AN attempted horse theft took place on Thursday night with a gate removed from its hinges into a field containing three ponies.

The field, which was just off the A379 near Aveton Gifford, was checked by Annette Gubbay of South Hams Pet Care on Friday morning.

Annette said she was looking after the three ponies grazing near AG and when she turned up to check on them on Friday morning, she found that ‘someone had removed a very heavy farm gate from its hinges and accessed the ponies field’.

She said the gate at the other end of the field was ‘still secured, chained and padlocked’, but that it would have ‘taken at least two strong people to remove the gate and shift it, opening into the field, as it took three of us to get it back on and secure it’.

Annette continued: ‘I can only presume they were disturbed as the ponies were still there although the gate had just been abandoned, open. I contact the police and posted on Facebook to warn other horse owners in the area.’

Apparently there was another attempt to steal horses from the local area two weeks ago, and one of those horses had a plait in its mane, thought to be a mark as to which one to steal.

Kingsbridge Police followed this up by posting on Facebook on Monday evening, saying: ‘There have been a few suspicious incidents recently which leads us to believe that people may be attempting to steal livestock.

‘Sheep rustling and wildlife crimes often cause amusement amongst some people, however these animals are not only living creatures but somebody’s livelihood.

‘If you see somebody acting suspiciously around farms then please gather as much information about them as possible - vehicle registration numbers, colours of vehicles, size of trailers, descriptions of suspects, direction of travel - and call the police. Call 999 if a crime is in progress or call 101 if it is to pass information about a non-emergency.

‘If you are a farmer, you can join the Devon and Cornwall Police Community Messaging Scheme where you will be sent a text or email about any incidents which have happened or are happening. Details are available on the website.’