Brenda Gause walked out to her pasture Wednesday night and saw a horse that didn't belong to her.
Shortly before 8:30 p.m., she observed a silver Dodge pickup pull up to her property and watched as a blonde woman got out and walked toward the back of the attached horse trailer and out of view for a few minutes, according to a sheriff's report.
After truck pulled away, Gause went to inspect her property and came upon the horse.
The animal was severely malnourished, said officers with Hernando County Animal Control, who picked it up shortly before noon Thursday and brought it to their stable off U.S. 41.
"This is the first time I've ever heard of this," said Sgt. Donna Black, a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. "We get calls about dogs and cats being abandoned, but never a horse."
A call to Gause's house was not returned Thursday.
She told deputies she did not recognize the woman who left the horse.
Because the animal was "skittish" and because it was after dark, an animal control livestock officer opted to pick it up the following morning, deputies said.
The blonde woman in the truck was not alone, according to the report.
If the people are identified and found, they could face charges of animal neglect, Black said.
Such a charge is a first-degree misdemeanor, according to Florida law.
The animal control manager did not return messages Thursday.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Hernando County Sheriff's Office at 352-754-6830.
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