Distraught horse owner Nancy Padovano says justice is needed for her eight-year-old mare who was seriously hurt after being hit with four hunting arrows.
A veterinary surgeon in Fayette County, Georgia, spent four hours removing the barbed arrows from Misty following the attack during the early hours of Sunday morning.
Nancy says Misty, who has Arabian and Morgan bloodlines, is still very sore and is having trouble eating and drinking, but should make a recovery provided she suffers no complications.
The horror of Misty's injuries were discovered by a neighbour who was passing her roadside paddock in Brooks around 10am on Sunday.
The Padovanos were alerted and a vet was called.
One of the arrows had penetrated her neck. Another struck her wither at an angle, the barb piercing the bone. A third struck Misty on the right temple, opening up her sinuses.
A fourth shot to her right side appears to have struck her leg and glanced off, leaving a puncture wound.
Nancy, 69, told Horsetalk that Misty was fearful and in great pain when discovered.
It had been a freezing night and the blood from her injuries had frozen on her body.
"It was a horrible thing to see," Nancy said.
"Somebody just did it for their own fun. This is a friendly little mare. We got her a few years back. Somebody could not afford to keep her any longer. She's the sweetest thing.
"She probably walked right up to the perpetrator in the paddock thinking they might have an apple or something."
Nancy said the veterinarian who spent four hours operating on Misty in the paddock had put in 100 internal stitches alone.
"She is having a hard time eating and drinking. She is really sore from the sinuses. It's already created an infection.
"Barring any kind of bone infection, she will probably get better," she said.
Nancy said her neighbour's daughter came over to tell her of Misty's injuries.
"It was devastating to see. It was enough to make you faint," she said.
"We need justice for this mare. People can't keep doing this for fun."
She said she and her 72-year-old husband live in a quiet, rural part of Fayette County.
"It's quiet, safe for children. It just doesn't add up. Crime has escalated since the downturn, but nothing as cruel as this."
Nancy said police were at the property for most of yesterday and a Fayette County detective was talking with her husband at the time of this interview.
Police believe the seriousness of the attack made it a felony offence, she said.
Nancy said the person who shot Misty must have been demented in some way. "A truly majestic animal like a horse and to do something like this ... leaving an animal in such fear and pain."
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