UPDATED: Teenager’s horse found dead after being taken from Hengrave field

A teenager is heart broken after her beloved horse was found dead last night about 24 hours after she was taken from her field.

Esther Roberts, 18, from West Stow, checked her horse Etti in a field at Mill Road, Hengrave, at about 7.30pm on Wednesday night, but said she was ‘devastated’ when she returned next morning, at about 8am, and found the electric fencing pulled down and the mare missing.

She reported it to the police, put up posters, used social media and the Bury Free Press website put out an appeal.

But just after midnight,Esther emailed the BFP saying: “She has been found dead in some woods. My heart is breaking.”

She told Facebook followers: “She had been forcefully taken from her field and then dumped in some woods soon after, where she went down with colic, due to the stress, and passed away.”

Colic is a painful and often severe intestinal condition in horses which can be brought on by stress and can be fatal, especially if not immediately treated. Etti was found with cuts in her mouth, as if something harsh had been used to lead her, and with cuts to her stomach.

Etti, who was eight and had been owned by Esther for two years, was an Irish Draught cross and was bay, which means her body is brown while her mane and tail are black. Her lower front legs were also black but she had white socks on her back legs and a white blaze (stripe) on her face.

Suffolk Police are investigating the incident and anyone who saw horse transport, or suspicious activity in the Mill Road area on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning should call Bury St Edmunds police on 101 quoting reference BR-15-774.