Hello, horse. (Photo: photophilde/CC BY-SA 2.0)
Like something out of a gothic ghost story, a lone horse, dressed up in full riding gear was mysteriously found Thursday with no rider in a forest near the Stourhead Estate in the United Kingdom. According to a (since deleted) post on the Wiltshire police’s Facebook page, the horse was simply alone, with no owner in sight.
Police said the horse, a skewbald cob, was 15 hands, or around five feet tall and was, the police said, “well looked after." Had the rider been thrown somewhere in the forest? Had the horse simply escaped from its stable? It was all a bit baffling.
But dozens of commenters, including many members of the local equestrian community, chimed in to help, with many recommending searching for a chip implant or a dog tag attached to the saddle.
And just around a half hour after the original post, the mystery was solved. The rider had been found, the police said, and taken to a hospital for treatment for unnamed injuries.
"Your assistance has been invaluable," the police said.