possible break in to field or spooky horses?

[podkinpie]

We are trying to work out if there was a possible attempted break in to the field last night.
The electric fencing and posts were dragged right across the field and the two bottom pieces of wire from a three tiered wire fence look like they have been cut.
They lead into a corner field that then leads on to the main road, but there is no gate there, in fact there is a gate next to where the wire was broken leading from the main field to this little field into the small field.
The question is why wouldn't the thieves just use the unlocked gate and wouldn't you automatically cut the top wire first one first.
The other scenario is that the horses got spooked by fireworks and maybe thunder and went AWOL, but could they really break two pieces of wire , and not the top one and not be hurt, and it looked like a clean break.However we are not sure if the bottom two might have been fastened together with a twisted bit of wire as it was fixed recently by the field owner when a trees branch broke it(its under some trees).
Also the electric fence was turned off , but I cannot remember if I turned it on or off as I dont always keep it on every night!
Neither scenario seems to make sense.
The horses seemed fine this morning but were really jittery tonight.

My daughter wants us to go and sit it out in the car all night.
I am not keen- but would never forgive myself if anything happened tonight.

Has anyone had experience of doing this.
I would have thought that they wouldn't come back for a second night?
What would you do if they turned up-Would the police come asap?
What time of night do these things usually happen?

There seems to have been quite a bit of this going on around Bristol recently!

What would you do?

[pipgibson]

Not sure what to do. Sorry.

But I am very close to you Podkinpie and I do worry about my boy. Just as every-one worries about there horses. I do hope it was nothing to worry about.

Let me know, Will You??

[specialsparkle3]

Was the ground really churned up near the broken fence? The fireworks could easily have spooked them, but you should be able to tell from the state of the field.

[Casper]

Don't know what to say. It is possible that the horses got spooked and dragged the wire and posts across the field - have seen that happen before. Seems pretty unlikely that thieves would cut the wire if there was an open gate available? But who knows.

See my thread "Yard Targetted in Northants"

If you have any remote concerns about your horses being stolen PLEASE have them freezemarked if they aren't done already. Clover is microchipped but not freezemarked at the moment and we are going to get her done asap now. We had Bobby freezemarked when we got him.

There are no words to say how sick I feel having to turn my two horses out tonight, when they have been in at night since the beginning of October in case some bar stewards come back and this time we aren't so lucky and they either hurt Bobby or let him out.

[podkinpie]

I am so sorry to hear your news Casper .I will be thinking of you tonight.
I think that we will have to sit it out!
I am planning to get them freezemarked , the sooner the better.
This is such a continual worry isnt it!

[lindaandrascal]

It is possible the horse found the fence switched off and had a bit of fun with it.
Our electric fencers have gone missing three times, and someone has turned it off more than once. Our posts have been broken and scattered all over the fields in bits of about a foot long. Last time we chained the fencer to something heavy and attatched an alarm (personal alarm from a diy shop) so that if the fencer is pulled out of the ground the alarm goes off (we did get the horses used to the noise first) and its almost impossible to turn off. Last time someone visited, the fencer was switched off, the battery dissconected not just pulled off the way a horse would, the persoal alarm had been pulled appart by someone trying to pull the fencer out of the ground, and that going off must have made them decide to forget it because the fencer was still there! Weve now replaced the battery in the alarm, much cheaper than a new fencer.
The police here were very helpful when we had our tack stolen two years ago this month, but with unwanted visitors and things being broken or odd things going missing here and there they cant do much. Cant even find the field now as it has no postcode or name! What ever happened to coppers knowing their patch??

Please be carful if you do sit in the car, these "people" are not going to be put off! At our yard before we went there a trailer was stolen, the woman saw them towing it away and parked across the drive to stop them, they threatened her, and moved her car by force! Of course the number plates on the theives car were false.

[Casper]

Aw thank you Podkin Pie - and I'll be thinking of you and your gang too. Hopefully it was the fireworks which set them off, rather than anything more sinister. It is a worry, you are so right. Although I am upset at turning them out in such horrible conditions, better that they are out and safe than in and potentially in danger. And with your horses, don't forget that these scum want the quickest, easiest route in and out - so if there were thieves around I am pretty sure they would have used the gate.

Keep an eye on the fencing morning, noon and night to see if there is any pattern - but hopefully it was New Years Eve fireworks and nothing else.

[podkinpie]

Oh well-Just off to the field!!!!!!!!!