Bratpony wrote:

This. You don't KNOW anyone deliberately took it or 'hid' it to mess with you; you're only guessing. If I found something at out yard and didn't know who it belonged to, and neither did anyone else I asked, I would put it away somewhere safe and out of the way until the owner could be identified. It might even slip my mind to ask about it - I have other things to think about. If you made a fuss about it being moved, it may be they decided they couldn't be bothered to explain that or were afraid you'd kick off about it, so just put it back for you.
This is what I've been wondering all along.  I don't run a riding stable or barn or whatever, but I have about 200 employees and several facilities that I'm in and out of and here at home my daughter has a couple of horses and a bunch of tack and such.  There have been plenty of times both at work and at home where I was busy, saw something left out, picked it up and just carried with me to whatever I was rushing off to do next.  That would be rather than stopping what I was doing to go put someone else's shit back with their precious belongings.  And then I've at times forgotten all about it until someone is either saying, "did anyone see....?" or I ran across the item as I was rushing off to do something else.  And truly there have been times where nothing happened for several days that made me remember about it, hence it was in my truck or in my house instead of the tack shed, or in my office for DAYS.  I wasn't hiding anything, I responsibly picked your shit up and put it somewhere safe and then just didn't think about it.  Because it was safe. 

Truly, not everything little thing that happens and causes mild annoyance is part of some larger and nefarious conspiracy against any of us.