James Penny recovered two of six animals that went missing from the New Forest, including the mare just behind him - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

Perched in his sparse kitchen, beef farmer James Penny seems edgy. But once he’s outside in the fields he visibly relaxes, approaching his animals softly and with unexpected tenderness.

The farmer is clearly heartbroken. Three weeks ago, six of his 25 Shetland ponies – many bred by him on his land near the village of Cadnam in the New Forest, nine miles from Southampton – disappeared, presumed stolen. On Saturday, following a two-week nationwide social media campaign, two mares – a mother and her three-year-old foal, just 28 inches high – were recovered 75 miles away in London, roaming along a roadside.

They were starving, he believes, and had lost some 15kg each. The youngster was red raw on her flank where, Penny alleges, someone had tried to razor off the branding of his initials. When Penny and his neighbours rushed to collect them, it was the first time in the 70-something’s life that he had ventured onto the M25.

Each of Penny’s herd of Shetland ponies is branded with his initials - Natalie Marsh/Solent News & Photo Agency

“You can’t do anything, you’re sort of helpless,” he explains quietly of the sense of loss that tormented him, and still does. The fact he is a man of few words makes his restrained emotion even more devastating to witness. These animals are “pets” and he could tell immediately that they were traumatised – the distressed mother, who had still been feeding a year-old foal back at the farm, galloped away from it around a field for three hours.

“It’s just the way they looked at you, they were off – wild eyes. And something we call ‘tucked up’,” he adds, explaining how he knew they were starving. “They draw their stomach in like a greyhound – with no food you can see that stress.”

A few days on and the recovered ponies still warily stand back from the herd. The youngster, named Snippy for the “snip of white” on her nose, is furthest away, her little brown face stock still, her big eyes watchful, her body taut. She has a visible brown patch from the deep shaving. Penny wafts hay towards her gently, his angular shoulders slumped with concern. Of the missing four he says: “You’re just thinking about them, waiting…”

The younger pony, Snippy, has a patch where an attempt was made to shave her branding off - Ollie Thompson/Solent News & Photo Agency

His neighbours are nervous. While Penny’s are the only ponies known to have disappeared from the forest this summer, numerous Commoners (the name for those who live here who have certain legal rights to graze livestock on the ancient land) have been living in dread of losing their own ponies, fearing thieves at large. Three admit they have been sleeping in their yards in barns, caravans and even horseboxes to guard them.

Only this week have they started to ease off. While no suspect has been confirmed in relation to the theft of Penny’s Shetlands, the Commoners admit they have reluctantly pointed their suspicions towards a large group of travellers who arrived in the forest shortly before the animals went missing. A few, including Penny, describe encounters in their yards, fields and liveries with members of the community which has now moved on.

The stolen mares were reunited with Penny and brought back to the New Forest after being found in London - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

Penny claims that on July 17 he came across a group of traveller men and children handling one of his mares a few evenings before he realised his ponies were missing. “There was a man who had hold of one by the mane,” he claims. “They had a truck and a car there and a bowl of food. They had gripped hold of her and she was pulling a bit.

“I said ‘what do you think you’re doing?’ and they said they were showing the kids [the pony]. He released her then. I said they were all branded and microchipped.” With a “bad feeling”, the next morning Penny gathered the Shetlands and moved them from the common to his field. He discovered his six ponies missing between July 20 and 22.

So does Penny believe the travellers came back and took the Shetlands? “Yes, it’s no good beating about the bush, you might as well say it,” he says frankly, adding: “The ponies were there before they arrived and disappeared when they arrived.”

George Hunt, 44, who keeps three riding ponies including a forest pony and a coloured one – so-called for its brown and white markings – in a livery three miles up the road, called police around the same dates when on three occasions, she claims, members of the traveller community attempted to enter her yard. “We were all tending to our horses, and (three young lads) jumped over the back gate,” she says, perched on bags of horse feed in the store where she works. She says they made three attempts at different times so she, along with five others, spent nine nights sleeping there in cars. “I had around 10 hours’ sleep [the whole time].”

George Hunt says travellers attempted to enter her yard at around the same time Penny’s ponies disappeared - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

At another local farm the owner, who asks to remain anonymous because she fears reprisals, sounds extremely tired. She also stayed up shifts with her husband in their store barn for seven nights. They have 25 New Forest ponies and a livery. They contacted police about numerous concerns, including travellers entering their land with torches late at night, and chasing the ponies on quad bikes, she claims. “It was a very stressful time. Everybody was tired from lack of sleep. It was just really unsettling,” she says.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirms that between July 17 and 19 it received “a number of reports of incidents in that location including suspicious individuals trespassing on farmland, quad bikes being driven over land and distress being caused to horses”. It also confirms the travellers’ camp was unauthorised and officers used their powers to move them on.

On the theft of Penny’s ponies, a spokesman says: “We understand this incident is causing great concern in the local community, and urge anyone with information about the incident, who may be involved, or any suspicious people or vehicles in the area to please report this to police immediately.”

Neighbour Leesa Merritt, 58, a training manager, and her daughter Anna, 22, also slept in their yard, in their horse box, up to a couple of nights ago. They have had their ponies since “they were babies”, Anna explains. She started the social media search for Penny’s ponies and Leesa was part of the “rescue squad” on Saturday.

Leesa and Anna Merritt, who helped with the search for neighbour Penny’s ponies - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

The appeal was shared “over a couple of thousand times very early on”, Anna says. The breakthrough report came last Friday that a notice had been placed on a lost-and-found site in Hillingdon, west London, of two Shetlands loose on a lane near Harefield village. One had been caught and stabled, the other was still loose in a maize field. They both had Penny’s branding.

When they arrived in London, usually friendly Snippy backed away. “I couldn’t get near her,” Penny says. They spent three hours in a 20-acre maize field trying to entice the mother. “She was frightened to death,” says Penny. “She looked pretty empty, starved. She knew my voice but we couldn’t get within 100 yards.” Only now can he get within a few metres.

It is not only the Commoners who fear pony theft. On July 11 a Shetland foal called Lucy, just two months old, went missing near Truro, Cornwall. Her owner Jean Curd, 73, who has a herd of 14 Shetlands, told The Telegraph the foal’s mother had been “distraught”; Lucy had not been weaned. She was taken from a field during the night and has not been found. Curd fears she may not have survived.

“It was really distressing, her mother kept going back to the gap in the fence, calling,” she says. “It was awful. At that age it is so difficult to keep them alive she would be of no value, but she was valuable to me.” Furthermore, in May a six-year-old miniature pony, 30in-high Mini Mouse, was taken from her stable in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Police say enquiries are ongoing.

Shetland ponies such as Penny’s aren’t particularly valuable, but may be attractive to thieves because of their size - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

David Collings, coordinator at Hampshire Horsewatch, states that horse theft is nowhere near as prevalent as it once was, but “there may be a trend in the offing”, although he reiterates that “given the spacing of the thefts there is no way of making a positive connection to any of them.”

“This number of thefts is not large in the greater scheme of things but obviously a worry for owners,” Collings adds. He encourages people to review their security, comply with legislation to microchip their horses and keep clear photographs of them in their winter and summer coats. “The recent thefts are of concern and the equine community can assist one another and the police by reporting suspicious behaviour on or near equine properties.”

While riding ponies are valued in their thousands, the Shetlands are worth just £500-800 each, says Penny. Collings believes they are attractive to thieves because of their size. “They are easy to transport away in a van or large car. These ponies can easily be sold on. It could be that they were stolen with a view to breeding them.”

Penny won’t turn his herd loose on the forest for a while. They will remain in his field, which is unusual, even in winter. The other ponies are struggling to accept Snippy and her mum, and he wants to see their trauma ease. He softly rattles the handle of his bucket again, but the pair just turn and walk away.

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