What happened at the bend in the road?
On the way home from the local 24 hour-a-day grocery store, the street looked like it usually does late at night. A single light meagerly illuminated the bend in the road. But even with reduced visibility, what my husband and I saw was quite clear… and necessitated an unusual call to 911.
“What happened?” You may ask.
See if you can guess.
Pictured below, in a daylight photo, is the first clue. Try to spot what caused the incident at the bend in the road. Here’s a hint, a life was placed in danger.
Take a closer look and consider another clue. The emergency was caused by a desire for a mid-night snack. Can you spot it?
If you guessed APPLES, that is correct. Puzzled? Imagine… Who would crave apples to satisfy hunger in the middle of the night? Who would be large enough to have head in the apple tree munching apples and body in the roadway… unaware of the danger from traffic that traveled around the bend in the road at night?
Perhaps this animal crossed your mind…
Yes! A horse was at the bend in the roadway, delighted by fresh apples in the tree and others that fell to the ground at the roadside. This handsome horse, escaped by night from his pasture and was quite oblivious of the fact that his deep brown color blended with the darkness of the highway. He was in peril and didn’t know it.
Hillsboro, a suburban city of 94,000 residents is home to very few horses. When the 911 call was placed, the operator was a bit startled to hear that a horse was wandering on one of the city streets. While Ed and I awaited assistance from Hillsboro Police Department, two other people stopped to help manage the horse. Luckily, both had horse-handling background. They kept the horse, who we later learned was named Guinness, to the side of the road while my husband and I provided cover and flashing warning lights with our SUV.
When the officer arrived, she admitted she was surprised by the call… and proceeded to knock on doors, at midnight, until the owner of the horse was found. The story has a happy ending. Guinness returned to his home… the sound of his hooves hitting the pavement clopped out a gentle beat in the dark of the night. The mid-night snack adventure came to a close with a tender embrace from his owner.
The next day, he seemed quite content as he entered the barn, enjoyed a snack of fresh hay, and posed for this story’s photos.
Guinness… your new friends were very happy to see you home safe and sound.
Perhaps we should plan to visit and bring you apples once in a while!
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What a story, Jane it’s a relief to hear the happy ending! Of all the things to come across on a dark street I wasn’t thinking about horses and I’m sure you weren’t either!
No, we sure weren’t thinking of horses either, Lisa. Any assortment of small wild animals (raccoon, opossum), or an occasional deer, are the expected roadside critters, but in this area, not a horse.
The policewomen’s “Plan A” was knocking on doors to discover where the owner lived. She later admitted that if that hadn’t worked, she wasn’t sure what “Plan B” was. She went on to reflect that calls about dogs, cats, and one time a goat, were her prior experiences with animal calls. 🙂
Now I know one or two people who go shopping for groceries after midnight! I’m happily pushing out zs at that hour. Great story, Jane.
It’s easier to be a night owl …now that I don’t have to be at work at 7:00 am anymore!
Glad you enjoyed the story 🙂
I’ve had a couple bad scares finding dark horses standing in the middle of the road at night.
It’s scary when that happens. We were all very concerned about the horse’s safety.
Oh dear! We certainly did not guess that danger as we were reading…. Lucky no one including Guinness got hurt. What a beautiful horse and beautiful photos!
Thank you.
He is beautiful, and has a sweet disposition. While we awaited help from the local police, he was so mellow. One of the folks who stopped was a young women who also has a horse, she knew how to cradle Guinness’ neck to guide him from wandering out into the road. He never put up a fuss; although we were concerned about the lights of cars passing spooking Guinness.