28/02/2020

It happened on 25 February: according to initial reports still to be confirmed, he was shot in the head after he got an injury to his abdomen.
It is assumed that he was being used for illegal horse-racing and that he was being "trained" on those country roads. He probably got injured and was worth nothing at that point.

It is not the first time that such macabre discoveries have been made in Sicily and this explains why the initial suspicion goes to illegal horse-racing: in April 2019, near Palermo, a horse was found tied up and killed at the edge of a road. In July 2015 a dead horse was found in the middle of the Viale Regione Siciliana roadway, still in Palermo. A few months earlier, in Ficarazzi, province of Palermo, a dead horse was found on the beach, without microchips. A few years earlier, in 2012, in via Ernesto Basile, Palermo, a horse that was allegedly the "son" of the famous racehorse, Varenne, was found dead.

All these deaths have been attributed to accidents caused by the habit of "training" horses on the roads, most likely for illegal racing.

We would like to remind you that the Italian highway code still contains an archaic rule that allows the driving of gigs of any kind on urban roads: this means that also those who drive a racing sulky do not risk being stopped by the police.

(photo and news from Trapani today)


Here are all the links to the articles with photos:

Trapani, cavallo trovato morto con un colpo in testa

Palermo, orrore: cavallo legato e ucciso trovato sul ciglio della strada (aprile 2019)

Palermo, viale Regione: cavallo morto abbandonato per strada (luglio 2015)

Ficarazzi (PA): cavallo morto sulla spiaggia (febbraio 2015)

Palermo, via Basile: cavallo morto, è figlio di Varenne (settembre 2012)