GCSO, horse owner disagree on horse’s level of care after seizure, euthanization

MOSES LAKE– The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is seeking animal cruelty charges against the owner of a neglected horse that was euthanized this past week. However, the horse’s owner says the horse, Buddy, likely suffered from cancer which had caused a rapid decline in his health.

On June 19, deputies learned that a landlord had been corralling the 20-25-year-old horse on the property in the 13000 block of Road 10 NE, north of Moses Lake, according to a GCSO statement. Deputies saw that the horse was visibly in bad shape, noting the spine was protruding, ribs were visible, hips were sunken, hooves had not been trimmed, hair was falling out and the horse was suffering from pest damage. The horse’s water source was filled with algae and there was no readily available food supply.

Deputies were granted a warrant to seize the horse and returned to the property Thursday with staff from Rodeo City Equine Rescue. The horse collapsed while being loaded into a trailer and was transported to a local veterinarian, who determined that the horse had been neglected for at least a year. Being malnourished and unable to support its own weight, the horse was euthanized. 

In a social media response to the issue, the horse’s owner, Nate Pruneda, said Buddy had declining health but it had not been a year. Buddy had recently stopped eating alfalfa and had been switched to orchard grass but continued to lose weight. After speaking with a GCSO investigator this week, it was determined that Buddy likely had cancer which resulted in the issues Buddy was facing, including increased calcium levels. 

“Anyone who knows us knows we love all of our animals and would never neglect any of them,” Pruneda said in a statement.

While Pruneda did not address allegations about Buddy’s hooves or water supply, he did say he was away in Florida for a family emergency and everything was in order before he left and he had someone caring for Buddy in his absence.

Pruneda said in the statement that he’d learned horses often only survive about four months with cancer, which explains the rapid weight loss and other issues Buddy had been facing. 

According to the University of California, Davis, many of the symptoms Buddy had can be associated with cancer. 

Photos of Buddy from early June show that he appeared to be in better health just a few weeks prior to law enforcement taking him.

Pruneda said he’s upset by the situation and that it has impacted his children as well.

“My kids are extremely shaken up by this whole thing also,” he said.

Deputies have forwarded a recommendation of a charge of first-degree animal cruelty against Pruneda to the Grant County Prosecuting Attorney. It is unknown how the prosecutor’s office will proceed with the case.