Tis the season to be sticky-fingered, a local charity has discovered.
Wanganui Riding for the Disabled has suffered a spate of burglaries lately, including the theft of tools from a man who visited to fix their fences free of charge.
Riding for the Disabled is a charitable organisation which provides opportunities for people with disabilities to interact with horses.
Head coach Wendy Sellars said recent thefts from their premises were "frustrating".
"They're s**** ... and it's Christmas. Leave us alone - we're a charity and we've got no money."
Over the past few months the organisation had two 12-volt batteries stolen from horse trucks. They were replaced and then stolen again.
"The plastic barrels that we have there for the kids to use as jumps, they all disappear. What are we supposed to do - lock it all down?"
The man who had been working on their fences was retired and was doing the work free of charge, but had his tools stolen from the site last week.
"It's taken him weeks to go all the way around," Mrs Sellars said. "I just was like, how dare you?"
When the man complained to police, they told him people would "take anything" around Christmas. "It really pisses you off ... these are disabled kids that they're taking from," Mrs Sellars said.
They had begun parking the horse truck off site to protect it from thieves, and security cameras were operating.