HONOLULU (KHON2) — A serious crash on Wednesday, Aug. 6 sent three people to the hospital after a car hit a horse near the Dillingham Polo Field on Oʻahu.
Honolulu police said a 16-year-old girl was riding the horse when it was struck around 7 p.m. on Farrington Highway. Two women, ages 48 and 23, were also injured in the two-car collision.
All three were taken to the hospital in serious condition. The horse’s condition is unknown.
Greg Smith, owner of Gunstock Ranch, said drivers need to be more aware.
“There’s more horses than people think on Oʻahu,” Smith said. “On our ranch, we have over 100 horses.”
Gunstock Ranch is between Kahuku and Lāʻie on the North Shore, but Smith said horses can be found in many rural areas across the island.
“Even in Waimānalo, there’s hundreds of horses out there. Out in Waiʻanae, there’s lots of people that own horses,” he explained.
The problem is, most drivers don’t expect to see horses at all.
“Inherently, horses can be unpredictable sometimes,” Smith said. “If you’re not around horses very much, you just don’t realize how they will react to certain situations.”
Given the sometimes fickle behavior of these animals, Smith says to be prepared for unpredictable actions.
“The main thing you can do is really just slow down,” Smith said. “That gives your reaction time so much better.”
Some drivers even try to scare horses on purpose, he said.
“Unfortunately, they think it’s funny to, you know, scare a horse or something like that with a honk of the horn or rev up an engine type of thing,” Smith said. “They don’t think about the consequences.”
Even though some may interpret scaring the animals as humorous, Smith says it is anything but funny for the horse.
“It can have a bigger effect on an animal that doesn’t understand pranks,” he said. “It’s fearing for its life.”
You can click here to find out more about Gunstock Ranch.
“We just encourage people to just be slow and quiet around horses,” Smith said.