Vernon horse owner perplexed following horse hair theft

VERNON – A Vernon horse stable has recently erected large spotlights in an effort to catch the culprit who has been cutting the hair from its horse's tails.

The horses that board at the 10-acre site on East Vernon Road have seen anywhere between two inches to two feet snipped off their tails, often in the middle of the night.

Kristen Marie Pym boards her two horse at the stables and is perplexed at why someone would do such a thing. Her retired show jumping horse, Moose, had about one foot of hair chopped from his tail, while her other horse, Lily, has lost about eight inches. Their short tails now make it very difficult for the horses to swat away flies. Pym isn't sure how many times the incidents have happened but thinks its happened at last six times and maybe more.

Pym said about six horses board at the stables and all but one has had some hair cut from its tail. A horse's tail, Pym says, contains about 16 inches of bone and the hair can grow to five foot in length. The 22-year-old said the hair-cutting started about one month ago with some horses losing two inches in a night, while another horse lost two feet at once. Pym said even after the spotlights were installed last week, the haircutting has still continued.

And Pym doesn't know why someone would do such a thing.

“There’s a possibility someone is selling it,” she said.

Pym said paint bushes and wigs can sometimes be made from horse hair, but she thinks its very unlikely the horsehair thief or thieves could find a place to sell the hair. She also believes the individual or individuals are comfortable around horses, as standing behind a horse is generally not advised.

The RCMP did not respond to questions by iNFOnews.ca by publishing time.

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