Horse charity staff say they are “still in shock” after a miniature Shetland pony was stolen overnight.

Yogi, a four-year-old Appaloosa, was taken from a field at the Ada Cole centre in Roydon between Thursday evening (September 22) and the morning after.

After reports from the public he has now been returned home to the centre run by Redwings, the country’s largest horse rescue charity, but workers were distressed by the “mysterious” theft and are appealing for information.

The alarm was raised when Yogi, who is only six hands tall, was not in the field where he lives with a large group of other Shetland ponies.

The site was extensively searched with no luck and there were no signs of damage to gates, but an exterior fence was damaged with electrical tape and battery packs removed.

Staff believe Yogi may have been lifted over the fence and so phoned police immediately.

Following two calls from members of the public on Friday afternoon, he was eventually found a few miles away close to a primary school, wearing a headcollar from the centre.

He is now going through quarantine before being reunited with his group, but Redwings said he is safe and well, with no ill effects despite his ordeal.

The charity’s chief executive Lynn Cutress said: “We were all absolutely devastated and extremely worried for Yogi’s wellbeing.

“We think of every resident as if they were our own ponies, so the team and all of us were extremely distressed by Yogi’s disappearance and by the thought that he may have been taken by someone.

“We are so relieved that he has been found safe and sound and so grateful to the members of the public who found him and reported it so promptly.

“It could have been so much worse and we would implore anyone with any information about this distressing incident to contact us or Essex Police.”

Any information about Yogi’s disappearance, or suspicious activity around the centre, can be reported to Redwings’ welfare team on 01508 481 008 or Essex Police on 01245 491 491 or 101.