Three horses have been graffitied on ACT government land in Kaleen.
The animals were found with purple spray paint on their sides on Saturday morning.
The owner of one of the horses, Kayla Arena, said she's disheartened and stressed out by the attack.
"It's really upsetting that a horse as trusting as her was mistreated by strangers," she said.
"It makes me feel very paranoid, always having to double check over my shoulder, making sure she's OK every day."
"Her fur was all matted together, and it was really difficult to get out."
Not the first act of vandalism
Several other homes and street signs in the area were also graffitied.
ACT territory agistment manager Ryan Walsh was disappointed by the vandalism.
"It's cruel to the animal, they've got no recourse. For someone to come up and spray paint them, it's abhorrent," Mr Walsh said.
"At the end of the day the horses are in the paddock, they can't defend themselves."
Vandalism of the agisted paddocks is common.
Mr Walsh said that someone cut the gate of the Gilmore paddocks last week, and eight horses were found roaming the suburb in the early hours of the morning.
Horses also got out of the Kaleen paddocks a few years ago after someone cut through the locked gates.
There's around 1000 hectares of agisted paddocks in the ACT. In March 2023, they were home to 325 horses.
Mr Walsh said that while the land is closed to the public, agistees are only there during the day and there's no security overnight.
"We've had these issues at all of our complexes at different times," he said.
"For the most part the interactions between the public and the horses are really positive. It's just a shame that it's a small minority of people who do something really stupid."
Horses' safety paramount
Ms Arena said hoped it never happened again.
"If the spray paint wasn't animal safe, or if they'd digested or inhaled it, we would have had a lot more issues," she said.
"We're always more than happy for people to come and say hi to the horses if we're there, but when it's a negative thing like this and people are hurting our animals, it makes us want to withdraw."
"You wouldn't like it if someone came up and spray painted your dog, or came up and spray painted you."
"They're our pets, and we put a lot of time and effort into making sure they're happy and healthy."
