A mum-of-two says police seized her asthmatic horse after misreading its microchip – forcing her to fork out hundreds of pounds to get the steed back.

Paige Wells' pony May escaped onto the road behind her field in Gillingham, along with her friend's horse, after the fences were pushed in last Monday night.

She was not contacted but found out the following morning after seeing a Facebook post saying two stray horses had been spotted.

Paige, 26, said: "I didn't even know they were mine at first because some of the information was wrong but my close friend drove down to where they were seen.

"By the time she got there, there was nothing there, because police had already seized them."

Police confirmed they were called to a report of two stray horses on Beechings Way, Gillingham shortly before 2am on Tuesday, January 17.

They say officers carried out inquiries to identify the owner – with no success – before arranging for the horses to be taken to a safe and secure location.

But Paige said when she rang police she was incorrectly told her pony's chip was blank.

She explained: "I was told that my pony's chip was blank and that's why they took the horses, telling me it was basically me at fault because she didn't have the correct chip details.

"It was kind of like I was being put down as a criminal. It messed with my head, I had to double check with my vet just to be sure.

"But the horse passport company confirmed the chip was registered to my pony's passport, and the vet checked the system and confirmed the chip is in fact registered to me."

The stay-at-home mum was charged £500 to release the animals but was not told when or where she could collect them.

She says she was told it could take between two to four days and the location would be revealed on the day.

Paige added: "I wasn't told if they were okay. My pony is asthmatic and on daily medication and daily precautions to keep her breathing right. They refused to even pass on her medication to the private company who were keeping her.

"I was told they are equestrian specialists who would know what she needed. I have had the pony for 13 years since she was a foal so I found this extremely distressing not knowing if her medical needs were met.

"I had to hunt around for the cash. I can't just draw that much out of my account in one go, I have a withdrawal limit. And they had only had the horses for a few hours when I gave them the money, I had a horse box ready to go to collect them in and everything.

"I already had a large vet bill in the summer because she had an asthma attack and it stressed me out not knowing if she was getting what she needed."

By Wednesday, Paige was told she would be able to collect the horses sometime between 1 and 2pm that day.

They were to be passed onto two police officers who would wait for her to collect them, and she would be told the location 10 minutes beforehand.

Paige said: "I suffer with anxiety anyway and I couldn't even ring them back to ask how the horses were because they were calling from a private number. All they told me was that the horses were okay, and the timeslot for when I could meet them.

"I have two children and I was at home with the youngest so that made it hard to be able to go out and collect them at any time."

At 2.10pm, Paige had still not received a call confirming the location of her steed so she rang 101 with the reference number to ask what was going on,

She was told the horses had been standing for the past 15 minutes with police officers at Riverside Country Park in Gillingham but they had failed to let her know.

She said: "My pony has never been put into a horse box by anyone other than me, and it's all she knows. She was a bit distressed when we tried to get her in to take her home, even though we do it most weekends.

"I got her for my 13th birthday, wild out of the New Forest so she's only ever known me. She means a lot to me and she's worth a fair bit of money. The whole ordeal has been so traumatic and stressful for me and the pony."

A police spokesman said a notice was left at the scene to inform the then "unidentified owners about the recovery of the animals".

"The horses’ microchip numbers were checked against an animal microchip database," they said.

"One identified an owner and the other was shown unregistered. Inquiries with the registered person identified the owner of the second horse.

"On Wednesday 18 January, the horses were returned. There was a small delay in completing the handover while a veterinary nurse undertook full checks prior to transportation."

Details of the horses’ medical and dietary requirements were passed to specialist equine staff at the secure location, while arrangements were made to return the horses.

Officers later rechecked the chip and found it was registered to Paige.