Horse Illustrated Magazine

Update 3/30/16:

A Rhode Island man has been charged with animal cruelty in the case of Lily, a 20-year-old mixed-breed pony. Phillip S. Price, 65, was identified on surveillance video as having abandoned the pony at the New Holland horse auction. He has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty for not seeking treatment for Lily’s infected eye, among other violations. He is not, however, charged with shooting Lily with paintballs, and investigators are still seeking information on the pony’s origin and who is responsible for her condition.

Lily remains in the custody of the New Bolton Center where she is recovering from her injuries.

Original article continues below.

If you’ve ever been shot at with a paintball, you know those things can hurt. Now imagine being shot at close range by one. Or worse, 130 of them. That is what happened to an abandoned horse found yesterday at New Holland Sales Stables in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.

LancasterOnline reports that employees of New Holland Sales Stables, a horse auction site, “discovered the animal in a back stall when sales had ended for the day… The horse had not been registered as ‘for sale’ Monday and had no visible identification.”

The Lancaster County SPCA is investigating the situation after being called to the scene yesterday afternoon. The SPCA Executive Director, Susan Martin, told LancasterOnline that the 20-year-old mare, an Appaloosa/Arabian pony mix, was underweight and “in a substantial amount of pain when touched.” She is also blind in her right eye. A veterinarian gave the mare pain medication at the New Holland Sales Stables before Omega Horse Rescue transferred her to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center, a facility that specializes in caring for large animals.

Martin told LancasterOnline that the mare is expected to survive, but that her recovery will be lengthy.

Anyone with information regarding this horse or her owner is urged to call the Lancaster County SPCA at (717) 917-6979 (all calls are anonymous) or email them at info@lancasterspca.org.