SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — It was the most terror Chantal Lynch had ever felt.
Thursday at around 4 p.m., she got a text message that police in Mount Pleasant were looking for the owner of a light-coloured horse with spots.
“That’s when it hit me that it was indeed Shiloh,” said Lynch. “He’s the only one with spots around that area.”
Her horse was on the loose.
Lynch, who lives in Summerside throughout the week, headed west to search for her two-year-old varnish-roan coloured Pintaloosa.
“Thankfully Shiloh did return on his own,” said Lynch. “He’s a little adventurer.”
When Lynch followed Shiloh’s tracks, she could see where her spotted friend had walked over the barbed-wire fence, now buried in snow.
Shiloh has been on a walkabout once before.
“It was back when he was about a year old. The snow had built up past the fence line again. So he had got out, walked around the Diversion Road and back," she said.
"He went to visit some neighbours, just enjoyed his own time. It was a little bit of alone time for my other horse."
Travolta, a 13-year-old standardbred, lives with Shiloh and Lynch’s father in Mount Pleasant.
The retired racer was still in his usual spot, calmly munching hay Thursday afternoon while Shiloh was out stretching his legs, so Lynch’s father didn’t notice anything amiss.
Shiloh is familiar with traffic — Lynch takes him walking on the shoulder of the road.
“He does know the road quite well and does know to watch for cars.”
But Lynch was still worried drivers might not see him in time.
By 7 p.m., Lynch and her family found Shiloh safely back in his barn.
Lynch’s mom, Traci Lynch, was part of the search party.
“We didn’t actually ‘find’ the horse. Wherever he went, he turned around and came back home,” said Traci. “Needless to say, he is barn-bound until we get rid of some of this snow!”
Chantal is just relieved to have him safe.
“I was mad at him, but glad he’s okay.”
