Stolen horse reunited with owner after eight years

A rare cremello horse that was stolen in Scotland eight years ago has been reunited with his owner after he was found in Yorkshire.

Polo, a 13-year-old stallion, was taken during a break-in at a farm in Morayshire in 2018.

He was discovered in Shipley by West Yorkshire Police's Wildlife and Rural Crime Team after "community intelligence" located him and he was returned to Zoe Urquart on Thursday evening.

Urquart said she was never expecting to hear he had been found, and it was "absolutely fantastic" to have him home. "I'd given up on the idea that he would ever be located a number of years ago. So it was a massive shock," she said.

"I got a phone call completely out of the blue at four o'clock in the afternoon and I had to make an instant decision on what I was going to do.

"He was uplifted within three hours and en route."

Urquart discovered Polo was missing after her farm was targeted by thieves and the stud horse, who was then just a foal, had vanished.

Over the next eight years she heard almost nothing about his whereabouts, then last week she received a call "out of the blue" from the police.

"I did get the odd message from people who have looked out for him and thought they'd seen him, but no confirmed sightings at all," she said.

He was in a "really poor" condition after years of being neglected, she said, with a tumour on his undercarriage and sore eyes.

"His veterinary and rehabilitation care will span into thousands of pounds, if they had several foals a year from him, they'd have made tens of hundreds of pounds, but neglected his health," she said.

"He has quite a large sarcoid which is a form of tumour that will need to be removed by the bow."

She said he was found running with mares in a field, and she suspected he had been stolen because of his genetics.

"Genetically he is quite a rare colour. Perlino cremello foals are not so unheard of now, but certainly going back in time they were really quite rare," she said.

Perlino and cremello horses have pale coats, pink skin and blue eyes.

Despite his condition, Polo is settling well back into life at the Morayshire stables.

"He's going to get the best of care and we'll get him back to the way he should be," said Urquart.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "Following some community intelligence in Shipley, enquiries were made with Police Scotland, the microchip number was checked and it was established that it was a horse stolen in 2018.

"The horse was seized and enquiries into the original offence are ongoing."

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