A horse dressed as a unicorn took the California Highway Patrol on a wild ride for four hours when the young horse escaped and ran around Madera County.
The little horse, normally used as a photography prop while dressed as a unicorn, decided it had enough of pictures for one day and took off.
The horse, named Juliet, waited for an opportunity when her owner, Sandra Boos , became distracted while working with a group of young children, according to USA Today .
While the horse was dressed as a magical unicorn and being held by a lead rope with the help of a bystander, Juliet decided it was time to make a run for it and take a stroll through Madera County, California.
The little white horse “threw up her head” and “pulled the lead rope” out of the bystander’s grip and got a taste of freedom, and no one could stop the small horse when she took off at about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“I was shooting, but I assume she got free and was like, ‘Oh, well I’m going to run,’ and she took off,” the horse’s owner said.
Drivers on the highway were astonished to see a unicorn on the road. Perhaps not knowing that it was a pony dressed up to look like a unicorn , drivers called emergency services to report the loose unicorn running around on the highway, reported NBC4 .
“The calls were coming in as a unicorn running around,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Josh McConnell.
Worrying that the 500-pound horse could cause major injuries to humans or be seriously injured, police officers were dispatched to try and bring the horse home to safety. A helicopter was deployed to keep track of the little horse while it ran around on different highways.
Even after taking police officers on a wild ride for four hours, the horse wasn’t about to give in to the police. What brought the pony disguised as a unicorn to safety was when friend Renee Pardy and her horse, Shady, approached Juliet. The freedom-loving horse decided it was time to finally call it a day and followed Pardy and her horse back to a nearby pen.
Pardy said the horse dressed as a unicorn and her own horse had “met before, and I just kind of walked off with my horse and she followed.”
Boos said she was so relieved when she found out that her horse had been found safely that she laughed and cried. She heard the news that the horse was found when police joked about the pony who was all dressed up for photographs but decided to do something more attention-grabbing instead.
“I was standing with highway patrol when the call came over the radio, and they said ‘the unicorn is in custody,’” Boos said.
Tatum Boos, a 5-year-old girl who is part owner of Juliet, said her horse was not behaving well and had to have a proper punishment after the horse police chase.
“I was afraid,” Tatum said. “She got in a timeout because she was being a bad pony.”
It wasn’t the first time that day that the pretty pony had escaped. The horse dressed as a unicorn has hopefully had her fill of freedom for the time being, and will go back to being a prop pony for children who love unicorns.
[Photo by Shutterstock]
