Horse goes on rampage in suburbs

Highbury served as a makeshift racecourse when a horse ran amok in the Palmerston North suburb for almost an hour.

The horse escaped from a Botanical Rd residential property and ran across a busy road to an empty lot, previously used for state houses, about 11am yesterday.

City council staff, the horse's owner and members of the public captured the horse about noon.

Coventry St resident Yvonne Keefe phoned the police when she saw the horse gallop past her home.

She said up to 20 people chased the horse, which was loose for about an hour.

"It started bucking and jumping around. One guy got kicked but he was all right."

City council animal control officer Stephen Goggin said the owner was now keeping the horse at another location.

There is no bylaw against keeping horses in the city limits, but Mr Goggin said the owner could be fined if the horse became a danger.

"You're allowed to keep them in town unless there are concerns about odour or noise but there's nothing against it otherwise."

It was the third time the horse had escaped from the property, so Mr Goggin said the owner would be fined if it happened again.

"I helped him put the horse back in on the weekend and it was bucketing down with rain."

The owner told Mr Goggin that children may have let the horse out.

"The owner alleges that some children were feeding his horse over a fence and may have opened the gate and let it out. Even if kids opened the gate it was too much of a risk having it on that road ... once she's out and about there's a risk to traffic."

Sergeant Andy Brooke said police went to the incident for about 15 minutes to control traffic.

A man at the property where the horse had been kept said the matter had been dealt with and he refused to comment any further.

- © Fairfax NZ News