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Rude rider didn't deserve any help

Rider who was thrown from horse showed nothing but venom when spoken to.

Editor: On Tuesday at noon, I was out driving around while enjoying a cup of coffee on my lunch hour. I was driving southbound on 200 Street near 22 Avenue, when I saw a horse wildly running toward my vehicle. The horse was saddled but there was no rider.

Obviously, the horse threw the rider or somehow escaped its owner. I swerved to get out of the horse’s way, and pulled over to call Langley RCMP. Within a few minutes, I saw a police vehicle driving northboard on 200 Street, perhaps looking for the horse.

I spent the next 15 minutes driving up and down side streets trying to locate the horse. All the while my concern for its safety and the safety of other drivers was mounting.

Near the intersection of 200 Street and 24 Avenue, I saw a woman walking with a horse. I pulled over to ask if she was looking for a runaway horse.

She said “Are you an idiot or something? Of course I am. The rider got thrown into a ditch, you idiot.”

I was shocked at the venom and angry look on her face — all directed at my simple inquiry. Thinking her to be extremely rude, I told her I’d called police and had been looking for her horse. At this point, she again called me an idiot and said they had found the horse.

I turned right from 200 Street onto 24 Avenue and drove down about two blocks.There, walking with a huge horse, were a man and a woman. I rolled down my window to tell them that I was glad they’d found their horse and that their “friend” was quite rude.

I said I didn’t appreciate her anger towards me, but was glad the horse was safe and sound.

I can’t believe the audacity and rudeness of this woman. I spent my lunch hour calling the police and trying to find her runaway horse, and all I got was her sarcasm and angry verbal attack.

Could she not have thanked me for taking the time and having the concern for her horse’s safety? Maybe next time I see a runaway horse, I won’t be so quick to waste my lunch hour finding it.

After all, I have to eat and that beats the safety of someone’s horse — doesn’t it?

Deborah Cooper,

Langley