Home » News » Manawa News » Manawa pony missing

Manawa pony missing

Horse’s family suspects he was stolen

By Holly Neumann


An area family is seeking help to find its 16-year-old male Welsh Cross Paint pony.

Angela Keegan, the mother of the 6-year-old girl who owns the horse, reported the horse was missing and possibly stolen from their home on Little Creek Road in Manawa at 8:27 a.m. Monday, April 22.

Shilo is approximately 12.5 hands high, brown and white, and has a white tail and a “blue” spot on his nose.

Waupaca County Sheriff Deputy Jon Loken said this is an ongoing investigation.

“We don’t have a lot of information on if someone took him or who took him,” Loken said. “Right now we have been patrolling the area more often.”

Nothing else was missing from the scene.

Keegan said she last saw the horse eating in the pasture on the evening of Saturday, April 20, and discovered him missing around 5 a.m. Sunday, April 21.

“We were getting ready for church, and we noticed the neighbor’s cows were out,” she said. “They have a tendency to go through the horse fence, so my husband went out to make sure they weren’t out, too. The other horses were in their pasture, but part of the fence was down and Shilo was missing.”

Keegan initially called the Waupaca County sheriff that morning to say the horse was out, in case someone saw it or reported a random pony in their yard.

“I called Monday morning again to check in, then called again when we had heard nothing to report him stolen,” Keegan said. “We have not seen any tracks, no signs of him being out anywhere and nobody has reported any sightings.”

Keegan said horses tend to stay together.

“The fact that he’d totally leave here doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Nor does the fact that he wouldn’t be found eating in a nearby field.”

The family is devastated.

“We are worried for his well-being, and sad for our daughter who was looking forward to taking him to fun shows and trail rides this year,” Keegan said. “It makes us angry to think he could’ve been stolen. We just don’t get why someone would take him and do this to our daughter.”

Keegan said the young girl bought the horse by herself from her saving account.

Keegan pleads for Shilo’s safe return.

“We just want our pony back unharmed,” she said. “We want people to keep sharing the posts on Facebook and keeping their eyes open for any signs of him. Check sale barns, Facebook for sale groups, craigslist. If someone knows where he is, or someone reading this took him, we just want him home. No questions asked. Just drop him off at our house, in a pasture near here, the rodeo grounds, something so we can find him.”

Those who have information may contact the Waupaca County Sheriff’s office at 715-258-4466.

Scroll to Top