BY MARK HAVNES      THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE      KANAB - Two men have been charged in connection with the killing and mutila- tion of a mare and a stallion on a private ranch in Kane County, a crime that has left the horses' owners devastated.      "Whenever we talk about it the stress is emotional torture," Jessie Allen said Wed- nesday from her home in Kanab.      Allen and her husband, Jeffery, operate Allen's Trail Rides, offering horseback- riding trips into the red rock country on the Kaibab Plateau in southern Utah. She said the couple keeps a herd of about 20 horses on a private ranch between Mount Carmel Junction and the eastern boundary of Zion National Park.      In August, one of the couple's mares, Tetra Fare, was shot at least four times and found under a tree where it had dropped dead after running three miles.      The next day a prized stallion named Saint Shem was also found dead. The Allens say the 4-year-old stallion, worth about $30,000, was a type of quarter horse bred for its exceptional porportions and was being raised for stud until his death.      According to a criminal report, the horse dropped to the ground after being shot several times. The horse was then mu- tilated. Among other atrocities, its ears were cut off, it was shot in the legs through its hooves and vulgarities were written on the carcass with construction silicone.      The report states that the suspects also allegedly took turns clubbing the horse after it was dead with a rock wrapped in a T-shirt.

After an investigation by the Kane County Sheriff's Office, Gavin Demont Ewell, 23, of Toquerville, and his brother in-law, Jeremy Douglas Katzenbach, 21, of Hurricane, were charged Oct. 21 with the killings and mutilation.      Each man was charged with one count of second-degree felony criminal mischief and a count of aggravated cruelty to animals, a class A misdemeanor. Both men face an initial court appearance in 6th District Court in Kanab on Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. before Judge David Mower.      According to the charges, a T-shirt with a rock inside, a caulking tube of silicone, .22- caliber rifle sasings and slugs and tire tracks were found at the site of the mutilation.      It is believed the animals had been dead one to two weeks before they were discovered.      Residents of Kanab who have heard about the horses' deaths were saddened and outraged. Among them was JoAnne Rando- Moon, the owner of a Kanab pet supply store.      "What in the hell is going through the mind of someone who does something like this?" Rando-Moon said.      She says she hopes the incident increases the number of signatures on a petition at her store supporting a ballot initiative that would elevate animal cruelty charges to a third-degree felony.      Cruelty to animals is currently a class A misdemenaor. The maximum penalty is a year in jail and $2,500 fine. The maximum punishment for a third-degree felony is up to five years in prison and $5,000 fine.