POLICE are urging horse owners in north Wiltshire to be extra vigilant after one stables was repeatedly targeted over the last few weeks.

Tack rooms, stables and fields where horses are kept have been illegally accessed at The Stables, Eastrip Lane in Colerne.

The latest incident on Monday night resulted in 10 electric fence posts being stolen and field gates opened, leaving the horses free to roam into fields with poisonous ragwort.

Other items taken in the nighttime visits include leather stirrups, gloves, horse medication and food. The owners found other tack deliberately damaged and covered in a highly sticky brown liquid which has either ruined the tack or will require it to be professionally cleaned.

The first incident happened between November 14 and 28, then the second happened overnight on November 29.

PC Angela Holden said: "We'd be interested to hear from anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the farm area on those dates.

"The victim is very shaken by this targeting. Not only is equipment used for looking after horses extremely expensive to replace but for gates to be deliberately left open so that the animals could escape, or injure themselves by eating poisonous vegetation, is particularly cruel."

Call 101 if you can help or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.