Few events in human history have been so well documented on live-television as the police chase. While it provides a sense of tension and drama, it also endangers the lives of others and puts their vehicles at risk as well. This was the case on Saturday, October 16th.
Just to let you know in advance, yes, the horse is fine. The noble steed that was involved in the ignoble act was taken to the police station and well-treated. As for the person who was mounted, they have not been identified. No further details have been released as to whether it was their horse, someone else’s, or if they were just… horsing around. We do know however that they did manage to lead police on a brief chase when they refused to pull over.
Police claim the person on horseback was riding through traffic, something not safe to be doing whether you’re drunk or sober. Good sense prevailed enough for the rider in question to pull over and be taken into custody. The suspect was not officially charged with DUI but was only suspected of it. That being said, according to California law, operating any kind of animal on state roads are subject to the same laws that pertain to any vehicle, assuming that it physically can be applied to the situation. For example, you can’t get a ticket for a busted taillight on a horse, but if you’re impeding the flow of traffic, you could. The same applies to the DUI laws.
Other instances of this have happened before, in California and elsewhere in the United States. In 2018 a man was arrested for riding his horse on a freeway while having twice the legal amount of alcohol in his system. Meanwhile in 2015 in Louisiana, a man decided that though he was too drunk to drive home from the bar, he wasn’t too drunk to take his horse out of the trailer attached to his vehicle and ride the horse home instead. Apparently Louisiana does not have a law about drunkenly riding a horse. He did however get a public intoxication charge. And yes, in both cases, the horses were fine.
If you’re going to be riding a horse while drunk, try to stick to an area where no one can get hurt, like say, a desert; on a horse with no name. Or just don’t do it at all.
