A teenager competing in a barrel race in Las Vegas was arrested after police said she stabbed three horses during a weekend-long competition in Las Vegas.
The horses are expected to survive, but police said the injuries prevented the animals from participating in a competition.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were called to the 9700 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard on Saturday after receiving reports that a horse had been injured.
Several riders and horses were in Las Vegas over the weekend for the 2026 National Barrel Horse Assn. Professional’s Choice Vegas Super Show at the South Point Casino, according to a statement from the association.
The event features barrel racing, where horses run around a path with sharp turns marked by barrels.
The organization identified the teen girl as one of the event competitors.
When officers arrived, they found three horses had been stabbed multiple times.
Detectives said they believed the teenage girl, who had access to the barn, used a knife to stab the horses.
One of the competitors, Hailey Krahenbuhl, wrote on Facebook that her horse, Sully, was one of the horses injured in the attack.
“I have no words, he is stitched up and in recovery,” Krahenbuhl wrote.
The owner of another horse, Detail, wrote in a Facebook post that the alleged attacker was a “crazy obsessed stalker who has been following me on social media for a long time.”
Arielle Phillips, the owner of Detail, wrote that the teen girl tried to talk to her the night before the attack at the horse’s stall, and then contacted someone to tell them that the horse was “quivering” and bleeding in the stall.
“An innocent sweet horse, who only knows how to give me her ALL was brutally tortured for no reason,” Phillips wrote.
The teenager was found by police in a nearby hotel and taken into custody, according to police.
She was booked on 12 counts of willful or malicious killing, maiming or torturing of an animal, and three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property over $5,000.
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