AN East Cornwall couple is appealing for information after their mare suffered a severed artery while out in a field overnight, claiming it may have been attacked — and are warning other equine owners to be vigilant. Eileen and William Watson left the mare, which belongs to their young grandson, in a field next to the main road (the B3257) between Kelly Bray and Sevenstones overnight, and found her on the morning of July 30 covered in blood with her rug hanging loose. The couple had been keeping the mare and four other horses in stables during the day to shelter from the heat and flies, but letting them out in the field to graze overnight. Mrs Watson said: 'I went to the field to bring her in and saw her rug was loose and hanging from her neck and it was torn from her standing on it. I saw lots of blood on the rug and on her so I put her in the stable and called the vet.' Mrs Watson said the pony was covered in blood — down her hind legs and hooves — and the vet said she was bleeding profusely from an orifice. The vet originally assumed the mare had been rubbing against a fence, but they now believe that something sharp had been pushed into her and severed an artery. They said the mare had a number of 'clean and neat' slashes down one of her hind legs, presumably made with a sharp instrument — not the kind that would have been caused by rough fencing. 'If we didn't check her as regularly as we do, she could have bled to death,' said Mrs Watson. 'The night after I found her, I lay in bed with thoughts going round and round in my head about why her rug came off. I checked the rug and the fastenings were sound.' She said they hadn't been torn apart, to be expected if the pony had been rolling and ripped them. She said they must have been undone by someone. 'We phoned the police and told them we couldn't be sure that someone had done this but everything seemed to point to that conclusion.' Mrs Watson said there were four other horses in the field with the mare that night, but she was a 'bit of a loner'. She said the other four usually stuck together and could have kicked out if someone they did not know approached, but the mare was placid and very accepting of people. The couple have since kept the mare in for a number of days. She has been given anti-biotics and is on the road to recovery. Mrs Watson said the hair around the mare's face seems to have suddenly turned quite grey, suggesting shock or stress. She said: 'I'm sure she will be fine — we're just worried now about leaving them out. We're not in dispute with anyone, get on well with our neighbours and don't compete our horses, so it's not as if someone has done this to get at us. We just keep them as pets and to hack. 'It's very unsettling for us and we just want to warn other people about this because there are lots of people who keep horses in the area.' PC Jen Williams from Callington Police Station also asked people to be more alert. She said: 'Thankfully this is an isolated incident. At this time we are asking horse owners in the area to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity. 'If anyone has any information about this incident then please inform us by calling 101 and quoting crime reference number CR/094734/14.'