The orienteering horse

On Sunday, October 31^st , 2010, a single horse without a rider galloped through the streets of Graz. Here is the whole story.

At this time in a stable in the south of Graz, there stood Pegasus (name changed), a slim white horse with grey spots. Pegasus was said to be an English thoroughbred (also called an Arab) and a gelding (a stallion after castration). His owner Manfred (name changed) bought this six year old horse in the early spring that year and rode him so far only in the area of the club. So the horse was mainly used to dressage exercises in the square of the club.

Before it was too late in the season, Manfred wanted to take his first ride with Pegasus to the countryside. In lack of a companion on this peaceful Sunday he planned to ride out on his horse alone. The next countryside eligible for his ride seemed him to be the riparian forests of the river Mur between Feldkirchen and Kalsdorf. For his chosen way he had to ride across the Mur to reach the west banks.

So on this sunny Sunday morning with only little traffic on the streets of Graz Manfred started his first country ride. He rode along some streets in St. Peter and reached successfully an underpass of the highway A 2. From here he rode on several small roads passing one roundabout and ten further crossings and arrived at the Puntigamer Brücke.

He passed the bridge “Puntigamer Brücke” on the back of his horse in concentrated walk and afterwords turned to the left, this is the south, and stayed for the next section of the way to the woods alongside the banks of the river. The path soon becomes a road and after at least five other crossings the rider proudly reached the first his first destination, the riparian forest Feldkirchen-Au. After this success Manfred decided that he and his Pegasus deserved a rest. So he dismounted, relaxed, and let his thoroughbred graze.

Knowing that horses in general and Pegasus especially get well together with dogs, he had no suspicion as a walking woman with two free dogs approached from the woods. There was no sign of trouble when the two dogs sniffed at the forehand of Pegasus. Now a third dog approached to the hindquarters of Pegasus and sniffed there. This was too much for the Arab in this unknown environment. Pegasus suddenly pulled on the reins, which were held by the hands of his owner standing by, with a sudden muscle power that the metal parts of the reins tore apart, and the horse galloped from his standing position panic stricken with his highest possible speed away from the dogs and from his rider. Manfred stood there with the left part of his reins and could only watch his horse fleeing in the direction of the city of Graz.

Next Manfred thought about the dangers that encounter the horse and the car drivers in Graz and his reliability for this. So he took his cellphone and called the police and told them the story. The police next ordered a helicopter to look for the fleeing horse from the sky. Furthermore they called the radio station of  “Österreich 3” in Vienna, and these traffic news broadcasted a request to the listeners, to look for a white horse with an empty saddle and loose stirrups all down the country and to report it to the police.

And actually a car driver heard the news and saw the white horse in the streets of Liebenau trotting at a steady speed in eastern direction – so the horse must have passed the Puntigamer Brücke.

This listening and watching woman turned conscientious her car to the right and stopped transverse to the street, so the car formed an obstacle for the thoroughbred.

But instead of stopping in front of the car, Pegasus approached, blew with his forehand once against the metal sheet, passed the car at its tail, and continued his steady trot along the street.

Meanwhile the helicopter was rising over the town, and several police cars started in the streets of Graz.

From the helicopter Pegasus soon could be seen trotting the Neufeldweg in southern direction – correctly on the right lane. So Pegasus meanwhile had passed several crossings including the roundabout in Liebenau and the underpass Bahngrabenweg under the highway A2. Soon afterwards he was seen by the members of the horse-riding club he belonged to. He was correctly trotting on the right lane to the entrance gate of the club. The members opened the gate for Pegasus and let him in. Before getting caught, the horse reached his box, trotted in, turned around and looked out of the window.  

Manfred was informed  by cellphone about the arrival of  Pegasus, and he reported the position of the horse to the police.

When I arrived at the stable on Sunday afternoon, the cause for the presence of the ten just departing policemen – they just had to log the story - was told me soon . It could be reconstructed that Pegasus trotted back exactly the same way, which Manfred rode on him before from the stable to the Feldkirchen-Au in the opposite direction.

As I have heard, this amazing sense of direction of a horse was well known in former days when horses were the usual means of transportation. In those days it was usual at the closing time of a pub to put a completely drunk  rider on the back of his horses, and let the horse go, knowing that the intelligent horse will ride the drunk home for sure.

The damage of the woman’s car in Liebenau was paid by Manfred´s  insurance. And Manfred was advised by his colleagues to take his second try for a countryside ride not alone but in company. In company of other horses the gregarious animal horse is far less shy than alone with his rider.