Grand Prix showjumper found butchered

A Grand Prix showjumper has been found butchered and slaughtered in Manatee County in Florida.

Taken

Phedras de Blondel, a 12-year-old Selle Francais gelding said to be worth around $200,000, had only recently been imported from Europe by new owner Debbie Stephens.

He was in his stable at the Imperial Farms Equestrian Center in rural Palmetto when he was taken at some point during the night of 24th– 25thOctober.

The horse was led outside, taken to a pen on the outskirts of the 27-acre farm, killed and ‘expertly butchered’.

Debbie’s husband Steve Stevens, an Olympic course designer, is calling the horse’s death a ‘murder’.

Missing

The horse was discovered missing at feeding time early on Sunday morning. He was found missing his limbs and a large part of his body.

“The horse looks like he was butchered out for slaughter after he was killed,” Steve Stephens told local press. “This was a murder. If I had to make a guess, it was someone who knows how to hunt, like hunt deer, and knew how to take a large animal’s life quickly. We have no enemies. We have no idea who did this.”

Dave Bristow of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said that a full investigation was ongoing, but no suspects had yet been identified.

It is believed the criminal wanted horse meat, and targeted Phedras because he was a big, heavy horse.