A HORSE-LOVER was left devastated after burglars stripped her paddock’s outbuildings of £5,000 worth of horse tack.

Kerry Crook, 29, said she lost her life’s work after intruders took everything from £300 saddles to bags of horse feed.

A rural anti-crime initiative has warned of an explosion of similar offences and advised other horse owners to take precautionary measures in the wake of the incident.

Miss Crook’s paddock near East Hagbourne was broken into on Friday, November 6, between 7.45pm and 10.30pm.

Burglars cut through padlocks and bolts to get in and emptied the buildings of everything of value.

As they fled with their loot, they left the paddock gate wide open. Only chance stopped Miss Crook’s three horses walking into the road.

All of the stolen items were uninsured.

Miss Crook, who competes in showjumping and cross country competitions locally, said: “I’m just devastated.

“Someone has been into my property and taken all the stuff that I’ve worked my whole life for.

“I first rode aged three, and had my first pony at seven. My whole life is horses.

“It’s heartbreaking, and I’m still in shock with it all. You just don’t expect something like this to happen to you.”

Two men were spotted in a white transit van parked opposite the paddock on Main Road at 7.45pm. Miss Crook said a similar van was seen driving around the village the previous Tuesday.

She said: “I could have been facing dead or injured horses if they had walked into that road. These people obviously don’t love horses. They came for what they wanted and didn’t care what else happened.”

The chairman of Horsewatch Thames Valley, Garry Porter, said: “This type of crime has exploded at the moment. We’ve seen the most enormous amount in the last couple of weeks.

“It’s literally all around the country, and we’ve had lots of local bits and bobs. It has surprised me this year how sudden it’s all been.

“Saddles easily sell and are difficult to identify, so there’s always a ready market for them. It’s such an uphill fight against these gangs – they’re making a killing out of us at the moment.”

He urged horse owners to freezemark their horses – where an identifying mark is left on a horse’s skin using a cold iron – and write their postcodes on all their tack.

Anyone with information about the break-in should call police on 0845 8505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.