When a horse hands you its trust, you owe it better than what a Florida trainer is now accused of doing. In Marion County, a man hired to bring along a Paso Fino gelding instead ended up in handcuffs after a witness recorded him punching and kicking the horse, then shared the footage with authorities. The arrest has rattled Florida’s tight‑knit horse community and raised hard questions about how abuse can hide in plain sight until someone hits “record.”
I have spent enough time around barns to know tempers can flare when a horse misbehaves, but what investigators describe here is not a bad moment, it is a pattern of violence. The case against Benito Orlando Cotto Colon, and the way it unfolded through video and social media, shows how quickly a quiet training arrangement can turn into a criminal investigation once a horse owner and a few bystanders decide they are not going to look the other way.
The trainer at the center of the case
Deputies in Marion County say the man in the video is 34‑year‑old Benito Orlando Cotto Colon, a professional horse trainer who had been working in Florida’s horse country. According to an arrest affidavit, Cotto Colon was taken into custody on an animal cruelty charge after investigators reviewed footage that appeared to show him repeatedly striking a horse in his care, then confirmed his identity and role as the trainer involved in the incident. The affidavit identifies him by his full name and age and ties him directly to the horse that appears in the recording, a detail that anchors the criminal case to a specific individual rather than a vague complaint about an unknown handler, as outlined in one detailed affidavit.
In the broader public conversation, his name has shown up with a few misspellings and variations, which often happens when a local case suddenly goes viral. One short video clip circulating online refers to him as “Benito Gooto Cologne,” and still identifies him as a 34‑year‑old trainer in “Marian County,” a misprint of Marion County that still points back to the same man and the same incident once you line up the age, location, and alleged conduct in the clip.
The horse, the owner, and the trust that was broken
The horse at the center of this case is not some anonymous mount pulled from a rental string. Investigators identify him as an Abe Pasofino gelding named El Secreto the Becelou, a Paso Fino whose breeding and training represent years of investment and care. The horse belongs to owner Mae Maroquin, who had turned to a professional to bring out the best in her horse, not to see him battered in a training pen. In a statement shared with reporters, Maroquin described how she had entrusted El Secreto the Becelou to this trainer and later learned, through video, that the trust had been badly misplaced, a detail that comes through clearly in the account tied to Maroquin…