Truckers corral horse on busy Alberta highway

Two truck drivers were casually traveling down a busy Alberta highway Monday morning when they encountered a horse that had gotten loose from a racetrack stable.

The trucks were traveling northbound on Highway 2 around 4 a.m.

The drivers quickly teamed together to play a little highway rodeo as they used their rigs to safely steer the horse off the road and into a ditch.

According to Yahoo News, the horse was spotted galloping down the middle of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway in the Balzac area.

The horse was minding its own business as the rigs approached it. Const. Dan Martin, an RCMP spokesman, said, “I think the horse had kind of stopped in the headlights and started to move toward a ditch.”

“One truck stopped and blocked the horse from getting back on the highway. The other driver stopped to help and, between the two of them, they were able to approach it and put the harness on. Police arrived shortly after.”

One of the truck drivers seemed to be familiar with rangling horses, and the drivers cleverly fashioned a harness out of a tow strap.

Once secured, the drivers stay with the horse until Royal Canadian Mountain Police arrived.

There were no reports of the drivers swerving to miss hitting the horse, or any reports of damage to either truck.

Airdrie towing company was contacted to assist in the roundup efforts. They arrived at the scene with a livestock trailer to transport the house back to the racetrack.

The horse’s owner was relieved that the horse was not injured – when it very well could have been.

No one was charged with unlawful behavior.

The Airdrie detachment is no stranger to calls about livestock on the loose but was caught a bit off guard when they received a call about a horse on the highway.

Martin explains, “We definitely get a lot of cattle that get out and walk around highways here all the time, but [escaped] horses are quite rare for sure.”

As far as the 2 drivers that stopped traffic to aid the horse, Martin advises, “Exercise caution and use common sense, and hopefully, all ends well for everybody.”