Danielle Ferguson

dbferguson@argusleader.com

DJ Lindner can't understand why someone would take the hair from his horses tails.

Lindner was headed to property outside of Garretson to give food and water to the family's four horses Wednesday night when he noticed two of them didn't have hair on their tails.

Someone had taken a scissors and chopped off 2 to 3 feet of the hair. (Submitted photos below)

"They cut it off right at the bone of the tail," Lindner said.

At first, Lindner didn't understand why someone would do that to his 7-year-old white horse Prince and 6-year-old gray horse Dolly. Lindner's daughters ride them and they are showcased in 4-H events.

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He did a little online research and found this happening across the Midwest. Horse hair can go for about $500 a pound online, he said. It can be used to make jewelry, arts and crafts, belts, hatbands, bridles, wigs and paintbrushes.

The thieves probably got three pounds from each horse, he said.

Cutting the hair damaged the horse in more than one way.

The tail is usually the only defense the horse has against flies. Which is why Lindner is going to braid twine to what's left of the hair to make sure Prince and Dolly have some form of self-defense.

"They take a lot of pride in their tails," Lindner said. "They tend to keep their tails really nice; that's a form of pride."

It takes an emotional toll on the horse and his owner.

"It's damaged our horses," he said. "Prince would come running right to me. He always lays his head on my shoulder. Last night he was scared to death. He didn't want to come around us and ran away from us. I don't know what they did to him."

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There are no suspects as of Thursday, said Sgt. Josh Phillips with the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office. They are processing evidence, including blood found on one of the horses.

Lindner thinks Dolly may have kicked someone because she doesn't like people near her backside, he said.

"They wiped blood on her back," he said.

Phillips said it's hard to tell when they'll have more information.



For now, the Lindners are going to have to rebuild trust with Prince and Dolly.

"It takes a while to build that relationship, to build trust with them," he said. "I hope they end up catching who did it."

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Have a tip or story idea? Contact Argus911 public safety reporter Danielle Ferguson at 331-2307 or dbferguson@argusleader.com. Follow her on Twitter @DaniFergs.