A teenager competing in a barrel race in Las Vegas has been arrested after police say she stabbed three horses during the weekend-long competition in Las Vegas.
The horses are expected to survive, but police said the animals could not compete in any competitions due to their injuries.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were called to the 9700 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard on Saturday after a report of a horse being injured.
Many riders and horses were in Las Vegas over the weekend for the 2026 National Barrel Horse Association. Professional Choice Vegas Super Show at South Point Casino, according to a statement from the association.
The event features barrel racing, where horses race on a course marked by sharp turns marked by barrels.
The organization identified the teenage girl as one of the event competitors.
When officers arrived, they found that three horses had been stabbed multiple times.
Detectives said they believe the teenage girl, who had access to the barn, used a knife to stab the horses.
Haley Krahenbuhl, one of the competitors, wrote on facebook that his horse, Sully, was one of the horses injured in the attack.
“I am at a loss for words, he has recovered and is recovering,” Krahenbuhl wrote.
The owner of the second horse, detail, wrote in a facebook Post that the alleged attacker was a “crazy obsessive stalker who had been stalking me on social media for a long time.”
Detail owner Ariel Phillips wrote that the teenage girl tried to talk to him in the horse stall the night before the attack, and then contacted someone to tell them that the horse was “shaking” and bleeding in the stall.
Phillips wrote, “An innocent loving horse, who only knows how to give me his all, was brutally tortured for no reason.”
According to police, the teen was found by police at a nearby hotel and taken into custody.
He was charged with 12 counts of willful or malicious killing, maiming or torturing an animal, and three counts of aggravated destruction of personal property over $5,000.
