This past summer, a horse not too far from us was victimized by a nighttime “hair cutter.” This person or persons chopped the mane and tail off of a pretty palomino, and the owner launched a huge Facebook campaign to make people aware. The criminal also spray painted the horse and the wall of the barn. See the story here.
Credit: Pony’s Tail and Mane Cut Off Without Owner’s KnowledgeMany people on Facebook thought perhaps it was revenge of some type, as the horse wasn’t really hurt. But, given that it was summer – and fly season – it was a cruel thing to do to a horse and his owner. We felt badly for the owner, but didn’t really give it a lot more thought.
Now we came across a report of horses in Ohio who had the same thing happen, except not the spray painting. One horse was injured however. Read story here.
In the accompanying news story, it states that a nearby pony had the same thing happen. Police are wondering if it has to do with the fact that horse hair is often used for wigs and in jewelry.
We think it’s important for you to be aware and do what you can to protect your horses. For that reason, we have an article on barn surveillance to help you make decisions. You can consider something as simple as a good driveway alarm that tells you when someone enters the barn or the field. Or you can go full high tech with surveillance cameras that record and allow you to monitor current activity via an Internet connection.
Yes, it’s a sad world that we need to consider such things – even in the privacy of our own horse barn.
