Two ponies believed to have been stolen from a children's ranch in southwest Miami-Dade County have been recovered.
Saturday morning a ranch employee told Local 10 that the ponies came home safely Friday night. They found them after getting an anonymous tip. The animals were found on private property.
At this point, no criminal charges are expected.
Fourteen horses live at the Circle C Youth Ranch, but two ponies had been missing since June 30th.
Witnesses said three men showed up at 9 p.m. that day and told residents that their horses had wandered onto the property.
"Since this is horse country, they didn't think too much of it," said Wayne Herschberger, who runs the horse portion of the ranch.
They took the two ponies, put them into the back of pickup trucks and drove away.
The two ponies that were thought to be stolen are among the children's favorites. The older kids look after the ponies, while the younger ones, ages 3 to 6, ride them.
"Hopefully, they would not go to slaughter. That is a possibility, someone will use them for meat," Herschberger said.
"What you're doing is wrong, and you should really bring back the horses," said a boy at the ranch.
One of the ponies is white, brown and black, and the other, named Rusty, is a brown bay with a black tail and black legs.
The ponies are friendly and are used to being around children.
