Mane event slows, entertains Monday morning rush-hour traffic in Alberta city

Two ponies escaped from their home near St. Albert on Monday morning, causing chaos for commuters.

There was a colt following of sorts Monday morning along St. Albert’s busiest road.

At about 7:45 a.m., peace officers answered a call about a couple of loose horses in the El Dorado Park ‘neigh’bourhood.

The City of St. Albert told CTV News Edmonton that the horses’ owner left a gate open while leaving home, allowing them to escape.

The pair then made their way down Bellerose Drive and crossed St. Albert Trail.

For Angela Walter, the beige-and-white horses made for a slow, but entertaining, commute to work during the bumper-to-bumper rush hour.

“They were just barreling as fast as they could,” Walter told CTV News Edmonton. “They probably got a little bit frightened by the traffic.”

The city says the peace officer responding to the escapees followed the animals closely and was able to direct them into the parking lot of the Shoppers Drug Mart at 392 St. Albert Trail.

There, the officer and two drivers who pulled over to help managed to keep them corralled with their arms and calm them down so they wouldn’t continue to run, the city said.

The animals’ owner arrived with a trailer a short time later.

The city said the horses were unharmed.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell