Horse stolen from a field in Hallen, Bristol
(BS10 - Tuesday, 15 January, 2008)

Police are appealing for help in finding a horse which has been stolen from a field in Hallen, on the outskirts of Bristol. At 14.30hrs yesterday (Monday) the owner discovered that the horse was missing, although the last positive sighting of it was at 16.00hrs on Sunday.

Murphy is a 16.3 hands high grey Belgium warm blood gelding, who was kept with two other horses in a field which backs onto the M49 off Hallen Road. He was taken by someone who removed three rails on a post and a wire fence.

The offenders would have walked him up a lane and through brambles on the side of the road. After removing the rails from the post, the rails were placed back onto the nails of the posts they had been pulled from, to stop other horses escaping from the field.

A trailer or horsebox would have been needed.

What is even more worrying about this is that the particular horse in question has been diagnosed with a form of equine motor neuron disease, and his back legs can buckle underneath him at any time so he is not safe to ride and was turned away for the winter to try to recuperate. He has scarring to his right front pastern which he cut badly last year on barbed wire.

AVON
BS10