Leeton family stranded in Canowindra after car and horse float stolen

Rachael Ford and her daughter Montana Evans, along with horse Lucky Assassin, made the trip from Leeton, in the NSW Riverina, to Canowindra in the state's Central West for the town's annual show.

But when they arrived there on Thursday, September 22, they discovered that multiple horse-riding events, which Montana was due to take part in, had been cancelled due to the wet weather.

"We thought we might as well stay because we were already here and the accommodation was booked," Ms Ford said.

"We thought we'd have a holiday."

But that holiday quickly turned into a nightmare, as sometime between 11pm Saturday night and 7am Sunday morning, their car and float was stolen from the parking lot of the pub they were staying at.

"To be honest, I asked my eldest daughter if she took it for a drive and hid it on me as a joke," Ms Ford said when asked what her first thoughts were when she discovered they had gone missing.

"I was upset and concerned because all of my daughter's saddlery is in there, probably about $10,000 worth of stuff in the car, plus there was a large sum of cash in the glovebox as well."

While they have managed to source a car from a friend so they can drive around town, they can't leave the area as they have no means of getting their horse back to Leeton.

To make matters worse, Montana is meant to be taking part in an riding event in Griffith, in the NSW Riverina, this coming weekend.

"She has been riding since 2018 and she has come a long way in that time," Ms Ford said.

"She has been bullied a lot at school and this is her outlet to escape all of that and now it's gone."

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All she is concerned about is getting her horse home which is understandable. She has a show on Saturday in Griffith and now way of getting there and no way of riding.

"The hotel has said we can stay as long as we need, but you don't want to stay in a room too long. I need to get back to my shop as I don't have any money left to buy food."

Ms Ford has been told that the car was seen being driven around the Cowra and Boorowa areas on Sunday night, although Sergeant Rod Buhr from Cowra Police said there had been no official sightings reported to them.

"We are looking into that as we speak. The officer out at Canowindra is following up some inquiries," he said.

"We've been viewing some CCTV footage that's available and making further enquires."