The Mystery of the Missing Headcollars

unbalanced

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Please help or I am actually going to lose my mind. On Sunday night I hung up my leather headcollar outside my stable as usual. YO turned out for me at about 9pm, by which time the headcollar was no longer there. This is a new headcollar which was bought to replace the previous one which vanished without a trace less than a month ago. A week before that, the girl in the stable next to me had hers go.
1. I have asked the farmer, his wife (YO) and both other liveries as well as the men who work on the farm. No one would have had reason to move it unless it was for a loose horse or something as they all have their own and no one shares.
2. It is not really the sort of yard where people steal. There are only three of us and you would see it on someone's horse.
3. I can't imagine someone coming in off the street to steal it. It's a headcollar not a saddle. £50 in headcollars is a big deal to me but too much risk for not enough gain I should think for a thief. If you were going to come from outside to steal surely you would steal farm machinery or even an opportunist would have picked up the rugs the other livery had left out.
4. A badger or fox that likes leather? The other livery usually leaves her stuff on the floor and my horse sometimes chucks hers on the floor.
5. I have triple checked my tack room in case I put it away but no.
Any ideas? It has to be somewhere... It can't just vanish.
 

fatpiggy

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We found a leather headcollar, well the remains of it, in the field once and it had clearly been chewed and dismembered by some sharp teeth, so I wouldn't rule out the fox. Meanwhile I would always clip the headcollar to a tie-ring because if nothing else it is safely off the floor/out of the wet. If it still goes, then I would be looking at human, not animal "visitors". As for its value, well a thief will steal anything that isn't nailed down. Once time I found my spare bale of Hemcore had ben opened. A couple of days later the entire bale vanished. I suspect the thief had taken a sample for their "client" who confirmed it was the right stuff, then they came back for the rest of it. Very odd!
 

be positive

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I lost a leather headcollar once from outside the stable overnight, it was found some time later, well chewed, in the middle of a field near a badger sett, I think a very hungry badger will tackle almost anything so it may well be where yours has gone. A brand new one will smell fairly strongly, I would buy cheap synthetic ones for day to day use and keep a good leather one locked away for now.
 

StoptheCavalry

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I once left some mountain horse chaps in the open porch of my house (still attached to my boots) I came down in the morning to find my boots and chaps on the front lawn and something had nibbled through the leather straps on the boots. We used to have a few foxes around so put it down to that but was very odd! :)
 

WelshD

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Dare I say it - its the very thing that little girls that love horses would pick up along with brushes....

Other than that perhaps someone lazy going to get their horse and realising their headcollar is elsewhere
 

The Fuzzy Furry

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I've had headcollars unhooked from outside stables by Foxy & found out in a field, not often, but perhaps once or twice a year.
Please dont tie a headcollar if outside stable -unless horse cannot reach it as have seen nasty accident from horse pulling back & ripping a tooth out!

However, the main perpetrator has only come in during summer lighter evenings....
As said above - its a 2 legged variety (usually under adult age:rolleyes:) with a penchant for pretty headcollars, brushes - anything low value (but important!) that is left in the yard :mad:
It stopped when I put signs up 'Smile, you are on CCTV once you have entered this yard' :)
 

becca1305

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I wouldn't rule out a fox ours is a terrible thief and steals anything left lying around - he has a particular penchant for brushing boots, but also stole one of my sealskin gloves I'd dropped in the dark on way up to house and chewed the fingers off, we weren't friends for a bit after that, but then he brought us a pineapple(!) to make up for it ;). I often find things hes stolen in the menage or field sometimes chewed and other times just taken for the hell of it, I reckon hes hiding laughing at me when I scour the fields for items I accidentally left out :D.
 

3OldPonies

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I wouldn't rule out the local wildlife either, unless the headcollar had been buckled through a tie ring.

I recently had a red kite make off with a fybagee leg pad - god only knows why it wanted that!!! V. frustrating - now have a set of 3 and the remains of the 4th are at the top of a tree:D
 

Fransurrey

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It's in the same place as my nice hoof pick and wooden spoon, I expect. Both mysteriously vanished between Monday night and Tuesday morning. Nothing has gone missing before and I leave the yard tomorrow. Make of it what you will.
 

*hic*

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All the leather headcollars from my horses that have outside stables now have plentiful fox toothmarks in and have had to be rescued from some bizarre places including half buried in the sand school. I now have to hang them over five feet from the floor or they get stolen and chewed up. The horses stabled in the barn haven't had this trouble!
 

Bobbly

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One morning I went to turn my boys out as usual and absent mindedly reached for a headcollar, which normally hangs on a hook on their top doors, it wasn't there, nor was the other boys on his door, in fact three were missing along with two mangy chewed ropes, none of the headcollars were in very good condition, one had the dog clip throat catch snapped and they were all nylon....there were rugs hanging outside which weren't taken, most odd! Though it did prompt us to up the security on the yards and sheds!!
 

unbalanced

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I went hunting around where the darn fox hangs out with no success. HOWEVER when I was cantering up a hill on my hack tonight I saw a shiny purple thing on the floor. I got off to look and it was £30! Nobody was around so I think it is clearly meant to replace my headcollar. :)
 

Nicnac

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Sounds like a fox. I've had whips, brushes, lead ropes etc. go missing and I've got horses at home so defo not a fellow livery ;)

Having found a koi carp in the school recently; tonight it was egg shells. Obviously Mr Fox has been helping himself to neighbours chicken eggs and burying them in my school. :rolleyes:
 

redmone

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My cat stole a neighbours roast beef joint from her conservatory! Dragged it in through the cat flap still warm and wrapped in string!

We never told her, just cut the edges off and......yum yum yum....

: )
 

ROMANY 1959

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A year ago I turned big lad out, hung newish headcolar and roap on gate post, went to feed store, did feeds, mucked out, brushed yard and 5 hrs later went to get him in... No headcolar.!
Where it went I've no idea, it never turned up, big lad couldn't reach it, only me on yard... Place deserted. All I can put it to is there is a public footpaths other side of the field, did someone take it while walking the foot pth . They would have been out of sight of the yard... Or did a fox take it. Who knows... Brushes have gone walkies too, and bags of horse treats.
 

RubysGold

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I had similar about 2 weeks ago. Baffled me
I tie up to tack up, so I tacked up, fastened the headcollar through the tie ring and went for a ride. Came back, no headcollar. 2 liveries were with me, and I spoke to all the other liveries and no one had moved it. It turned up on the floor in another tack room, (we all have separate ones, and that livery was riding with me)
I was very confused...... until this week, I went for a ride and one of the 2 liveries that had been with me, saw YOs daughter undoing it. we think she'd took it to play with and her mum had found her maybe and put it in nearest tack room
 
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