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 DENVER -- A Denver police officer on the mounted patrol unit has been docked one day of vacation as punishment after documents showed his horse was left tied up for 16 hours without food or water. 
 
 A disciplinary letter said that on Sept. 26, officer Joseph Teeter finished his mounted patrol shift and returned to the Denver Police Mounted Patrol Barn to unload his horse, MC Hammer, into a stall. 
 
 Teeter tied the horse to an eye hook with a rope that left about 2 to 3 feet of slack. The letter said Teeter "became distracted doing paperwork and forgot he had left the horse tied in the stall." 
 
 The horse was discovered still tied up in the stall at 6:15 a.m. the next morning. The horse had no access to food or water during those 16 hours. 
 
 RELATED: Disciplinary report 
 
 Despite being given food and water upon discovery, the horse was showing signs of pain and was taken to Littleton Equine Medical Center. 
 
 According to the letter, it was found the horse had colic and had to be euthanized. 
 
 "The medical experts who evaluated the horse were unable to conclude that the horse's condition was caused by being left in the stall without food or water for approximately sixteen hours," the letter said. 
 
 The letter said Teeter showed real remorse for his actions and took complete responsibility for the “forgetfulness.” 
 
 Teeter was docked one eight-hour vacation day as punishment. 

 A Denver Police Department mounted patrol officer has been docked one vacation day after he left his horse tied in a stall for 16 hours without food or water. The horse developed colic and was euthanized. 
 
 Denver police internal investigators did not believe Officer Joseph Teeter intentionally ignored his horse, MC Hammer, after a day of patrolling downtown, and veterinarians could not conclude that the illness was a result of being tied for so long, according to a disciplinary letter issued to the officer. 
 
 Teeter, who has been with Denver police since 2006, violated a department rule for carelessly leaving MC Hammer tied, said the Dec. 20 disciplinary letter obtained by The Denver Post. 
 
 Teeter remains a member of the department’s mounted patrol, said Christine Downs, a Denver police spokeswoman. 
 
 “Though not intentional on his part, Officer Teeter’s forgetfulness exposed a live animal to cruel and extreme conditions,” the letter said. 
 
 Teeter and MC Hammer patrolled downtown Denver on Sept. 26, when temperatures were in the upper 70s. Upon returning to the mounted patrol barn, Teeter unloaded the horse and tied him to an eyebolt in the stall and removed his saddle, the letter said. 
 
 Teeter took the saddle to the tack room, but he became distracted with paperwork and forgot about his horse. Someone else discovered MC Hammer tied in the stall at 6:15 a.m. the next day, the letter said. 
 
 The horse was given food and water and first appeared to be “bright, alert and responsive” for several hours. However, the horse began showing signs of pain around noon and he was taken to the Littleton Equine Medical Center. 
 
 MC Hammer was evaluated and monitored overnight. 
 
 The next morning, the horse was diagnosed with colic and veterinarians determined he would not recover. 
 
 “The medical experts who evaluated the horse were unable to conclude that the horse’s condition was caused by being left tied in the stall without food or water for sixteen hours,” the letter said. 
 
 MC Hammer was 10. He had been donated to the department in November 2015, Downs said. 
 
 The letter said Teeter had taken responsibility for his conduct and had shown genuine remorse. 
 
 “The officer feels horrible about this situation,” Downs said. “It was an accident. We love our animal partners.”
– MC Hammer had been with the Denver Police Department since November 2015, helping his human partners patrol the city—until one of the 10-year-old police horse's mounted officers had what appears to have been a fatal lapse of memory in September. The Denver Post reports that Officer Joseph Teeter has been docked a vacation day after he tied the horse up in a stall without food or water, then forgot about him for 16 hours. MC Hammer developed colic after the Sept. 26 incident and had to be euthanized. "Though not intentional on his part, Officer Teeter's forgetfulness exposed a live animal to cruel and extreme conditions," a disciplinary letter sent to the officer reads, noting Teeter had violated a department rule regarding careless restraint of the horse. Teeter had brought MC Hammer back to the Mounted Patrol barn after a day of work in warm downtown Denver. The disciplinary letter notes Teeter tied the horse in a stall, leaving 2 to 3 feet of slack in the rope, but then got "distracted doing paperwork" and forgot about the horse, per KDVR. MC Hammer was discovered early the next day by someone else, and after being given food and water initially seemed to be "bright, alert, and responsive." But he soon started feeling pain, and when vets examined him, they discovered he had colic, from which he wouldn't recover, and put him down. It wasn't conclusive, however, that being without food and water for 16 hours caused the colic. A police rep says Teeter is still on mounted duty and "feels horrible about this situation," per the Post. (The hooves of these horses were sure signs they'd been neglected.)