Runaway horse, classic car don’t survive town crash

Highway accidents involving deer are a constant threat in Wisconsin. But it’s not often when a call comes in that a car has struck a horse.

But that’s what happened to Saukville Fire Chief Gilly Schultz at about 9:25 p.m. on July 3 when he was traveling east on County Highway H with a passenger in his 1969 Pontiac GTO and saw a horse suddenly enter the road from the south side just past the intersection with Highway KK.

“She (the passenger) screamed and I slammed on the brakes and, whammo, I hit it,” said Schultz, who said he was heading toward Port Washington after visiting his son in Fredonia. “Everybody was OK, luckily. It could have been a lot worse if it had gone through the windshield. It was a lot larger than a deer.”

The horse was knocked to the ground where it laid until Ozaukee County Sheriffs deputies arrived after Schultz called in the crash. The horse’s injuries were deemed too severe and it was put down by a deputy.

The Fredonia Fire Department responded to clean up the scene.

The car suffered severe damage and Schultz said his insurance company judged it to be a total loss.

“I’ve had that car for 50 years. I’m not going to total it. I plan on fixing it,” he said.

The horse belonged to a Kewaskum man and had been reported missing a couple hours earlier after it had escaped while it was being loaded at an address on County Highway B in the Town of Belgium, officials said.

The handlers “were actively looking for the horse when it was struck,” Sheriffs Capt. Christy Knowles said.