Karenlyn Barone
Last week in Malverne, houses were decorated for the season and the night air was crisp -- a perfect picture of a quaint village during the holidays. But as a Malverne police officer made his rounds on routine patrol, what to his wondering eyes should appear but a horse with loose reins and his hind legs in gear.
Quick thinking by officers Warren Clements and Thomas Martini, as well as the horse's uncanny sense of direction, kept this from becoming a tragic horse tale.
The owner of the nearby Lakeside Riding Academy, on Eagle Avenue in West Hempstead, and two friends decided to ride three horses into Malverne in the early hours of Dec. 11. They stopped at the popular restaurant/tavern Connelly Station, and after securing the horses (or so they thought) near the back of the establishment, they went inside to partake of some holiday fare.
Their steeds, however, somehow became untethered, and started a holiday celebration of their own. One horse roamed the parking lot, another apparently moseyed around to Connelly Station's front door, much to the surprise of patrons looking out the windows, and the third decided to call it a night and took off at a gallop down the Long Island Rail Road tracks toward home. Clements turned the corner a few minutes later.
"I observed a horse in the parking lot, and two patrons were trying to wrestle the bridle back into the horse's mouth," said Clements, a six-year veteran of the force. "The other horse was with the owner of the stables, and the third horse was galloping down the tracks."
Clements, who worked at a stable as a boy, knew that horses have a great sense of direction and deduced that the horse on the run would follow the same route he had traveled to get into Malverne.
"I drove to Ocean Avenue to look for the horse," said Clements. "When I didn't see him, I drove over to the Lakeview train station on Woodfield Avenue, knowing he had to pass that way to get back to the stables."
Martini, who was also on patrol that night, blocked traffic on Ocean Avenue, ensuring the horse a safe gallop across the busy street. A police unit from Nassau County also helped hold traffic at bay. When Clements arrived at the train station, he left his patrol car and walked the gravel path next to the tracks.
"I could hear the horse coming," he said. "The ground was shaking and all of a sudden the horse appeared around the turn."
The horse was understandably jumpy and nervous, and Clements' grab for the reins was unsuccessful. It wasn't until the horse reached Eagle Avenue that the stable owner, who had ridden there on one of the other horses, was able to grab the reins and usher the runaway horse safely home.
"I was going to ride him back if I caught him," laughed Clements.
The officers said their plan from the beginning was to make sure the horse could cross the major roadways without any problems. They knew the horse, which stood about 19 hands high by Clements' estimation, could find his way home, but their job was to make sure he would get there safely.
"We've had calls for monkeys, geese, chickens and snakes," said Clements. "But this was our first horse call."
The owner of Lakeside Riding was not available for comment.
