WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Washington Township stable owner has been charged with animal cruelty and neglect after animal control officers said she was filmed using a riding crop and two dogs to abuse a horse.
According to our partners at TribLIVE.com, Sandra Hobbs, the owner of Victory Stables, has been under investigation by the Humane Society after they received multiple calls about a Facebook video that was posted Feb. 2.
The video showed a horse being pulled with a lead rope by two terriers as Hobbs instructed the dogs, according to court documents.
At one point in the video, the dogs advanced toward the front of the horse, causing it to rear up and fall onto its back.
A humane officer wrote in the criminal complaint, “As the horse wobbles on the ground, the dogs continue to pull on her and Hobbs continues to swing the crop and yell for the dogs to ‘Bring her, boys, bring her.’”
When our partners at the Tribune-Review reached out to Hobbs for comment, she could not be reached.
Court documents said that Hobbs told investigators in February that the video was of her “teaching the horse to move forward.”
During the same interview, investigators reportedly discovered other animals in stalls that were “thick in feces and urine.”
The horse in the video was still at the stables at the time of the interview, and a humane officer said in court documents that the horse appeared to have gained weight. The horse also did not appear to be in distress.
Hobbs is charged with cruelty to animals and neglect of animals. She will appear in court on June 12 for a preliminary hearing.
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