The owner of a miniature horse made a sad discovery Saturday evening when he discovered his miniature horse dead on the side of a county road northeast of Gillette, Wyoming.
The tiny horse had been hit by a passing vehicle and left for dead on the side of Cow Creek Road north of Rozet, a small unincorporated community east of Gillette, said Campbell County Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds.
The owner was driving on the road at about 6:45 p.m. Saturday when he discovered the miniature horse laying on the east side of the road, Reynolds said.
“It appeared the horse was probably hit by a larger vehicle,” he said, adding that when a deputy responded he found “just the body of the horse, there was no debris.”
It appeared the horse had either been standing in the road or crossing when a vehicle traveling north on Cow Creek Road hit it, sending it to the other side of the road, he said.
Along with no debris from a possibly damaged vehicle, there were no skid marks to signal someone saw the horse or tried to avoid it, Reynolds said.
It’s A Crime
While not as damaging to a vehicle as hitting a cow or full-sized horse, the miniature horse could still do some damage, Reynolds said.
“It would be like hitting a baby deer,” he said. “Those horses aren’t very big.”
The horse was valued at about $800, and whoever hit and killed it broke the law by not sticking around to file a report and/or seek out its owner, the undersheriff said. Because it involves damage to someone’s personal property, it’s a hit-and-run.
The road also is clearly marked as being “open range,” he said, which means motorists need to be watchful for livestock.
“This county road is marked to be open range and to watch for livestock on the roadway,” Reynolds said, adding that he lives in the area as well. “If you travel it, you know it’s open range there.”
Anyone with information about the miniature horse hit-and-run should call the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office at 307-682-7271.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
