Audrey Lemmings with her pony, Patches, on a farm north of Shawnee. The horse was assaulted and as a result of its injuries, had its left eye removed.Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
PRAGUE —Patrick and Ginger Lemmings love to recall the joy they felt when they surprised their 3-year-old daughter with a brown and white pony named Patches.
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Thoughts of that day stir happy memories.
What happened to Patches last week stirs something much darker.
The couple awoke to discover the left side of the pony’s face bashed in.
The horse’s skull was fractured in three places, leaving it blind in one eye.
A Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy is convinced someone crept into the stall at night and attacked the animal.
"Somebody struck that pony,” deputy Chad Pavlicek said. "There’s no other explanation. No other animal could have done this, or else you’d see teeth marks. There is no spray or blood splatter. So whoever did it knew what they were doing and did it at a time when they wouldn’t be seen.”
Is it a coincidence?
Pavlicek’s conclusion has left the Lemmings appalled and angry.
"What kind of evil being would attack a little girl’s defenseless pony?” asked Ginger Lemmings, 31. "Someone who is a coward.”
The apparent attack is the latest in a series of strange happenings on the family’s rural property. In the past three years, the Lemmings have lost four dogs. One dog disappeared, one was hit by a car, one was shot and the last one was found floating in a pond in the pasture.
"Coincidence?” said Patrick Lemmings, a 34-year-old civilian industrial equipment mechanic at Tinker Air Force Base.
"I don’t think so. Now this happens with the pony. ... This crime breaks the scale on the evil meter. You move to the country for peace and quiet — and we have great neighbors — but then you end up living in fear worrying about what lengths an evil person will go.
"I mean attacking a child’s pony. That’s crazy.”
Pavlicek interviewed several neighbors, including one with whom Patrick Lemmings exchanged harsh words several years ago. But there is no evidence linking anyone to the crime.
A similar crime occurred at Prague High School a few months ago. Pavlicek said someone gouged the eyes out of a few show pigs and then shot them.
Pavlicek said he thinks the crimes are unrelated.
At first, the Lemmings didn’t want to believe anyone would attack their daughter’s pony.
Then they spoke with the veterinarian who performed the emergency surgery.
"I can’t say with any degree of certainty that the pony had been attacked,” said Tracy Trussell, a Shawnee veterinarian.
"But the pony suffered massive blunt force trauma. I have seen horses rear up and hurt themselves before, although nothing quite like this. You’d have to know if there was anything in that stall sharp enough for the pony to hurt itself.”
The stall appeared devoid of any sharp objects, Pavlicek said.
"Everything is horse-safe,” Patrick Lemmings said as he inspected the stall yet again.
"There’s no other explanation. You know, that Friday morning I walked out to the stall to check on her, I sensed something was wrong right away. I noticed our horse, Escape, pacing in the corral next to Patches.
"Then she turned to me, and it looked like something out of a horror show. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut.
"I think somebody wanted that pony dead. But why?”
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