A HEARTBROKEN elderly couple from Wilsden are desperately searching horse fairs for a beloved pony stolen from its field overnight.

The four-year-old bay cob called Jack was stolen from a field he shared with two other horses above Wilsden between 6pm on August 12 and 2pm the next day.

And his owners are too upset to talk about the loss, but are appealing for help from the public, said close friend and fellow horse rider Charlotte Goodchild.

"They are both elderly and absolutely live for their horses and this has been a terrible shock," Miss Goodchild said.

"Jack was in the field with the two other horses and must have been taken into an adjoining field and then up to a track that leads to Coplowe Lane where he would have been put into a van."

"His owners have rung all the local horse dealers, been to to horse sales, driven around areas of Bradford where ponies might be and have even contacted abattoirs to try and prevent Jack going for slaughter."

Pam Allen of Wharfedale and Airedale Horse Organisation, who runs online sites for stolen horses, said: "I fear Jack has been taken to order, given that he was in a field with other horses."

Call the police on 101 or the Stolen Horse Register on 0870 870 7107.