false horse tails Why horsehair theft is on the rise in the

I went out there one day to feed and my horses tails looked like they were cut. Some of them not very much, which to me is odd; they only cut inches off, but the ones that I really noticed . . . (were cut) probably 12 to 14 inches, says Cundall, false horse tails who reported the thefts to police.

Benjamin Brayfield / Rapid City Journal

Some believe the horsehair is used to make jewelry and other crafts, such as decorative pottery, or bows for violins and other string instruments.

In late September, South Dakota rancher T.J. Aisenbrey announced a $2,000 reward for any information on the theft of the mane and tail of his palomino mare, Sundance.

Sharon Wells-Ackermans, managing director of the Horse Protection Society of B.C., dealt with a similar incident two years ago when someone stole several horsetails from her property in Langley, B.C. Six months earlier, she had experienced another theft.

Another theory focuses on the growing trend of using the cut hair to make ke manes and tails for show horses.

Wells-Ackermans suspects the hair is used to make lse tails and manes for shows. A lse mane can retail for $500, she says.

Horsehair theft isnt the stuff of spaghetti westerns but a growing crime, with reports of people stealing manes and tails throughout the American Midwest.

Sixty-two horses have had their tails and/or manes cut off in Natrona County since Aug. 1, says Sellers. The Wyoming Livestock Board, along with local county sheriffs officesFalse horse forelocks-No.9 is investigating.

The thefts have hurt her sales, says Cundall, who is buying surveillance cameras to protect her property. Shes been forced to drop the price of one her horses since thieves cut the majority of the mares tail.

Its not the bone of the tail they take, its just the hair, however thats what they use to flick flies off. Horses are proud of their tales, she says.

We know that its used for arts and crafts and belts and hatbands and bridles, Sellers says.

She says it takes several years for a horse to grow its tail hair. She has braided some binder twine into the tail of one of her horses to give it some fly relief.

T.J. Aisenbrey is offering a $2,000 reward to anyone who has information results in the arrest and conviction of the hair poachers.

Stephanie Cundall, who owns Cundalls Paints and Quarter Horses in Casper, Wyo., a four-hectare hobby and breeding rm, recently discovered someone had cut the tails off 12 of her horses.

Over the centuries,Horse hair interlinings, horsehair has had a variety of uses, including being used to make wigs and paint brushes.

Police in Wyoming estimate there have been more than 100 thefts in several counties since late summer, with reports also on the rise in South Dakota and Colorado, says Lt. Mark Sellers of the Natrona County Sheriffs Office in Wyoming.

So what is the stolen horsehair used for? There are a number of theories but due to the black market nature of the crimes, no one real use can be pinpointed.