LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Kan. -- A Kansas woman came home last week and found that one of her miniature horses had been killed by a pit bull.

"I wanted children in my life and I couldn't have kids, so these horses are like my kids. They're my four-legged furry children," Kay Moyer told KMBC's Lara Moritz.

She said that on Thursday night, she got a phone call from a man visiting her neighbor.

"He was all panicked and he said that the horses had been attacked and he said it's by his pit bull," Moyer said.

She said that Molly, her pregnant, prize-winning miniature show horse, was attacked so fiercely that it died.

"I walked into the barn to find Molly just shredded. She was bleeding out -- she had holes in her windpipe. You couldn't hold her anywhere in your hands from her shoulders up without fingers going into open wounds. She was mutilated," Moyer said.

She said her other miniature horses were also bitten and assaulted.

"Emotionally, they're traumatized," Moyer said.

The owner of the pit bull said he shot and killed the dog.

Moyer said that's not enough.

"I want him to pay for all the vet bills. I want him to pay for the loss of the foal. I want all of that monetary stuff handled," she said. "I want everybody else to realize if you're going to own these kinds of animals, you better be responsible."

The Leavenworth County Sheriff's Department is investigating the case.

No charges against the pit bull owner have been filed.