Police are investigating after a horse was shot and wounded with an arrow in Rayland.

Investigators said they did not know if the horse, Popeye, was intentionally shot or if it its injuries were the result of a hunting accident.

The horse's owner, Nick Stabile, said he put Popeye in the pasture Wednesday night. When he came back early Thursday, he noticed blood on the horse's stomach.

"I saw the arrow sticking out of his hip -- it was in him nine to 10 inches," said Stabile, who raises horses with his wife Marion.

Stabile said the arrow just missed the horse's spine by less than an inch. A Wheeling veterinarian was able to remove the arrow from the horse's back, and Stabile said the animal is doing fine.

He said he suspects that poachers hunting at night may have mistaken the horse for a deer.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.