A police appeal has been retracted after a horse thought to have been shot dead in a field in Suffolk yesterday was found to have died in unsuspicious circumstances.

A dog walker found the dead male pony in the field off Box Hall Lane and told the horse’s owner.

The pony was found to have what was believed to have been a shot wound to its head. However, a statement released by Suffolk police this afternoon said: “It was initially thought the wound had been caused by a gun or a similar device however, following further enquiries and a post mortem at the scene this morning, it has now been determined that the injury was not as originally reported to police and there are now not believed to be any suspicious circumstances around how it was caused.”