POLICE are investigating after suspected thieves cut off the tail and mane of a horse.

Raju, a 20-year-old pure white stallion, was left shorn of his hair after thieves are thought to have cut it off in an overnight attack.

The animal is kept in a field next to Foxhills Infant and Junior schools in Foxhills, Colbury, near Totton. Owner Jenny Bray went to feed him when she made the distressing discovery.

Her son Nick Bray, 37, from Totton, said: “My mum was really upset by it. They have hacked off all of its mane and tail. It must have been deliberate as it would take a lot to cut off that amount of hair.

“Raju is such a friendly horse as his field is near a school and so he is very used to people passing by.

“Mum said he was certainly not himself yesterday and quite withdrawn.”

Nick said two other horses in the adjacent field were left untouched. His mother has owned and kept horses in the area for over 40 years.

He added: “Horses do need their tails, especially as we approach the summer, to swat the flies away. It is a terrible thing to do to an animal.”

Nick has reported the attack to Hampshire police who say they are now investigating

Horse Hair

THE theft of horse hair is uncommon but not unheard of as it is used in a number of products including fake horse hair extensions, in some jewellery and upholstery, by rocking horse makers and for violin bows.

The most famous horse hair theft was that of cowboy actor Roy Roger’s stallion Trigger. Rogers reported that a souvenir hunter had hacked off the horse’s tail as the palomino stallion slept in a trailer on set in the 1950s.

It can take several years for a horse tail to grow back.