The sudden and mysterious deaths of up to 70 horses at an Oklahoma rodeo ranch is now being investigated by state authorities.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry was first alerted by a veterinarian to the mass deaths on Aug. 23 and launched an investigation soon after, KFOR-TV reported.

Preceding the deaths, hands at the Elk City ranch, where the horses were being kept, realized that something wasn’t quite right.

It currently appears that equine food given to the horses may have been tainted or otherwise compromised.

“Started seeing some stuff that wasn’t right,” Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. co-owner Rhett Beutler told KFOR-TV, “and then all of a sudden looked up, and there’s horses just falling over dying.”

An ODAFF official visited the site on Aug. 26 and collected a sample of the feed, which had been procured in a single bulk order by the rodeo.

“As the state regulator of animal feed, an inspector visited the Beutler and Son site on behalf of the department on Monday, August 26, and learned that the feed originated in Kansas,” the agency said in a statement. “The ODAFF inspector collected a feed sample which is being analyzed in two state-certified laboratories.

“ODAFF has informed the Kansas Department of Agriculture of the inspector’s site visit and continues to work in coordination with KDA. ODAFF has assisted Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. with carcass disposal to ensure all state regulations were adhered to.”

Oklahoma state veterinarian Rod Hall urged pet and livestock owners “to be judicious in reviewing labels on feed provided to animals in their care” and to contact a trusted vet with any concerns about animal safety.

Unfortunately for the Beutlers, the horses they lost are not simple draft animals, but quality rodeo mounts with generational value.

“We’ve got world champions that are dead,” Beutler said. “We’ve got horses that would potentially be the next world champions that are dead.”

It appears the contamination may have been introduced at the feed mill, with an expert pointing to Monensin as a potential culprit. The additive is harmless to cattle but can easily prove fatal if ingested by horses.

“It affects their heart, and so it causes necrosis of the heart tissue, essentially, and so in essence, they kind of have heart attacks, and so it tends to be pretty rapid onset,” Oklahoma State University equine specialist Kris Hiney told KFOR-TV.

Ranch neighbors understand that the loss could have an impact that is felt beyond Elk City and Oklahoma.

“It’s going to be big,” neighboring ranch owner Kaitlyn Hall, of Lazy H Equine, told KOCO-TV.

“It’s absolutely devastating,” she continued. “They’re on the big stage, and everybody knows them and the quality of horses that they have and the quality of people that they are.”

The Beutlers’ company supplies horses to rodeos across the county, a business that would be irreversibly impacted by these mass deaths.

The ODAFF expects a lab to return results on the collected samples in a matter of weeks.

Assignment Editor