Thursday saw a sad day in horse racing and for especially ex racehorse owner Sally Bentley who found her timber stable blocks and complete stable had been taken apart and stolen from the field along with her neighbours stable aswell last Thursday night.
The Lincolnshire based horse lover has issued a warning to fellow horse owners after the theft wasn't the worst of the terrible act as the alleged criminals left her horse, who was a finalist in the Retraining of Racehorses Heart awards, left fighting for her life after the thieves had barged into the stables and overall took three complete stable blocks.
The thieves also left a dry ban feed in the field that was believed to be poisonous that could have been really harmful to the horses.
The ex racehorse is called Magical lasso and was one of three horses in the field at the stables and he was taken to Oakham Equine Veterinary Hospital after showing signs of Colic from eating neat feed that may have been poisonous as it should have been watered down.
(Credit Racing Post) Sally Bentley said: "That morning we discovered the thieves had taken the horses out of their stables, corralled them into the field and then put three bags of dried feed into the field.
My horse, Magical Lasso, showed signs of colic and at 4pm he went down in the field. The veterinary team fitted a naso-gastric tube and administered a charcoal, sponge, magnesium and parrafin mixture to flush him and to absorb toxins but we were told there was a risk of colic, septicaemia and laminitis."
The owner said the five-year-old began to show signs of recovery on Sunday: "He was in a critical condition until yesterday but made progress this morning and seems to have turned a corner.
"The irony is we were only at the RoR end-of-season party last week celebrating at the RoR Heart awards. Then to think a week later he would be fighting for his life.
"We love our ex-racers and believe the training they get in racing makes them so versatile. We want people to be vigilant – I don't want anyone to go through what we have gone through."
This is such a sad event and Bentley has paid tribute to Kevin Jardine who has came up with a way to raise some capital following the criminal act that is subsequently being looked into by the Lincolnshire Police.
Bentley said:"We've got two of the most amazing horses from Kevin and he has set up a fund to help buy us some new stables."