A DERRY breeder has alerted authorities following the theft of seven of his home-bred Connemara ponies from rented land in Derry.

Andy Kilgore of Culmore Connemaras told

• The Irish Field

on Friday that the chain on the gate was cut at some time on Monday night and the ponies taken. “We have no leads. The ponies were last seen at 6.30pm on Monday evening. We have alerted all the ports and the authorities to check for microchips, and we have all the transport companies looking out for them as well,” Kilgore said.

The stolen ponies include six fillies aged two and three, and one three-year-old gelding. He said one of the three-year-old mares was covered and might be in foal.

“I have all their passports. I have been breeding for 20 years and a lot of that stock we were keeping as replacement mares for the ones we started out with, because they’re getting older,” he added.

From Culmore in Derry, Kilgore said: “This is just a hobby for me and my three boys have got involved too. I breed between seven and 10 foals a year, depending on what mares go in foal.

“You meet a lot of horsey people and we have formed a big friendship with a lot of people in Connemara and we go to Clifden every year for the show and the sales.”

Kilgore extended a thank you to everyone who has helped in the search and shared his post on Facebook (Culmore Connemaras).

He believes that the thieves would have used either a lorry or two jeeps and trailers to remove the ponies from the land and continued to appeal to anyone who was in the area of Killea, Foyle Road, Carrigans, Derry and Bridgend on Monday evening/Tuesday morning with dashcam footage or CCTV nearby to get in contact.