The owner of two horses that caught the attention of Winnipeg police when they went for an early morning stroll through traffic this week says they had good reason to leave their stables.
Turns out the grass was just a little bit greener on the other side of their locked gate.
Tia Andrews says one of her horses — the hungry one — appears to have spent the night banging up against the gate until he was able knock a half-inch steel staple holding the latch right out of place.
Then the pair decided to head for greener pastures.
“I have two horses, Quincy and T, and Quincy is the mischievous one — he wanted the grass that was on the other side of the fence so he decided to take the gate down,” explains Andrews, 21, who woke up early Tuesday to find both her horses missing.
“I know they stayed in my yard for a while because there were piles of manure all over our driveway … but I assume after he ate the grass that he wanted, he just decided to see if he could find some more, and ambled down to Plessis.”
When Quincy and T got to Plessis Road near St. Boniface Road around 5:15 a.m. — just over three kilometres from their home on a few acres where Andrews lives near the Perimeter in south Transcona — someone decided it would be a good idea to call police.
‘I got excited because I like horses’
It was a welcome assignment for Const. Shannon Bell, one of two officers police have previously said were called in to help specifically because of their familiarity with horses.
Bell says it’s not every day she’s asked to corral loose horses.
“I got excited because I like horses — I’ve got a few of my own,” she laughed when asked about the ordeal this week.
“When we got there they were just running right down the middle of the street and luckily people were giving them their space.”
It took about half an hour, but Bell says she and her colleague were eventually able to coax the two horses into letting them get a rope around their necks.
“It was no different, honestly, than when I’m trying to corral my horses in the pen — sometimes they just don’t want to play ball until they feel comfortable,” she said.
“They were good, sweet horses — they were just playing hard to get. Once they were caught they were beautiful … they weren’t trying to pull away, they weren’t trying to pull faster.
“They are really well trained, you could tell that from the beginning.”
Once they were taken out of the danger of the street, police say the wayward horses were turned over to a nearby stable owner who took care of them until Andrews could come pick them up.
A well behaved pair
Andrews is glad to hear her horses were on their best behaviour, but she isn’t too surprised.
The University of Manitoba student has spent years grooming and training horses.
She competes in showjumping and grooms horses for polo, a sport she and Quincy play when they’re not working at Assiniboia Downs, leading race horses to the starting gates.
She says she’s also ridden both Quincy and T through more than a few parades — something she says may have contributed to their apparent lack of anxiety around cars Tuesday morning.
Now that they’re back home, Andrews says she’s reinforced their gate with a heavy chain.
And while they gave her a fright, Andrews says she couldn’t stay mad at them for long.
“I gave them their supper oats because I love them and I’m happy that they’re back,” she said.
“I’m very confident they will not leave again, but if they do leave again, let me know if you’re interested in two very nice kid-safe horses — because they will be for sale.”
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