Two beloved Hokio Beach horses have vanished into thin air.
Their owner Klair Hanify is remaining hopeful that Funky and Maxi will be found alive. But that hope was eroding with every passing minute.
"They are everything to me," she said.
Hanify said seven nights ago she went to Wellington to stay with a friend, leaving her horses in their Kingi Street paddock for the night behind an electric fence.
She returned the next day to find them gone.
Hanify had contacted Police and had looked up and down the beach on countless occasions, and was now driving around the district hoping to find them.
The hot weather was a concern as if they had been stolen, she was hoping their captors were making sure they were properly fed and watered.
The Horowhenua District Council animal department has no reports of any horses being found either.
Maxi is an anglo-arab chestnut mare that Hanify had bred herself 22 years ago, while Funky is a six-year-old miniature bay stallion that is hugely popular with young children, especially her niece Azaria.
They had broken out before on occasion, but had not stayed far and it was easy to follow their hoof prints.
If the horses are being held somewhere, she is hoping that by publicising their disappearance they could still be returned safe and sound.