Mane attraction

Monday, March 8th, 2010

[featured in Paranormal magazine issue 44, February 2010]

Horses’ manes across southern England and Wales have been found plaited in a mysterious manner. The incidents have been variously blamed on pagans, gypsies and rocking horse manufacturers. RICHARD HOLLAND is intrigued.

horse-mane An odd phenomenon has been causing concern among dozens of British horse owners. Several regional papers have reported that horses have been found to have obtained plaits in their manes, which have appeared overnight. Many breeders are convinced it’s the work of thieves.

Harriet Laurie, from Bridport, Dorset, who runs a horse owners’ website, says that many owners in west Dorset and the neighbouring counties have found these plaits in their horses’ manes. She has found them herself.

‘When one of my horse’s manes was plaited it took me some time to unpick as the wind had whipped it into a sort of dreadlock,’ she said. ‘But underneath were three strands neatly plaited. It is most bizarre.

‘Whatever it is there is a lot of fear and anxiety. I know of about 12 horses that have had it done.’

In Wiltshire, there was no doubt in the minds of owners that the tiny plaits were the work of would-be thieves. The idea is that the most valuable horses are marked in this way so that they are easy to identify under cover of darkness. Of course, it doesn’t explain how the thieves are able to view the horses and then plait them in daylight without being spotted.

The owner of a grey Arab mare in East Grimstead told the Salisbury Journal: ‘My horse’s mane was plaited last night. I asked a neighbour to keep an eye on her … and they saw somebody walking up their track at about six o’clock.’

It transpired that the woman only examined her horse’s mane for plaits when she heard of a similar case nearby. ‘Sure enough’, as she put it herself, she found one.

Similar cases have been reported from Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Mid Wales. In Hampshire two horses have suffered the rather more serious indignity of having their tails lopped off. It was suggested that the hair might be used to help make expensive rocking horses.

Theories as to horse thieves are not being with any serious concern by police. No thefts have been reported from any of the areas affected.

PC Tim Poole, who has investigated the incidents in Dorset, said: ‘We can’t completely rule out the possibility of theft. We did have intelligence from Avon and Somerset police that it is a gypsy trick, which it may or may not have been.’

However, PC Poole is convinced the plaiting is carried out as rituals in white witchcraft. He quoted an unnamed ‘warlock’, who told him: ‘This is part of a white magic ritual and is to do with knot magick. It would appear that for people of this belief, knot magick is used when they want to cast a spell. Some of the gods they worship have a strong connection to horses so if they have a particular request, plaiting this knot in a horse’s mane lends strength to the request.’

He added: ‘The fact that this rash of plaiting coincides with one of their ceremonial times of year [the winter solstice] adds weight to the theory.’

However, several prominent Wiccans denied even hearing of such a practice. Catherine Hosen, of the Pagan Federation of Wessex, for example, responded: ‘It’s certainly not any ritual that I’m aware of. Pagans have a strong respect for anything to do with nature. They would ask permission before removing a branch from a tree, let alone do anything to a horse.’

She added: ‘Any day in the year you could say it’s close to some pagan ritual because the calendar is pretty full of them.’

Compounding the mystery is the fact that several of the targeted horses have been kept secure, in one case behind high electric fences. Other plaits were found after stormy nights, suggesting a real dedication to the task, and at least one affected horse was described as ‘very hard to catch’.

Only the Dorset incidents made the national press, the others were found thanks to the magic of Google. Something tells me this is going to run and run, as word spreads and more owners check their horses for plaits, most of which might indeed have been made by the wind.

What intrigues me most, though, is the clear parallel these incidents have with folklore. Centuries ago horses found with such manes would have been considered ‘hag ridden’, that is to say, ridden overnight by witches (no offence to modern practitioners!), or similarly used and abused by the fairies.

I reprinted several examples in my book Bye-gones (1992), extracts from a journal of the same name. Here is just one, reported by a farmer on the Welsh border in 1893:

‘Not long ago I caught a young colt for the purpose of breaking it in. A servant who was assisting observed, “They have been riding this one right enough.” I asked, “Who?” “Well, the fairies.” “How do you know?” I asked him again. “Don’t you see how they have plaited the mane?” he replied; “they always do that when they have a ride.”

‘Oddly enough the mane was plaited in a wonderfully artistic manner.’

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