Two Louisiana men have been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly tying a dead horse to a tree along a roadside in Tangipahoa Parish.

Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Dawn Panepinto said that on June 12 a horse used during a trail ride developed a "leg cramp due to dehydration." The horse was subsequently brought back to a transport trailer and removed from the trail site, Panepinto said. In transit, the dehydrated horse allegedly fell inside the trailer, was trampled by another horse, and sustained a broken neck. Trail riders Derrick Couch and Mike Tanner later allegedly pulled to the side of the road, tied one end of a rope to the horse and the other to a tree, and pulled the horse from the trailer before leaving the scene, Panepinto said. A tipster informed the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Department about the incident, she said.

Couch and Tanner were later arrested in connection with the incident. Each was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, Panepinto said.

Neither Couch nor Tanner was available for comment