A BARRHEAD woman’s pony had his mane ripped out and was left with a lame leg after would-be thieves tried to steal him from a field.

Rachael Colton was alerted to the bizarre incident on the morning of Sunday, September 22 when a Facebook user posted a picture of her son, Alfie’s, Shetland pony, wandering around the entrance to the Gleniffer Braes on the town’s Graham Street – more than one-mile from where he is kept.

Luckily, she was able to get to where seven-year-old Woody was, to bring him home.

The mum-of-one told the Barrhead News: “I was sitting on Facebook on the Sunday morning feeding Alfie and someone had put up a post on saying they had found a pony up at the entrance to the Gleniffer Braes at the top of Graham Street – I suddenly realised it was Woody.

“I went into a total panic – I went up to try and catch him with a dog lead because it was all I had in the back of my pick up. I couldn’t get him back out through onto Graham Street because of the pedestrian entrance so the man who found him came up and pulled down a fence for me.

“We had to walk him down a few flights of stairs onto someone’s driveway to get him out and I had to walk him home in the rain and thunder and lightning.

“He was so knackered and lame.

“Before Woody was taken, he was out in the field with a field shelter with his wee donkey companion and me and my husband were worried about where he was as well.

“When we got there, we realised that whoever tried to take him had buckled my front gate to get him out of the tiny space and ripped all of his mane in the process.

“They also stolen the chains off of my second gate, with no doubt to use to wrap round his neck and lead him. He’s doing fine now but he still has a sore leg.”

A spokesman for the police confirmed they received a report that someone has attempted to steal a Shetland pony and enquiries are ongoing.

Rachael added: “The police have been going door to door asking for any CCTV from houses in the area on the route from where he was possibly taken.”

If you have any information that could help, you are encouraged to contact 101.