Many dozens of livestock traders can be found at the Zuidlaardermarkt every year. When it is still dark outside, the first deals are already being closed at the horse market. Among them last week was the hobby cattle farmer from Gasselternijveenschemond, although he prefers not to be in the public eye. Amanda Hatzmann, a friend of his, has no problem with that. That day she will also be at the Zuidlaardermarkt with her horses.
“We have all the animals lined up and we also added the Shetland pony he had bought,” she remembers. So far nothing has happened, but when the day is over and equipment has to be mobilized to drive the animals back home, when counting it turns out that the Shetland pony is suddenly missing. “We suddenly concluded: hey, he’s gone,” says Hatzmann.
When they try to find out where the falabella-like horse could have gone, several market visitors offer a solution. “They had seen a group of tipsy young people offering the animal for sale,” she says. The livestock traders also turn to the market organization in the hope of using camera images to find out where the pony was taken, but so far without results.
They reconstructed that the Shetland pony would have been taken on the day of the Zuidlaardermarkt between approximately 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM. “He also only owned the pony for such a short time that we don’t have any clear photos of it. The Shetlander has a gray color and is a gelding,” she says.
Wherever the animal is now, one thing is missing: “He doesn’t have a passport. All horses, ponies and donkeys six months or older have that, and that passport is linked to a chip. But the Shetland pony doesn’t have that passport, because we have it. Without such a passport, you can’t do much with this pony.”
The fact that the animal has been stolen is very painful for both Hatzmann and the rightful owner. “It feels like powerlessness,” she says. “At first you are angry and you start looking everywhere, because who knows, there may be a misunderstanding. But if that doesn’t yield anything, you feel powerless. We are good to our animals and you want a good place for them, but we doubt whether these young people wanted that too. Just bring it back.”