A Marion County horse trainer has been arrested after he was allegedly captured on video footage abusing a horse that was in his care.
On Thursday, January 15, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office received a tip alleging that a horse trainer, identified as 34-year-old Benito Cotto Colon, had “brutally abused” a horse by “kicking,” “punching,” and “violently pulling” the animal, according to the arrest report.
An MCSO investigator made contact with the horse’s owner who advised that she had hired a man, Colon, approximately one and a half years ago to “train and take care of” her two horses. According to the owner, Colon had requested to take one of her horses to a horse show in Miami on Monday, January 13.
The owner advised that she was then notified of a video that allegedly showed Colon abusing one of her horses. According to the report, the video in question is 16 seconds long and “depicts what appears to be a bay Paso Fino horse in an arena that has a saddle and bridle on.”
An MCSO corporal noted in the report that a man was observed on the video footage “kicking the horse in the abdomen four separate times.” The horse was “attempting to evade the man who was ahold of the reins of the bridle.”
Moments later, the man allegedly stopped kicking the horse and proceeded to “snatch/yank on the horse’s head approximately seven times,” causing the horse’s head to “jerk and fly up.”
The corporal noted in the report that the horse appeared to be “in obvious distress” during the incident.
On Friday, January 16, investigators made contact with the witness who recorded the 16-second video of the alleged abuse. According to the report, the witness had two separate videos that were approximately 20 seconds in length and showed Colon riding a bay Paso Fino. These videos did not show any abuse.
The report further stated that a Facebook account belonging to Colon was found. On that account, Colon allegedly posted the following message to address the allegations against him:
“I want to clarify a situation that has been shared recently. The video circulating was recorded over a month ago. Minutes before what appears in that video, the horse nearly threw me off. If I had fallen the way it was about to happen, the horse could have seriously injured or even killed me.”
In that post, Colon allegedly admitted to being in the video and stated that he is taking “full responsibility for his actions.” He allegedly added that the way he “handl(ed) the horse” at the time of the incident was “not appropriate.”
Colon was placed under arrest and booked into Marion County Jail on Friday, January 16. He was released on bond the following day, and he is being charged with one count of animal cruelty.
Jail records show that Colon is scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28.