Horse gallops along Thruway in central New York

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

CANASTOTA — It’s not every day you see a horse running down the New York State Thruway. But that’s what an upstate couple saw as they drove in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 east of Syracuse.

The Post-Standard of Syracuse reports that the horse had broken through a fence and wandered onto the highway Sunday afternoon. Amanda and Michael Pietrak were returning home from a cruise when they spotted the horse near Canastota.

They used their car to cut off the horse, then Amanda jumped out and grabbed the animal around the neck. Denise Marcum, a wholesale florist and horse trainer from Vermont, pulled over and helped calm the horse.

With two state troopers providing an escort, they then walked the horse to the nearest exit, where they were met by the horse’s owner.