The Times of London carried a story on February 3, 2001 by Carol Price about a con game involving obtaining horses by promising care but sending them to slaughter or re-selling them:

JUST over a month ago Susan Walker made a costly mistake. For a "token" £20 she handed over her daughter's outgrown pony, Tara, to a man she did not know.

Walker (not her real name) did it because "he was in his seventies and seemed so trustworthy and plausible", and because he convinced her he would be providing Tara with a permanent loving home. The 12-year-old mare, he said, would be kept as a companion for his own horse, and Walker and her 17-year-old daughter could visit her any time they liked.

Only days after Tara had made an emotional departure from the Walkers' home in Berkshire did the horrible truth emerge. Walker had been conned by a dealer who, instead of offering Tara comfort and security for the rest of her days, as promised, was going to sell the mare on for a large profit at the earliest opportunity.

"Every time I have phoned this man, either to see Tara or to buy her back," says Walker, "all I have got is a mouthful of terrible abuse. Having got my daughter's pony under false pretences, he now maintains he 'bought' her for £20 and is entitled to do with her whatever he likes. I fear we will never see Tara again. It is driving me out of my mind with worry, and I can't believe I could have been naive enough to let it happen."

Walker spends all her free time searching for Tara at local horse sales and auctions. She has not yet told her daughter what has really happened to the pony.

Police in Hampshire alone are investigating 60 cases of horses and ponies that were dishonestly taken off their owners, much like Tara, in the belief that they were going to long-term, caring new homes.

Only two of the animals involved have been traced and recovered. It is believed that others could have been sold to the meat trade, but most will be sold on, via advertisements or auctions, to new owners who will not know the horse's true background or health record. Many chronic lameness problems, for example, can be temporarily masked by high doses of the painkiller Phenylbutazone ("bute").

"We are looking at a widespread scam occurring on a national level," says WPC Sandra Kent, part of the Hampshire Police investigation team. "Owners will be taken in by ads placed by dealers in local papers or the equine press asking for 'companion horses'.

"When they ring up they give a spiel about how the horse will spend its life in comfort keeping another one company. If you have an outgrown pony, an older horse, one that is unsound or one you can no longer afford to keep, this must sound like the answer to your prayers. It's only when you try to visit the animal later that you might find you have a problem."

Kent says some of the dealers involved "can go to great lengths to put up a plausible front. They even go as far as to rent fields, stables or homes, which they'll convince owners are their own. Then weeks later, when owners return to these places, they discover that their animals and the supposed 'new owners' have disappeared."

After a lengthy investigation and the recent arrest of four people, Kent is hoping that more of the missing horses and ponies in her area will be traced. Even so, those former owners who took any money off dealers - even a nominal £10 or £20 - before parting with their animals, rather than "loaning" them out as per a written agreement (see advice below), may have the option only of buying them back off new owners, should these new owners agree. In law they are judged to have "sold" the animal and thus surrendered rights to it.

What this unpleasant business has highlighted is the massive demand among horse owners to find new homes for animals which have become too much of a liability or an expense. It is this demand, plus a desire to believe that a "perfect new home" is waiting for their horse, regardless of its age or infirmity, that plays straight into dealers' hands.

Nichola Gregory of the British Horse Society says it gets "dozens of calls from owners every week asking us to take on their horses or ponies because they can't keep them any more. But horses and ponies, like any other animal, are a responsibility that should be for life. You have to think about this before you get them. If you cannot be 100 per cent certain that the person you sell them to, or are loaning them to, is going to safeguard their welfare for the rest of their days then the kindest thing to do, when you can't keep them any more, is to have them humanely put down.

"It may sound hard but it's a lot better than your horse ending up in an auction to be passed around dealers and meat men."

You don't want your horse sold on to the meat men.

Do not do a "deal" with anyone whose background or reputation you have not vetted and who cannot give you reliable references. Ask vets/ riding schools/ everyone you can think of in local equine circles what they know about the person who is interested in your horse/ pony.

Once money changes hands, regardless of how small the amount, you have lost control of your horse/pony's future welfare. If you want to keep better control of it, draw up a "loan agreement" or lease agreement instead.

Problems can still arise or owners' circumstances change. If you cannot face this reality, then do not part with your horse or pony.