After spending three days distraught over her missing prize stallion, Joan Resk and her 10-year-old horse were reunited Sunday morning.

The stallion, named Farruco, is a rare, all-black Andalusian that Resk imported from Spain. The horse was gone Thursday morning when Resk went to feed him and her three other Andalusian stallions. Part of the backyard electric fence had been plowed through.

Resk and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries master conservation police officer Greg Funkhouser met at dawn and searched the acres of wooded hills behind Resk's Back Creek Road property in Roanoke County for tracks.

The two found a "skinnier and skittish" Farruco in the woods about 10 a.m. about a mile and a half from Resk's house.

Resk said Farruco looked "chewed up," with bruises and cuts that she said would be treated today. Resk said she is thankful for the people who called to wish her well or took time to help her search.

"It really reassures your faith in humanity," she said.

-- Lerone Graham