Horse, ponies have part of tails cut off at Trenton stable

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Trenton police are looking for whoever stole pony tails - a cruel criminal cut off the tails of three ponies and one horse.

"Honestly they are my whole life, I've had him for 10 years, he was my first horse, they are all like my children," said Nicole West.

You can only imagine how West was feeling when she went to feed her horses and ponies at Trenton's Children's Pony Ranch at Elizabeth Park and realized someone had chopped the bushy hair from the tails of four equines.

"I was sick to my stomach, angry," she said. "It was kind of a shock. I didn't know who why or what happened."

This picture shows how long the tails were, stretching almost to the ground.

Apparently the pony hair pilferer had broken into the barn sometime Tuesday, cutting the tails of ponies with only blonde hair and fled.

You may be wondering why someone would want to cut off and steal a pony tail. FOX 2 is told they can bring in a lot of money.

Cutting the tails does not physically hurt the ponies and horses but the big impact will be felt this summer. West says it is the animals' only defense against black flies and other insects that can bite and draw blood.

The ranch and ponies will now have to be doused with fly spray for protection.

"They will swat their belly their legs with their tails," West said. "Now these guys don't have enough tail to do that."

And the tails don't grow back right away it takes about a year.

West says her horse Cash and ponies Nugget, Crysta, Belle and Pistol will still offer rides to smiling and eager children this summer at Elizabeth Park.

In the meantime, they are installing security and cameras to make sure no one gets away with this again. If anyone who knows anything about this animal cruelty crime call Trenton police at (734) 676-8377.

"I hope we find out who did and I would like to ask them why," West said.