Warning: The above photo gallery contains graphic images.

A family of horse farmers in Boaz lost sight of their miniature horse Mr. Nubby on April 28. Two days later they came face to face with the grotesque fate someone bestowed upon him.

On April 30, a helper spotted Nubby's body in the back pond of Hi Pine Farm in Boaz. The 40-acre horse farm's owner, John Tuck, said he waded out the 10 feet to the small horse to find he had been shot and killed. But that wasn't the worst of it.

"He was just completely skinned like you would a deer from the mid-joint of his legs up and all the way. Tail gone, mane gone, everything," Tuck said. "Really kind of a disturbing sight."

Both Tuck and authorities searched the area for clues of who did this, but no tire tracks or trails were found. Boaz Deputy Police Chief Josh Gaskin said whoever did it must have walked onto the property.

The investigation is off to a slow start. Gaskin said there weren't many clues and no leads or suspects. The bullet went through Mr. Nubby's neck and out through his side, so ballistics couldn't be retrieved.

Police are searching for witnesses, and have asked anyone with information to call the department at (256) 593-6812.

"We've never worked a case like this that I'm aware of here in Boaz," Gaskin said.

Tuck agrees with this, saying he hopes the media attention will bring in leads.

"Somebody has to know something out there," he said.

John and Christie Tuck believe both of their miniature horses were targets in the crime. They said another miniature horse, named Peanut, had severe rope burn injuries that were cut into his neck. He also had a small wound they believe may have been from an arrow. The wound was infected by the time they caught Peanut, they said.

Mr. Nubby had similar neck wounds where it appears someone tied him. The Tucks believe Peanut likely escaped the same fate by breaking free of his ropes.

The Tucks said Peanut was so frightened he wouldn't come near them until a day later.

Mr. Nubby was a class A miniature, about 32 inches tall and between 150 and 200 pounds. He was at least 4 inches smaller than Peanut--his companion--and was the smallest animal on the farm who wasn't a dog or cat.

The small horse was a 2011 Christmas gift to Christie Tuck. She recalled how once, he started out skittish but quickly warmed up to his new owners and the larger horses. She recalled Mr. Nubby's "sweet nature" and said he would eat from her hand. She called him her "pride and joy."

The full-size horses soon grew fond of the little ones and acted as their "babysitters," she said.

Nubby's mutilation is a first for the community. Neither the Tucks nor Gaskin knew of any other animal skinnings or killings reported.

John Tuck said one of their horses showed signs of being kicked a few months ago, which they assumed was from one of the other horses but are now not so sure.

"Now, thinking back, looking at other things that have happened. I wonder if he was kicked by (another) horse or maybe if someone hit him with a baseball bat or something like that even," John Tuck said.

Another question nagging at them is why it happened. They said the killer took the skin with them. The couple could not imagine what use the skin would be other than a trophy of the crime.

John Tuck is a third-generation owner of Hi Pine Farm and says there's never been a horse killed there before. His grandfather, veterinarian C. F. Partridge, started it in 1951. John Tuck inherited it in 2010.