“I think it a very strong possibility that this is the work of pagans.Gerald Gardner the father of wicca in his "book of shadows" (why not light?) under the section "Power" 1953, mentions blood sacrifice and whilst he says it is evil he goes on to mention that such sacrifices can exude great power.It does not take a leap of logic to imagine some pagans doing this.Gardner also mentions that the most powerful sacrifice is a willing human sacrice,by willing i imagine another brainwashed pagan who believes in the afterlife.Remember the case of the pagan druid Peter Solheim who's lover Margret James was charged with drugging him, torturing him and murder, torture hightens the magic apparently according to some pagan texts,according to police she had an accomplice or more but she kept silent.Parents beware pagans,traditional initiations according to Gerald Gardner include bondaged,blinfolded flogging and of course sex.Nigel Plymouth”

“It's a long held belief, in Ireland I think, that travelled across to Canada as well - if you found plaits in your horse's mane, the faeries have been with it. They should research their folklore a bit better!”

“Braiding a horse's mane is common practice before a show, do you think people would do it if it could affect the horse?

And why do you talk of trespassing? Some horses put their head over the fence to say hello and to be petted willingly enough.

Some people should be sued for wasting valuable police time over a trivial matter which caused no harm at all.”

“Rubbish!, this is clearly the work of the "My Little Pony" fan club!”

“As the creator of several pagan social networking sites with over 30,000 pagans combined, I can safely say that not one of them have to contacted me to say that they've heard of this practice. I suggest that the Police refrain from jumping to conclusions and blaming Pagans - spouting off a load of nonsense will not help them solve these crimes . Could the reporter actually be a bit more specific too - not every Pagan God has an association with Horses. Misinformation is one of the very reason that groups such as Pagan folk get blamed for ridiculous crimes such as these.”

“speaking both as a horseman and a practicing pagan i see NO links in the above article to suggest pagan involvement in the braiding and the comment by Jenny Parsons "It is possible it's a pagan ritual and I have had reports of a change in horse behaviour so if these are children's ponies it is an absolutely awful thing to do."
is wrong on both counts as braiding the mane of a horse is highly unlikely to affect the behaviour it is more likely that when the horse being held to braid the mane affected the behavior and I also second the earlier asked question as to whether there was any sign of candle wax, ribbon, herbs or incense around the fields or any ribbon in the braids,
plus i add one of my own, from what standing does Ms parsons make the link to paganism as a source for the braiding ?

my personal thought,s are that the idea that they were marked by thieves is probably more close to accurate but due to the publicity the people involed have probably gone elsewhere”

“As a Pagan I am disturbed to read this article. It would be my sincerest hope that all pagans would understand that trespassing on private property is a crime, and using somebody¿s animal for ritual purposes without their permission is deplorable. The individual may think they are doing no real harm, but clearly that is not the case. They are causing worry and anxiety to the property owners, and similar reactions in the animals.

I hope that this person or group is soon discovered to be nothing more than kids causing mischief. It is my opinion that if the person was a practicing pagan, and they went through the trouble of finding a live horse to use in ritual, than there would be more evidence of that nature.”

“I was rather agitated when I first commented and neglected to mention that many animals do become very skittish around strangers, particularly rescue cases. My ire was that my faith was being falsely accused, and in no way meant that this is acceptable behaviour.

I am not entirely certain, but the predominance of Pagan commentators may be due to the fact that there is a popular website based here in the US that links to articles pertaining to our faith. That is how I first came to this article.”

“I came to my field one morning to find one of my 3 horses had a plait in the mane. After hearing of horse thievs and talking to the police it worried me sick, i moved them next to the house and changed my routine, went up so many times a day it got silly. The people who do this dont realise what panick it causes not only to the owners but the ponies. My ponies were panicky and jumpy the day after all of them being youngsters. I dont know if he was restrained or what but he was a bit funny for sure. They are all rescue cases and a bit wary of strangers and it is unusual the fact he would of let a total stranger do that!! Also the fact they are going onto private property is bad enough. I have not got a clue who does this whether it be some form of magick, a group of kids having a laugh, or genuine criminals. Im not pointing the finger at anyone as people are to quick to do thst these days and blaming pagans is a bit drastic as i do have a big interest in that type of thing and not sure what the point of the plait would be. Maybe theres a young group of kids doing thier own magick who see ponies and horses as power and love the animal i dont know. But all i ask is if the culprit reads this by a very slim chance please stop as its really panicking owners so badly.”

“It's interesting that two out of the tree comments have come from the USA, does that mean that there are a lot of Pagans there, I believe the States are more religous than the UK, however I am not convinced that this was done by Pagans”