Joy Rudd suspects an "idiot with a crossbow" shot an arrow through her three-year-old Welsh-cross pony named Bliss.

"I'm still in shock," said the Nanaimo, B.C., woman, who found the animal in distress in its paddock early Saturday morning on her family farm near the main entrance of Linley Valley Park.

"She was standing in a different place than usual and very vocal. She was nickering and nickering. I knew something was wrong right away," said Rudd, who usually feeds Bliss around 7 a.m. PT.

"I mean, she usually says 'good morning' and that's it."

Bliss could barely walk to the barn, and was shaking and struggling to breathe.

Fresh puncture wounds were discovered on both sides of the animal. Something had passed through her body, near her lungs.

'We don't have any enemies'

"I had no idea what had happened. I thought maybe she had rolled on a rock, or she'd been attacked by a cougar," said Rudd.

Bliss was examined by a veterinarian, a conservation officer and by police. All agreed an arrow had passed through the equine.

"She was just standing there in her paddock just minding her own business. It went right through her — through the 'kill zone' — and barely missed her lungs," said Rudd.

As for who is to blame, she says investigators have a theory.

"They are sort of leaning towards it was just an idiot... some idiot with a crossbow. We don't have any enemies that we know of.... We are really feeling it was just an idiot."

Nanaimo RCMP are investigating and local hunters are helping to search for the arrow.

Bliss had a rough night, but is expected to survive.

Rudd is nursing her, with a catheter in her neck supplying $100-a-day painkillers and antibiotics to fend off infection.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.