Up to 21 horses have been found dead in an eastern Kentucky woodland after they were allegedly hunted down and shot.

A year old foal was shot in the face, and two pregnant horses miscarried before dying after they were hit with bullets at an abandoned strip mine on the border with Pike County.

Police are offering more than $1,500 for information that leads to the arrest of those responsible, after animal rights organisations boosted the amount.

Up to 21 horses have been found dead after they were shot at an abandoned strip mine in Kentucky. Resident Megan Globe took this image of one of the dead horses

A year old foal was shot in the face, and two pregnant horses miscarried before dying after they were hit with bullets at an abandoned strip mine on the border with Pike County

Police are offering more than $1,500 for information that leads to the arrest of those responsible, after animal rights organisations boosted the amount

Floyd County Sheriff, John Hunt, said it looked like a 'battlefield for horses' with the bodies scattered across the area in pairs, alone, or in groups of three or four.

'It's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever,' he told The NPR.

'Just to go back on a strip job and shoot down horses who were — one of them obviously was feeding, had grass in its mouth.'

Sergeant Kevin Shepherd has reported that a horse owner, who had five animals on the hill, claimed there were as many as 21 dead horses.

Rescue teams had to call off the search on Tuesday morning, after heavy rain made it difficult to reach the hillside site, but said they would try again.

Dumas Rescue is coordinating volunteers searching the area and looking after donations for the police force.

Floyd County Sheriff, John Hunt, said it looked like a 'battlefield for horses' with the bodies scattered across the area in pairs, alone, or in groups of three or four

'It's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever,' he said

A bullet hole in one of the dead horses. Neighbours have called for anyone with information to come forward

The President of the group, Tonya Conn, said that there was a herd of at least 35 horses in the area.

'You can see in the pictures that these horses were running,' she told the Floyd Chronicle and Times.

'They have ran in different directions. They've scattered. They've fallen dead at different directions.'

She said that last year the group removed seven horses that had entered Daniels Creek, after coming off the hills, and disrupted the community.

A woman who lives nearby, Megan Globe, told The NPR that the horses were 'part of the community' and that people would regularly go up the hills to feed them.

'Some of them were friendly,' said Globe who went up to the hill on Monday after a report of five dead horses, 'and you could go up there and they'd walk right up to you'.

Neighbours have called for anyone with information to come forward.

A veterinarian will conduct a field necropsy to establish the animals cause of death this week.