A pony breeder has had half of her string of Shetlands stolen from the field next to her home.

Shirley Webb, of Sandy Lane, in Horspath, near Oxford, has been breeding miniature Shetland ponies for the past 13 years.

She discovered four of her animals had been taken overnight from her paddock, after checking them on Sunday morning.

The animals, each measuring no more than 30 inches in height, are worth about £1,500 each.

The four ponies, Eden, QT, Jenny, and Breeze, were also expecting foals, which sell for about £700 each.

One of the remaining ponies, a stallion, was injured.

Mrs Webb said: "It is heartbreaking.

"I left them at 7pm on Saturday and when I came back on Sunday morning, four of them were gone.

"It looks like whoever stole them used ropes to pull them. The stallion still had a rope over his neck and there is tack lying around which definitely isn't mine.

"He is now maimed from where they yanked at him when he put up a fight."

Mrs Webb now intends to visit specialist pony shows to see if she can track the animals down.

A friend has also posted information about the four mares on the website shetlandpony.com, in the hope of tracing them.

Mrs Webb added: "It's very upsetting. My animals are like family to me, and like children you look after them, you feed them and care for them.

"It makes me very nervous to think someone must have been watching us and waiting."

Anyone with information should call Pc Sarah Phillips on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.