Teen accused of stabbing horses at Las Vegas race was ‘stalker,’ rodeo rider says

One of the rodeo riders whose horses were stabbed over the weekend in a Las Vegas barn said Tuesday she came “face-to-face” with the teenager charged with attacking her mare and two other horses.

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

Arielle Phillips told NBC News she was in a stall with her horse, Detail, late Friday when the 17-year-old “came by twice to try and make conversation by asking me weird questions.”

“She’s this stalker who has been following me on social media for a long time,” said Phillips, who was in Las Vegas to compete in a barrel racing event held by the National Barrel Horse Association. “She obsessed over Detail and obsessed over meeting me. And because she was also competing, I guess this was her chance to meet us.”

Phillips, 34, said she had never responded to any of the suspect’s messages and tried not to get into an extended conversation with her.

“It was weird,” Phillips said. “She had no business being there.”

Just minutes after she said good night to Detail and left the stall, Phillips wrote on Facebook, the teenager “brutally stabbed” the mare six times, “causing Detail to go frantic and get loose, taking off thru the barn aisles, blood pouring everywhere.”

“This girl had the nerve to call my boyfriend’s daughter while I literally just got back into the room after leaving Detail, stating she found Detail with her stall door open,” Phillips wrote. “Impossible! I latch and triple wrap the latch before I leave her stall.”

The 17-year-old was arrested after three horses were reported injured around 2 a.m. Saturday during the Professional’s Choice Vegas Super Show, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement .

“The teen had access to the barn, and investigators believe she may have used a knife to inflict multiple injuries to the horses,” police said. “While the injuries are not considered life-threatening, they are expected to prevent the horses from competing.”

The teenager, whom police did not identify because she is a minor, was booked on suspicion of 12 counts dealing with injuring horses and three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property, police said.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wilson said he is seeking to prosecute the teenager as an adult.

“These allegations involve deliberate acts of extreme cruelty against defenseless animals and have had a significant impact on the victims, the owners, and the broader equestrian community,” Wolfson said in a statement.

“Animal abuse cases are taken extremely seriously by our office,” the statement said. “Nevada law allows certain juvenile offenders to be prosecuted as adults when warranted by the seriousness of the conduct. We believe this case meets that standard.”

Phillips said the two other horses that were injured are named Rocket and Saaul Good, or Sully.

Sully had been attacked just hours after Hailey Krahenbuhl, 20, had ridden the gelding to a first-place finish, according to the National Barrel Horse Association .

Krahenbuhl could not be reached for comment.

Police have not divulged a motive for assaulting the horses.

Earlier, the National Barrel Horse Association said in a statement that the attacks on the horses involved a competitor at the show, which was held over the weekend at the South Point Hotel & Casino.

Phillips wrote in her post that after the suspect called and reported that Detail had fled her stall, she was told to leave the horse alone and that they were on their way.

“I rushed down to find her hosing off Detail’s wounds,” Phillips wrote. “I walked up to Detail, and this mare who loves and trusts me with her life, jumped away in fear as I reached my hand out. My blood boiled in that moment.”

“I immediately suspected this girl,” Phillips wrote.

Phillips said that Detail is recovering but that it will be a while before she fully mends and is ready to compete again.

“Detail is traumatized,” Phillips wrote. “Every time she runs away from the approach of my hand, I burst into tears. This is my best friend. An innocent sweet horse was brutally tortured for no reason.”