2 People Facing Charges After Video Shows Horse Tied to Pickup Truck and Being Dragged Behind It
Social media is a wonderful way to share amusing, important or exciting moments with family and friends, no matter how far away they live. It also acts as a museum of sorts, putting all your shared information on display.
While some people’s past indiscretions are limited to embarrassing photos from school years, sometimes the shared content is far more damning, as in the case of John and Amber Saldate from Grand County, Colorado.
According to The Washington Post, the couple filmed and posted a scene involving a snowy road, a pickup truck, and their recent acquisition — a palomino named “Trigger,” that was known as a bit of a problem horse, according to KCNC-TV.
The issue was that the video showed the horse tied to the back of the pickup truck, which then drove forward despite the horse’s resistance, dragging the horse (which was fighting the whole way) down the snowy road nearly 100 yards.
“This [expletive] refuses to leave the ranch, so John’s pulling him across, cause he’s being a dou*****g,” the person behind the camera says, according to the Post.
Viewers were understandably enraged, and though the video was posted on Facebook on Sunday, it was deleted a short time later — but not before enough people had seen it.
Sheriff Brett Schroetlin of Grand County said many people contacted the sheriff’s office after the video was shared around.
“We have received countless social media contacts, emails phone calls, I cant even begin to put a number on how many there were,” he said during a news conference, according to the Post.
“Cases involving kids and animals are obviously very emotional. We need to do our part of the investigation which sometimes takes a little bit longer than what the community is hoping.”
One owner spoke with KCNC-TV on Monday to express their regret over the incident.
“You make one bad decision sometimes and it can destroy your life,” the woman said. “I’ve lost my job over this, I’ve upset a lot of people. I made our horse go through something that he shouldn’t have. I was wrong.”
“I’m very sorry. I get why people are upset. I was so stupid, I don’t know why we did it.”
The next day, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office released a notice of animal cruelty charges being leveled at the owners.
“On November, 24th 2019, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office initiated an animal cruelty investigation near Grand Lake, Colorado,” the update read. “A video of a horse being dragged behind a truck was shared extensively on social media. The horse was later seized by law enforcement, and is now safe.”
The Post also shared that a veterinarian looked the animal over and although they did administer some pain medication because the horse appeared “tender,” they did not see any obvious injuries.
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