Online demand may be behind Nash horse hair theft

A Nash County family says someone went into their pasture at night and cut off the hair from their horse’s tail.

"I started crying. I was really upset. I looked around to see if I could find the rest of it anywhere, but I knew it had been cut off," said Danielle Bass.

Bass says her horse, Maddie, is a sweet and kind thoroughbred.

"You can tell that it was cut straight, like with a pair of scissors," says Bass, who made the discovery Wednesday morning.

Bass says Maddie’s tail was about five feet long and touched the ground. She doesn’t know who targeted her horse, but Nash County deputies say there is high demand for horse hair online.

Deborah Gillis, who runs the Leilani Mae Horse Rescue in North Carolina, says the industry of selling horse hair online is not regulated. Horse extensions can sell from $200 and more online.

"Some people make wigs out of it. They make jewelry out of it. Violin strings," says Gillis.

Bass says it takes around seven years for a horse to grow its hair back. She worries the cost of horse hair products is too high for the horse.

"If a horse doesn’t have its tail, it makes them depressed," says Bass, "Especially in the summertime, when it’s hot and they’re swatting flies.

The Nash County Sheriff’s Office is asking residents to report suspicious activity.