Police in Los Angeles are hunting a graffiti artist who took the bold step of tagging a police horse.

The incident happened in broad daylight on Venice Beach last week, when police from the department’s Metropolitan Division Mounted Platoon were on crime suppression detail in the area. While officers worked someone wrote ‘RBS’ in silver on a police horse.

"I think it's unfortunate, but people love to tag things in Venice, so really, I guess a horse is just the next step,” said Venice Beach local Mark Stegall, to CBS.

The horse, Charly, was unharmed.

The graffiti was safely removed, and police remain on the hunt for the offender.