happens to the best of them....
 

Lane's end loses four horses after they were hit by a car this morning.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/296186.html

So four horses "got loose" and they all decide to stand in the road? Strange story.

it is strange...but the roads were pretty crappy this morning and at 7 am it is still completely dark.....he may have hit the brakes and skidded enough to hit them even if they weren't in the road. Oak Tree is also pretty far out on the edge of town....people drive those roads VERY fast under any weather conditions.

This might sound like a weird question, but can horse be like deer? Like when you say "like a deer in the headlights"... I mean if it were dark, what if those youngsters just froze when they saw the car skidding towards them?

Either way, it's an awful story. RIP lil guys...

Terrible Accident at Lanes End
 

From the Bloodhorse

Photo:
Four yearlings that escaped from their handlers at William S. Farish's Lane's End/Oak Tree Division near Lexington were killed when they were struck by a car. Another yearling that escaped avoided the accident.


"Two of the horses were dead on the scene and two were euthanized at the scene," said Sgt. Pat Murray of the Lexington Police Traffic Division. According to Murray, the accident took place about 7 a.m. when the driver of a 1993 Ford sedan struck the horses that were standing in the middle of Mt. Horeb Road near the intersection of Chance Farm Lane. Murray said road conditions were dry and the driver was observing the posted 55 mile per hour speed limit when the collision occurred.


"He was traveling at a normal speed," Murray said. "But being that the horses were bay in color, they just blended in."


The horses were among six being led from the paddock.


"Something spooked them--one stuck near the barn and five got loose," said Farish's son, Bill. "Four of the five made their way through an open gate and to Mt. Horeb. They got about 200 yards down the road before the accident happened."


Farish did not identify the yearlings, but said they were owned by Lane's End and by clients.


Published reports identified the driver involved as Andrew Jackson, 21, of Georgetown, Ky. Murray said Jackson was transported to the University of Kentucky Hospital for treatment. No information regarding his injuries or condition was available. No criminal or traffic charges have been filed in connection with the incident.


"It was just a terrible accident," Murray said. Pat Raia contributed to the story

>>>"Two of the horses were dead on the scene and two were euthanized at the scene," said Sgt. Pat Murray of the Lexington Police Traffic Division. According to Murray, the accident took place about 7 a.m. when the driver of a 1993 Ford sedan struck the horses that were standing in the middle of Mt. Horeb Road near the intersection of Chance Farm Lane. Murray said road conditions were dry and the driver was observing the posted 55 mile per hour speed limit when the collision occurred<<<

It's even more strange that they'd leave gate open to a main road....Sad to think how avoidable this was :(

yes very sad story.
r.i.p. you guys didn't get to the race track.

RIP to the babies... :(

I like the signature Ruby! I've Been rooting for Craig Faine ever since the article Beyer wrote on him a few years ago.

I smell a Bigs / GPK intervention :cool:

shame on the local news for airing footage of the dead horses lying in the road.....multiple times.

I smell another Daniel Edwards "art" exhibit.

Hopefully he gets around to actually putting ears on the horses when he does this one.

It is a sad day for the innocent yearlings. Leaving gates open does not sound good.

Glad I don't live there. That would be hard enough to see just once... :(

You can't save 'em all. It is parimutuel racing, somebody needs to bet on him.

Are those your new silks?

Just about everything in this story sounds a little hard to believe.

Poor little guys. :(

Only one plate is required in KY and it must be on the back of the vehicle.

i find it hard to believe, that you can't see 4 animals of that size along side or in the road.:confused:

Are they trying to tell me the yearlings were all standing in the same lane within a few feet of each other and didn't spook at the sound of a car coming? Or wander a few feet or yards in either direction, out of the right hand lane? And they know they're being chased but they just end up there at that exact moment. Most of the time if you hit a deer you're gonna hit the break. If this guy'd been paying any attention whatsoever no way that many get taken out. And he'd been going the speed limit of 55 mph with that level of visibility. Sorry but just because you can go the speed limit doesn't mean you should. It's at least failure to reduce speed. You hit something going 60 mph in the fog you're gonna get in trouble for being reckless. Is it normal to go taking that many yearlings out at the same time? I've seen some crazy ones I don't feel happy about taking by themselves much less with 6 other knuckleheads.

I want to know which horses were lost. I realize it's a state secret and all but it's not like there won't be a record of the mare's 2007 offspring being deceased. Go ahead and spit it out once you inform the owners.

i can imagine the yearlings would bunch up together. they're herd animals. as for spooking...well, you brought up deer--i've seen deer stand in the middle of the road looking in the other direction while you're bearing down on them. never knew which direction something was coming from, deer just knew it heard something. but i doubt those yearlings had a clue about cars/traffic and roads, they're used to roaming in a nice big fenced pasture.
it's a freak accident, that's all.

also...a few months ago, i posted about a neighbor having two horses get hit by a truck. similar situation. one spooked, took off, the other went with her, and both were struck when crossing the road. it was broad daylight.
both were pastured right next to that road, but they don't 'think' like we do, and recognize that the road is a dangerous spot. one died immediately, the other was on his feet. but i never saw him again, so i think he must have been more seriously injured then it seemed at first.

the farm said with the time of day, and horses being bays, that they would have been very difficult to see until too late.

if you're talking to me, and about the injured horse. the guy loaded him into a trailer after i helped drag the mare out of the road, and took him to the vet. he never came back.
i wasn't friends with the guy, just came up on the wreck right after it had happened.

yeah, i'm cold--that's why i stopped to help, rather then just drive by.

i live in the country, not many neighbors..and distance is measured in acres, not feet. he lives a couple miles up the road.

about six months after those two got loose, we all headed out in the car. got near his place, and all his horses were out in the road. he needs some serious fence work done. so, once again, i'm herding horses while tony is calling the guy....helpful that everyone is in the phone book (which is about a quarter inch thick). luckily no injuries that time.

that area of Mt. Horeb rd is narrow and turns come up quick....I have no doubt that he wouldn't have seen them until it was too late to do much....and like I said earlier, the posted speed limit is 55 but people (myself included) go 65-70.

it's really a shame, but any time you're dealing with animals, you never know what's going to happen. and horses really are not smart enough to know not to play in traffic.
back when i lived in maryland, we had a thoroughbred farm down the road. one day, my oldes son ( he was about six at the time) and i were coming back from the store, turned onto our road (a country road-but paved) and cars were backed up. what the hell i thought.

one of their horses had gotten out, and was walking up the road with about 25 cars following it. a lady got hold of his halter, and got him out the road. so we pulled in a drive--she said she wasn't sure where he belonged. i told her i knew exactly where. so mark and i walked him home. got there, no one home...so we put him in a paddock and went back later to let them know he had been loose.

Why in the world was the gate open in the first place? Poor babies. How sad that the next Secretariat or Slew could have been among them. So very tragic.:(

sure they can. look at horses who are pulled from a burning barn. what do they do if you don't keep hold of them? run back to the safety of the barn.