'I didn't know she could jump.' Horse rescued from LIE service road
Officials closed the road and were trying to blockade the horse with their cars when a professional came to the rescue.
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It’s not a sight you see every day - a horse trotting along the side of a major roadway.
But that’s what happened to Nike, a polo horse from Old Westbury. She decided to go for a little adventure on Friday.
“She’s on vacation in one of the best fields on the property out in the back,” said her owner, Brandon Phillips. “I didn't know she could jump, so she might have a new career after this.”
Police found her trotting along the LIE service road Friday afternoon.
“Old Westbury is horse country,” said Old Westbury Police Chief Stuart Cameron. “But it's not every day we in the police department get to see a horse running down the service road.”
They got the call around 4 p.m. In fact, they got lots of calls from people in the community trying to help.
“The phone was ringing off the hook about the horse,” Cameron said. “Some of the most phone calls I’ve ever seen come into the village 911 center.”
Officials closed down the road and were trying to blockade Nike with their cars when a professional came to the rescue.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” said Lisa Zimmerman.
Zimmerman has been working with horses for 30 years.
“I grabbed a bag of potato chips from my car, something to rustle and make a little noise,” she said. “Got her attention and she walked right over. And she was pretty easy to catch. I think she was relieved to not be stranded on the road anymore.”
Officials say they’re lucky the story has a happy ending.
“If the horse had crossed traffic, it's very likely that she would have gotten struck and it would have been terrible tragedy,” Cameron said.
“Thank God we got her back. She's safe. She’s sound,” Phillips said. “We'll figure out maybe a place with a bit taller fences, I think, for her now.”
