STROUD Pony Club may have to close after a trailer filled with show jumps was stolen.

The stolen show jumping equipment is said to be worth between £8,000 and £10,000, the trailer was stored in the club’s field in Lypiatt.

Thieves broke in at some point between 3pm on Tuesday and 8am on Wednesday.

Vicki Birtwhistle lives on a farm next to the field and she is devastated by the theft and wonders if it could stay open.

“It’s a very family orientated club, there are about 35 kids and members," said Vicki, whose daughter goes to the pony club.

“The place is run by volunteers and we don’t have that much money.

“We fund it by putting on these shows, and without the jumps we can’t do that.

“It has taken years to raise all the money to buy this equipment, and it could be that if we don’t get our jumps back then we might have to close.”

The items stolen include 40 poles, six planks, two gates, one orange/black ladder, eight fillers, two tower wings, 20 wings, dressage markers and many buckets of cups.

Many of the items have sponsorship logos on them, they are data tagged and they are branded with the club’s initials SPC.

The trailer is made by Indespension but is custom designed for the club.

Thieves used bolt cutters to get into the field, the items were ‘hazardously’ stacked as the club didn’t have any intention to move it.

As the items on the trailer were not stacked properly, some have fallen off onto the road.

Some items were recovered by people at The Fostons Ash in The Camp.

The pony club wrote on their Facebook page: “We are absolutely devastated, everything we do is for the children and they have now had these taken from them.”

Anyone with information should call Gloucestershire police on 101 quoting incident number 537 of October 11.