(UPDATE) OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man died after riding a horse into a southeast Iowa farm pond. The Ottumwa Courier reports that medics and Wapello County sheriff’s deputies were called Sunday evening to the farm, which sits a few miles west of Ottumwa. Wapello County Sheriff Mark Miller said Tuesday that witnesses reported 40-year-old Jose Perez-Ochoa, of Blakesburg, had ridden the horse into the pond more than once over the objection of friends also riding.

The witnesses told officials it was clear the horse didn’t want to go into the pond. Miller says the horse rolled backward the last time it was led into the pond, knocking Perez-Ochoa into the water. Miller says the horse walked unharmed out of the water, but Perez-Ochoa went under.

Searchers recovered his body later.