A fourth horse died on Monday at an equestrian center in Davie, Florida after eating suspected contaminated food.
The Florida Department of Agriculture confirmed that monensin, a type of food additive that is toxic to horses, was present in Lakeland Animal Nutrition's food, according to a statement on the food manufacturer's website.
Three horses died back in October at Masterpiece Equestrian Center, located in Davie not far from Miami. The fourth horse, Foxy, died Monday. The owner fears that 18 other horses are in jeopardy after they ate the same batch of food that killed four horses already.
"As soon as we learned of the horses’ deaths from Oct. 16-20, we immediately began recalling the feed in question and then expanded the recall to three other feeds as a precautionary measure on Oct. 22," the food company said in a statement. "There have been no further confirmed reports of any feed issues outside of Masterpiece Equestrian, and we believe the issue was isolated to feed that was distributed to that facility."
An investigation is currently underway between Lakeland Animal Nutrition and Masterpiece Equestrian Center.
"We are committed to working with the Masterpiece Equestrian family to bring restoration in the midst of their tragic losses. Although we can never replace their horses or take away the pain of this tragedy, we are working with their representatives to expedite a resolution," Lakeland Animal Nutrition said in a statement.
