Deputies investigate horse’s fatal shooting

By SEAN SPOSITO of the Tribune’s staff

Published Thursday, December 27, 2007

Correction appended

HARRISBURG - The day after Christmas, Donna Eibel awoke to a frightening scene. A neighbor drove by at about 7:30 a.m. and told her that her quarter horse was bleeding in a pasture near her home on Route E about 10 miles northwest of Columbia.

Photo courtesy of Donna Eibel

Jet Lag, left, was shot sometime after 6 p.m. on Christmas Day on Donna Eibel’s Route E farm near Hallsville. The horse was euthanized at the scene.

The 23-year-old sorrel, Jet Lag, had been shot through the hip less than 30 yards from the road sometime after 6 p.m. Christmas Day. Eibel, who had broken her leg weeks earlier, immediately called her son, Michael Eibel, to take care of the wounded animal.

It was too late.

"The horse didn’t move; he couldn’t move," Donna Eibel said. "If he would’ve lain down, he wouldn’t have gotten back up."

Nathan Voris, a veterinarian with Equine Medical Services, arrived at the farm within an hour.

"When I examined the horse, there was a lot of flesh missing from the hip and a gaping wound about 10 inches in diameter." he said. "And when I reached in and pulled out what was left of the lead" slug, "the hip was just shattered."

Minutes later, Voris said, he put the horse down by injecting a euthanasia solution. Eibel immediately called the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

Eibel said she believes someone shot the horse from the highway. A shotgun shell was found in a ditch by the roadway.

Boone County Sheriff’s Detective Rene Atkins said the likelihood of someone mistaking the quarter horse for a deer was slim.

"It was a full moon last night," Atkins said yesterday. "If you can’t tell the difference between a deer and a horse, you don’t need to be hunting."

Additionally, Atkins said, deer season is over.

The episode has been devastating for Eibel. "We had him since he was a baby," she said, sobbing. "He was my kids’ horse."

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 875-8477 or Atkins at 876-6106.

Last December, a pregnant mare was shot and killed in a pasture within 50 feet of Bearfield Road, south of Columbia.

Atkins, who also investigated that incident, said no suspects were ever found.

Eibel’s boyfriend, Walter Sponaugle, said Eibel and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department are offering a reward of least $1,000.

"I’m really at a loss for words," Voris said. "It’s just one of the most terrible things I’ve ever seen."

Reach Sean Sposito at (573) 815-1720 or ssposito@tribmail.com.

SECOND THOUGHTS: Saturday, December 29, 2007

A story Thursday about the shooting of a horse incorrectly said the Boone County Sheriff’s Department would contribute reward money for information that would help the investigation. The reward money of at least $1,000 would come from the horse’s owner, Donna Eibel, and CrimeStoppers.