Accountant Jude Nickolls said she fed her horses, her top dressage horse, Glenview Caballero (Cabby), and Jazz, and Lu Bagrie's horse Arna in a paddock on the corner of Ladies Mile (State Highway 6) and Stalker Rd, near the Shotover Country development, on Monday evening.
However, just after 9am yesterday, when Mrs Bagrie went to feed them again, she discovered the hair from all three tails had been cut, likely with scissors or a pocket knife, at the dock, or bone.
Mrs Bagrie said she first saw Arna and initially thought her tail had been tucked under her leg strap.
''And then I realised they'd all been hacked off.
''A lot of people will think of it as a joke. It's not a joke to horsey people.''
Mrs Nickolls said she was ''just speechless'' after seeing the damage following a phone call from Mrs Bagrie.
''I can't believe someone would do that, to be honest.
''They all had long, thick tails - one of them was extra long and they've hacked it off.
''None of them are neat cuts, but they've hacked them off right to the bottom of the bone.
''I don't even understand how, or why, someone would do that.''
Initially, the women thought the tails had been taken to form ''false tails'' on dressage horses - thicker tails in a competition could earn a horse more points.
However, all three tails were discovered in the paddock yesterday afternoon, making the women feel the offending was ''malicious''.
''That just makes it worse,'' Mrs Nickolls said.
''They were left all in one area and Lu's [horse's tail] was nicely spread out.
''They have come on to our land and [interfered with] our animals and they've done it to spite.''
Mrs Nickolls' parents, Sharyn and Grant Stalker, are behind the 750-section Shotover Country development, near where the horses were being grazed over winter.
She wondered if the person responsible for the incident was against the subdivision, which is under construction.
Earlier this year, the largely self-taught horsewoman won a national incentive award for dressage and was sixth in New Zealand at the national dressage championships in level five.
She also moved up to level six/seven, the grade below Olympic level, or grand prix and was also named the high points prizewinner for the ''advanced'' category (level six/seven) in Southland.
It would take at least three or four years for the horses' tails to grow back and there was a chance Cabby could not be entered in dressage at a national level with a false tail.
Debbie Barker, of Auckland, who looks after mistreated horses at her Horse Havan property, said reports of horse tail removals had been received from Christchurch and Nelson in the past month.
Unfortunately for horse owners, there was little they could do, she said.
Mrs Nickolls, who yesterday moved the three horses to another paddock, said while the damage had been done for her, ''I just want everyone else to be aware''.
''I just don't want it happening to other people.''
Sergeant Kate Pirovano, of Queenstown, said police also received a report of a chained gate on State Highway 6 being cut on Monday night and a jacket at the paddock stolen.
Two horses were in the paddock, close to the BP petrol station in Frankton Rd.
Sgt Pirovano said one horse was behind a wire in the paddock and the other stayed with it. If it had left the paddock, public safety could have been jeopardised.
Given the proximity of the two incidents, it was likely they were related, she said.
Anyone who noticed unusual or suspicious activity around the Stalker Rd paddock between 5.30pm on Monday and 9am yesterday, or anyone who had information relating to the gate-cutting, was asked to contact police on (03) 441-1600.
The offenders could face charges of wilful or intentional damage and trespass, she said.
