A Virginia horse owner is facing charges after his horse died in the Shenandoah Forest.

Page County Sheriff's Department Major Jason Pettit said deputies responded to a call on Sept. 11, indicating that a horse had been discovered dead in the Shenandoah Forest near the rural residential neighborhood of Luray.

Further investigation revealed that the horse appeared to have fallen and fatally hit its head on a jagged rock, he said.

“The horse's owner said that he had not seen the animal since the previous Saturday,” Pettit said. “That's when we charged him with neglect