Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart says deputies were called to a residence on S. 4528 Road on a report of an injured horse.
Reuben Houston, 26, was arrested on a cruelty to animals charge.
“It’s awful to know that our neighbors would do that,” said Terra Jordan, a neighbor, “I mean to know that anybody would do that. It’s awful.”
Jordan found the horse tied to a tree on her property. “The horse couldn’t move,” she said, “He wouldn’t move at all.”
Pictures of the horse showed injuries to the horse’s eyes and legs, large open wounds and patches of hair and skin missing from its body.
“Both eyes are gone,” said R.B. Cowett, a neighbor, “One huff’s gone. One shoulder’s tore up real bad.”
Lockhart says the horse was so severely injured, it had to be euthanized by a veterinarian.
Houston was upset because the horse kept getting out of the pasture, Lockhart said.
Neighbors say the animal did not have enough to eat.
“His brother’s excuse was that horses wasn’t going for anything now, you couldn’t sell him,” said Jordan, “That’s why he done it.”
Neighbors say the sheriff’s department will come back and bury the animal.
Other charges are expected, Lockhart said
(KSFM - November 10, 2011)