It’s not every day that metro Atlanta drivers see a horse galloping down the highway. But that’s what happened in Roswell on Friday afternoon when a trailer carrying two horses overturned in the southbound lanes of Ga. 400.
No people or animals were seriously injured in the wreck, which happened shortly before 4:30 p.m. near Mansell Road, Roswell police said. A video posted to social media appears to show one of the horses running in the southbound lanes following the crash.
“Oh wow. There is a horse running down 400,” one person wrote.
“Stays in his own lane better than some of y’all,” another replied.
A photo posted by police appears to show the two horses in the grass alongside the highway after they were corralled by first responders.
“Both are accounted for,” Roswell police spokesman Officer Timothy Lupo said. “One tried to make a break for it down 400 but was quickly wrangled ... Never a dull moment!”
Several right lanes were blocked for hours during the afternoon commute as police cleared the crash and waited on a second horse trailer to arrive at the scene and remove the animals from the side of the highway. The southbound lanes reopened shortly before 7 p.m.
The former race horse seen galloping down the highway injured his legs before being let out of the trailer and required emergency surgery, its owner wrote in a GoFundMe page.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
“After being freed by good Samaritans, he panicked, and because he is a former race horse he did what he knew to do, which was run,” campaign organizer Kirsten Muzinich wrote, adding the horse’s name is Amir.
Amir was taken to a veterinarian at the University of Georgia over the weekend and had shards of glass removed from his knee, according to the fundraising page. He has since returned home.
“He will most likely make a full recovery after lots of rest and TLC,” Muzinich wrote.
— Staff writer Chelsea Prince contributed to this article.
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