Loose ropes, loose horses

SINGAPORE - It was a strange sight to begin with, almost like in a fantasy where horses come pounding across a Singapore road.

On Monday, Stomper Kiesha's friend spotted these three magnificent animals galloping on Pasir Ris Drive 3.

Kiesha uploaded the photos to the citizen journalism website with these comments: "These horses were seen galloping on the roads.

"They have very shiny bodies, as seen when I drove past them. Nice!"

It turns out that the horses belong to the nearby Gallop Stables at Pasir Ris Green.

Ms Maneesha Shanker, 19, the operations manager at Gallop Stables, said the horses escaped because the ropes at the stables had come loose.

Easy escape

"The horses were grazing around the stable which was enclosed by ropes. The ropes happened to be loose and that made an escape easy

for them," Ms Maneesha told The New Paper. She said the horses, which were bred for playing polo and are called polo ponies, just walked over the loose ropes and went out to the road.

The horses are between 12 and 15 years old. It was the first such incident at the stable, said Ms Maneesha.

Just a few minutes after the horses' escape, the stable received calls from members of the public to check if the horses belonged to them, said Ms Maneesha.

The police confirmed that they were alerted by a call from the public at around 5.28pm.

The police arrived in time to help one of Gallop Stables' horsekeepers to return the horses within 10 minutes.

Gallop Stables will also be improving its fencing around the area so that a similar incident does not happen again.

Said Ms Maneesha, who has worked at the stable for two years: "We have since fixed the ropes and made them tighter. We are also going to put more ropes to make a higher barricade to ensure the horses won't escape any more."

natasyai@sph.com.sg

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