Sometimes loaning your equine out can go smoothly and happily-but it can also go heartbreakingly wrong. Here is the very sad story we have just been informed about concerning Gwen and Lady.

Two horses from Norfolk that cannot be ridden may have been stolen by a loanee, and sold on elsewhere in the UK, it is feared.
Owner Emma Hitchcox is worried about the whereabouts of the mares, as one is elderly and retired, and the other has the back condition, kissing spines. “I fear they may have been sold on as riding horses, and am desperately worried for their welfare,” Emma explains.
Emma put the two mares on loan as companions in mid-October 2008, having posted advertisements in the equestrian press asking for a good loan home for the two horses.
The loanee, supposedly ‘Clare Carter’, requested to take the mares to her home in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, as companions for the cobs she bred, and signed a BHS-designed loan agreement with Emma. However, Emma has since heard nothing from the loanee, whose phone is not taking calls, and upon visiting the address supplied, found no such address existed.
The woman collected Emma’s horses in a large 4×4 pick-up vehicle and a green Ifor Williams Trailer. She had a young (pre-school age) son with her.
When Emma searched online for Clare’s phone number, it appeared in old ‘HorseHunter’ and ‘Gumtree’ adverts for horses for sale, leading Emma to worry this lady was in fact a dealer, and had illegally sold her horses on.

Horses’ details:
Lady (Cameo Performance)
15-20 year old, 16hh, bright chestnut mare, with stripe. Has overshot knees, flat feet and mild arthritis, and dislikes walking on stones or hard surfaces. Freezemark 4D1F. Has a grumpy temperament when not wearing a head-collar.

Gwendolyn
Bright bay, 16.1hh, unregistered French trotter with French passport, 10 years old, with kissing spines, and some arthritis. Poor conformation and large, unrefined head with a blaze. Two distinct white spots on her back from a hornet sting. Lovely nature – not freeze-marked. Can be tricky to catch.

Gwen

Lady

If anyone has any information on the horses, they should contact Emma on 07796 322065 / e.hitchcox@btinternet.com

We always try and urge people that can no longer care for their equines for one reason or another not to just give them away or loan them out, but to consider gifting them to an Equine Association or charity. If people want to gift their equines to ERF, we then assess all prospective homes before re-homing them under a life time contract. The association always remains the owner of these equines which is why we always need donations should these equines ever need to come back into our care.