Put the height in the first line of every alert, in hands and in plain terms, because a lost Shetland is searched for at a different eye level from a lost horse. A pony of ten hands can stand unseen behind hedges, in ditches and inside garden sheds, and finders scanning fence lines for horse-height heads will look straight over her. Follow the height with the standard set: colour and pattern, sex, age, microchip status, and photographs from both sides, the front and behind. Shetlands are frequently children's ponies and escape artists both, so say where she got out and whether a gate, a gap in hedging or a pushed-through fence is the likely exit — it tells searchers which direction to walk first.
Coat state: the Shetland disguise problem
No common pony changes appearance like a Shetland between seasons. In a full winter coat she is a round, deep-maned barrel whose markings vanish under fluff; clipped or in summer coat she is a sleeker animal a hand smaller in visual bulk. State which version is missing and circulate a photograph of that version, not the show-ring picture, however unflattering. Note whether the mane lies to one side or stands upright and bushy, whether the tail reaches the ground, and whether forelock hair hides any face marking — a finder parting that forelock to find the star you described gets a match that guesswork cannot give. If she was rugged, give the rug's colour, since on a small pony the rug is half of what a distant finder sees.
Markings, scars and the details children remember
Describe markings as you would check them on a caught pony: face white and its shape, which legs carry socks, any patch pattern on a coloured Shetland, and scars — old sweet-itch rubbing at the mane and tail head, a healed cut on a hind leg, one ear with a nick. Add the identifiers that come from her life as a family pony: a plait or ribbon that may still be in the mane, a headcollar with a name plate, or a distinctive habit like coming to a rustled feed bag from two fields away. Owners of small ponies often underestimate these homely details, yet they are precisely what neighbours and other parents on the school run — your most likely finders — actually remember and report.
Where Shetlands actually get found, and how finders should approach
Shape the search with Shetland reality: most are found close to home, grazing a garden, a verge or another pony's field, because short legs and a grazing temperament favour stopping over travelling. Ask finders to check outbuildings, pony paddocks and any field with companions in it before ranging further. Say how she is to catch: Shetlands are usually amenable but can be stubborn or quick to duck under a reaching arm, and a finder briefed to take a bucket and a headcollar rather than grabbing at a mane will secure her in one attempt. Give one contact number and ask that she be kept shut in somewhere safe rather than led along roads by anyone unsure of handling her.
Keep a pony-sized ID file ready
Prepare the set in advance, scaled to the animal: height, dated photographs in both coat states, a written markings list, microchip number, and a line on catching behaviour. Update it at every clip and each spring when the winter coat sheds, because those are the moments the description expires. Keep it forwardable from your phone so a friend can run the alerts while you search the lanes she knows.
When a finder needs the match confirmed before handing her over, her Pet Pass in KinsLe shows her verified identity and your contact details on a single card — exactly what a stranger holding a strange pony wants to see.