A teenage barrel racer allegedly went on a savage stabbing spree inside a Las Vegas horse barn, leaving three prized competition horses slashed, bloodied, and stitched up in a shocking overnight attack.
The girl, whose name has not been released because she is a minor, was arrested Saturday after the attack at the 2026 NBHA Professional’s Choice Vegas Super Show at the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said officers responded to a barn in the 9700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South shortly after 2 a.m. regarding an injured horse. When they arrived, they found three horses that had been “intentionally injured with a sharp object.”
Investigators soon identified the teenage competitor as a suspect, noting she had access to the barn where the horses were kept.
“Investigators believe she may have used a knife to inflict multiple injuries to the horses,” police said in a news release.
The injuries were not life-threatening but are expected to keep the horses out of competition, according to the Sun.
One of the injured horses was Saaul Good — known as Sully. His owner, competitor Hailey Krahenbuhl, said the horse had been stabbed several times.
“Sully was stabbed multiple times last night. I have no words, he is stitched up and in recovery,” Krahenbuhl wrote on Facebook.
She later added that another one of her horses, Foxy, narrowly escaped injury. “Foxy was almost stabbed but is okay,” she wrote.
Another horse, a mare named Detail owned by competitor Arielle Phillips, was found by her owner wandering the barn, bleeding and scared.
“The vet confirmed these were perfect stab wounds; there was no way it was anything else,” Phillips wrote, adding that Detail was treated at the barn and received stitches.
Phillips later posted photos revealing gruesome wounds on the horse’s shoulder and chest, with blood-spattered hay marking the aftermath in the stall.
She claimed the suspect was “a crazy, obsessed stalker” who repeatedly messaged her asking to meet, but she never responded.
“Last night at 11pm, I was sitting with Detail at her stall for an hour. This girl came by twice trying to make conversation and ask weird questions,” Phillips wrote.
“Two minutes after I left her stall at 12:02am, this psychopath went in and brutally stabbed her 6 times at 12:04am, causing Detail to go frantic and get loose, taking off through the barn aisles, blood pouring everywhere.”
Phillips said the attack shattered her emotionally.
“I can’t even put into words the pain I feel for my mare and for Hailey’s Sully,” she wrote.
“Detail is traumatized. Every time she runs away from the approach of my hand, I burst into tears. This is my best friend.”
“An innocent sweet horse, who only knows how to give me her ALL was brutally tortured for no reason. You don’t mess with my animals, and you don’t mess with this mare. I will not stop until Detail and I receive justice.”
Another competitor at the event, 17-year-old Cali Raymer of Las Vegas, told the Las Vegas Review she knew the suspect and was stunned by the allegations.
“I’ve talked to her a few times,” Raymer said. “It’s kind of scary that something like that would happen here.”
In a statement posted to Facebook, the National Barrel Horse Association described the attack as an “isolated incident during the early morning hours of Saturday, May 30, involving the mistreatment of a limited number of equine competitors by an event competitor.”
“The individual involved has been removed and placed in the care of authorities, and there is no ongoing threat of any kind.”
Police said detectives later tracked the suspect to a nearby hotel, where she was taken into custody before being transported to Clark County Juvenile Hall.
She was booked on 12 counts of willful or malicious kill, maim, or torture of an animal — horse, along with three felony counts of malicious destruction of private property valued at more than $5,000.
A GoFundMe campaign to cover veterinary bills and recovery costs for the injured horses had already raised over $8,000, as a wave of support poured in for the animals and their owners.
