Man charged after he fired bowling balls into stables using cannon
A man who fired bowling balls from a homemade cannon into a horse breeder’s barn in the US has been charged with endangering life.
The incident happened at a 4 July party last summer at a property near Lisa Kroll’s equestrian business in New Richmond in Wisconsin.
Local press reports said at the party Ricky Thorne, 65 bought along his cannon and eight to 10 bowling balls were fired.
The Krolls live half a mile from where the party was held but when Lisa went out to feed her horses she noticed a bowling ball on the floor of her barn and a gaping hole in the roof.
A few hours later she found her 10-month-old horse dead in the field with a lump on its head.
“At least it was a horse not a human, but it was a very nice horse that was killed, very unfortunate,” Ms Kroll told the local news station.
Reports said a total of seven bowling balls and 10 bowling pins ended up in Kroll’s property.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Kroll who setup the family owned Kroll Performance Horse Training Centre 24 years ago told the local papers the horse that died was worth about $10,000.
The police said there was not enough evidence to show that the cannon had killed the horse but Thorne has been charged with unsafe use of the homemade cannon and endangering Kroll in the incident.
The St Croix county attoney said in all his 34 years of prosecuting he had never had a case of a man firing bowling balls out of a cannon.
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
