Galloping across the A4 - police stop runaway horses

Two horses that escaped from a paddock and ran across roads and the highway have kept the police in eastern Thuringia on their toes. Several patrol cars were deployed until the galloping steeds could be stopped and captured during their outing on Saturday in Langenbernsdorf, Saxony, on the state border with Thuringia, the police said.

Witnesses had first seen the animals in Ronneburg, later a driver from the A4 near Ronneburg reported them. He made them leave the highway by honking his horn, said a police spokesman. The A4 was briefly closed.

The animals finally continued their journey on the B175 federal highway until the police stopped them in Saxony and were able to hand them over to their owner. Neither the horses nor the officers were injured during the two-and-a-half-hour operation. The animals were sweaty but relaxed, it was reported. A wing mirror on a patrol car was damaged. According to the police, it is not known why the horses had left their paddock in the Ronneburg area.