs,instead Id invest in some old/tatty ones with repairs.(only for a month or so) Might put them off,thinking Oh we dont want old tatty rugs. lol

Anything is worth a try.

PS: What is SMART WATER????
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
UMMM ones who have absolutely no fear of the police and know that the police wont go into the site unless arms are involved, there are eye witnesses and CCTV (and then sometimes still wont!).

unless you have lived near a site, you wont understand the complete contempt some travellers hold the law in and how hard it is to get any authorities to enforce the law! They just do not want to go into sites. It costs a lot in police backup (if they dont take backup, the officers are threatened and even police car wheels are spiked or removed!) and they just dont want to get involved unless they have to. And 'petty' (to me theres no such thing, theft is theft and unless nipped in the bud leads to the untouchable attitudes) theft is not something the police are interested in.

You might know it's your rugs but unless you are up to confronting 20odd very threatening men on your own, you may as well whistle for them.
Click to expand...



a. yes i have live near travelers
b have had property damaged and stolen , if you read my quoted bit i was refering to the person who stole the rugs only to find them at a livery yard , that prob most prob was not travelers they dont normally keep horses in a livery yard:rolleyes:

A friend of ours had rugs stolen off her two horses backs in the snow and sub zero temperatures. The next day the rugs were spotted by someone on horses at a livery yard less than 10 miles away. They were able to identify and recover them as they had their postcodes on.
Click to expand...





SmartWater is an anti-criminal system marketed in the United Kingdom by Smartwater Technology Ltd.

It consists of a liquid containing a code which can be read under ultraviolet light.[1] It is intended to be applied to valuable items, so that if they are stolen and later seized by police, their original owner can be determined.[1] Another application is a sprinkler system that sprays a burglar with the (invisible) fluid, which cannot be washed off and lasts for months, to generate evidence which connects a suspect to a specific location.[2]

Development of SmartWater was started in the mid-1990s by Phil Cleary,[3] a retired police detective and later CEO of SmartWater Ltd, and his brother Mike Cleary, a chemist.[4]

SmartWater comes in three variants, "Index Solutions", "Indsol Tracer" and "SmartWater Instant", which use different techniques to embed such a code - which, according to Phil Cleary, allows "millions of chemical signatures" and is an identifier superior to genetic fingerprinting DNA.[4]
 
Last edited:
SmartWater is an anti-criminal system marketed in the United Kingdom by Smartwater Technology Ltd.

It consists of a liquid containing a code which can be read under ultraviolet light.[1] It is intended to be applied to valuable items, so that if they are stolen and later seized by police, their original owner can be determined.[1] Another application is a sprinkler system that sprays a burglar with the (invisible) fluid, which cannot be washed off and lasts for months, to generate evidence which connects a suspect to a specific location.[2]

Development of SmartWater was started in the mid-1990s by Phil Cleary,[3] a retired police detective and later CEO of SmartWater Ltd, and his brother Mike Cleary, a chemist.[4]

SmartWater comes in three variants, "Index Solutions", "Indsol Tracer" and "SmartWater Instant", which use different techniques to embed such a code - which, according to Phil Cleary, allows "millions of chemical signatures" and is an identifier superior to genetic fingerprinting DNA.[4][/QUOTE]


Thanks Leviathan. I have a pen that marks things,again can only been see under ultraviolet light. Got it from the police when they were doing a CRIME thing in town.Handy to have.
 
Leviathan said:
a. yes i have live near travelers
b have had property damaged and stolen , if you read my quoted bit i was refering to the person who stole the rugs only to find them at a livery yard , that prob most prob was not travelers they dont normally keep horses in a livery yard:rolleyes:
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Gosh thats pretty unusual I have to say - the numerous cases I have experienced and heard of (by people who dont exaggerate/spread unfounded rumours) have all been either proveably travellers (eg the ones from the farm next door to our old place whose rugs were being openly worn by the travellers horses the next week) or have been (coincidentally) all in a ring of about half a mile of a travellers site. Sometimes you will see them on the horses of a travellers site a few miles away instead - where the stolen goods are swapped to make them harder to trace.

Highly untypical for it to be someone at an official livery yard - in that case agree get them straight in the hands of the police!
 
If stolen rugs turn up in a livery yard, they've probably been sold on by the travelling gentlemen who "acquired" them.

I'm not sure about padlocking rugs on though, the worry is that they will try and force the rugs off and leave a horse charging round the field with a rug wrapped round his legs.
 
OK - desperate times call for desperate measures!

Get hold of some superglue and lots of different fabrics (or old clothes/charity shop items) - then get shredding... Firstly write your postcode in GLOSS paint on both sides and maybe 'Thief' across the rump then stick the odd material in places to make it appear like the rug has had lots of repairs and if possible still has some rips from a distance.

Small travel padlocks are also a good deterrent so use these too and cribbox or similar just above the buckles could also cause grief (just remember where you put it!)

I also know of someone who had 3 rugs taken off their horse's backs only to spot them in the next village a couple of weeks later, unfortunately there was no proof as they had not been marked with postcodes (only their names on the inside labels) and the police could not act, one was 'retrieved' in the spring but the other two never seen again :(
 
However, visibily marking the rugs would not (from the posts of people who have been through this with travellers) be any help as the police won't go into retrieve said rugs. The small padlocks, while a pain for you, would seem to be a good idea as its all about slowing someone down. What about large signs warning that the rugs are coated in a finish which is poisonous to humans? Might make think twice?

On a positive note, I do know someone, years ago, who had some coloured shetlands stolen. Police would not go to retreive the ponies though the owner knew they were there. Had a lot of fun and games with the travellers saying they owned them blah blah blah. Owner went in with her daughter and retrieved said ponies. Travellers actually then tried to claim ponies BACK! only for owner to then quote everything back at them that had been quoted at her. And she didn't put said ponies back where they had been stolen from originally.
 
Luci07 said:
However, visibily marking the rugs would not (from the posts of people who have been through this with travellers) be any help as the police won't go into retrieve said rugs. The small padlocks, while a pain for you, would seem to be a good idea as its all about slowing someone down. What about large signs warning that the rugs are coated in a finish which is poisonous to humans? Might make think twice?

On a positive note, I do know someone, years ago, who had some coloured shetlands stolen. Police would not go to retreive the ponies though the owner knew they were there. Had a lot of fun and games with the travellers saying they owned them blah blah blah. Owner went in with her daughter and retrieved said ponies. Travellers actually then tried to claim ponies BACK! only for owner to then quote everything back at them that had been quoted at her. And she didn't put said ponies back where they had been stolen from originally.
Click to expand...

Wow the cheek of some people. I dont think marking the rugs would avoid theft to certain rings of peeps. Theyre a law amonst themselves.
 
Smartwater is good - IF the items are siezed or checked by the Police, and I haven't been reading on this forum that the Police are particulary helpful when it comes to Equestrian related things.

What about a tracker?

if so many were going missing, that is a very expensive ongoing problem. I have no idea if you could get a tiny tracker (they can track mobiles I think) and then see in real time where they are going.

I wouldn't like to guess which 'community' is taking them, but auction places are easy enough to put anything in without question to realise the items into cash, and also Ebay, although you are a little more traceble (I'm guessing) on ebay.

Just thoughts, I'm not so technical minded but to me that would be worth a try.

I really feel for you. Good luck this winter!
 
I have spray painted all my rugs labouring under the assumption that they are less likely to be stole. Bit like freezemarking.

am i wrong?
 
A friend of mine has what he calles "landmines".
Its basically a tripwire attached to a blank gun thingy.
The thieves trip the wire, hear a gunshot and peg it. If they are not deterred hopefully it may spook your horses so they won't go near the thugs.
Failing that.. Massive outdoor spotlights, and some cheap CCTV with notices up.
 
Some of the rugs that were taken had our postcode/surname on but the P*K*YS aren't bothered and some of them share our postcode anyway. The field is around 40 acres and split into many different fields with a bridlepath at the top so preventing access is virtually impossible.

We know it's them stealing the rugs as people up on the bridlepath at the top of the field have seen them going through the fence at the bottom, where rather conveniently the field backs onto their houses and grazing. They used to ride the horses as well. We'd find them with string round their necks or headcollars on, but thankfully that hasn't happened for a few years. We know exactly who does all this and where they live but it doesn't help the situation.
 
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