HORSE WATCH

Horse Watch is a development from Neighbourhood Watch which caters for
the particular issues in regard to crime that are faced by those in our neighbourhoods who own horses, stables and other equestrian related property. It is a sad fact that some thieves have recognised that there is a
ready market for stolen horses and equestrian "tack". Clearly much of such property only has a market in the equestrian world so Horse Watch fulfils
two objectives:-

(i) to warn the owners of horses, stables, horse boxes and
trailers and other related equipment to take great care of it by properly
securing it when it is not in use or when premises are left unattended and

(ii) to alert those people who are approached with the offer of a "bargain",
the seller of which is unknown, even if they have what appears to be a
credible story as to why the property/animal is being sold, that it may have
been stolen, possibly from somewhere far distant. The occupants of the
horse world are fairly well known to one another in local areas and the thief
recognises this fact and is willing to travel many miles to off load his ill-gotten gains.

With this in mind, although Horse Watch operates on a local basis,
"UK Horse Watch" monitors the scene nationally and, where appropriate, circulates information about equestrian crime beyond single police force boundaries. One thing that you might like to consider if you own horses or equestrian equipment is to ensure that you have photographs of it so that, if you are unlucky enough to be a victim of such crime, photographs of the stolen animal/equipment can be used in the alerts that are sent out.

In addition the Horse Watch Team monitor equine sales and follow up
reports and observations in respect of equine abuse, neglect and/or cruelty. Anyone can report instances of this in complete confidence (or anonymously) to the Neighbourhood Watch Administrator (Adrian Symonds - use the "Contact Us" button on the left and complete the message form appropriately) and this will be relayed to the Horse Watch Team for their use. In all cases the team work only in liaison with the Police and/or RSPCA.

Horse Watch provide other services from time to time such as tack marking, freeze marking, and chipping, as well as informing members via a newsletter of any new developments in products or crime trends.

There is no doubt that by observation, prompt reporting and/or communicating any offence (or suspected offence) to Horse Watch that the Police and Equine Owners and Equine Sales throughout the British Isles and beyond will be alerted within hours, sometimes within minutes.

You can be part of that process and help fight the problems equine owners face with increasing and worrying regularity

Horse Watch is Looking Out for You