A family is desperately seeking the return of their rescue pony, who was snatched from his field at the weekend.
Black Welsh section C Ebony was discovered missing on Saturday morning (2 December) when his owner Lucy Cant went to check on him.
She found his two field mates in their paddock in Five Roads, Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, Wales, but there was no sign of Ebony.
Lucy believed the 13hh pony could be elsewhere in the large paddock so searched the perimeter.
When she had no luck, she contacted the land owner who looked in the surrounding fields in a tractor.
He also failed to find Ebony and suggested Lucy call the police.
“I was quite numb when I called them,” Lucy told H&H. “I sat there thinking what on earth am I going to tell Tallulah, my youngest daughter.”
The now 10-year-old Ebony was rehomed by the family five years ago from Trallwm Farm rescue centre in south Wales.
He was an early 10th birthday present for Lucy’s daughter Evie and since then he has been passed down to her two younger daughters.
The girls enjoy hacking with Ebony, who is “a really lovely pony” and easy to handle.
“If you shook a bucket he would be first and is always looking in your pockets,” said Lucy.
“Ebony would do anything for a carrot or mint – he’s supposed to be on a diet as he’s quite chubby.”
Lucy also discovered that her mare Miami’s rug had been taken off the same night Ebony was taken.
She thinks the thieves may have tried to take Miami, but she was less easy to catch than Ebony, as she was acting as “mummy” to youngster Alf, who was also kept in the field.
Lucy said her daughters are “absolutely devastated”. Their cousin Darcie made a poster to help trace Ebony.
Today (6 December), a drone searched the area surrounding Ebony’s field.
“It failed to find any sign of Ebony,” added Lucy.
“I’m absolutely gutted. It feels like it was the last chance that everyone was mistaken and he hadn’t been stolen.”
Ebony is black with a black mane and tail and a white blaze and pink muzzle. He has two hind socks and a few white hairs on his off fore coronet.
A spokesman for Dyfed-Powys Police urged anyone with any information to contact the force by calling 101.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday
