11 Horses Escape Onto Freeway; 4 Killed : Traffic: Some cars are damaged but no motorists are injured in chaotic pre-dawn episode. Stable owner is cited by animal control officers.

Eleven horses escaped from a boarding stable early Friday and galloped onto the Riverside Freeway, where three of the animals were killed on impact by cars in the pre-dawn darkness and another suffered broken legs and had to be destroyed.

The surviving animals were herded after the 1:45 a.m. mishap back to Coal Canyon Stables, where they had escaped from fenced pastures and wandered onto the freeway.

“I’ve been working here 10 years and this is the worst incident I’ve had to handle,” said Sgt. Brian Frick of the Orange County Animal Control Department. “It was total chaos, there were horses and wrecked cars everywhere.”

No one in any of the cars was hurt, although one vehicle’s roof was torn off and the windshield of another was crushed, the California Highway Patrol reported.

A motorist stopped to see what he could do for an injured horse lying on the roadside, but the animal was suffering so badly that the man was forced to use a knife to destroy it, Frick said.

“That one horse that suffered the broken leg was still trying to get up. He had a lot of heart,” he said. “I tell you, I’ve got horses myself and it hurt me pretty bad to see those animals dead and dying.”

CHP officers and Caltrans workers shut down the entire freeway between Weir Canyon and Coal Canyon roads for three hours. Workers then herded the surviving animals, including one pony, onto the center median and removed the bodies of the others.

The owner of the stables, Slim Hart, was cited by animal control officials for seven counts of letting livestock run loose on public property--one count for each of the animals that survived, Animal Control Sgt. Marie Hulett-Curtner said.

Hart, who was not available for comment, will have to appear before an Orange County Municipal Court judge and could face a fine if he is found negligent, Hulett-Curtner said. But she said it is unclear how much the fine could be because the citation is very rare.

The stable owner also could be liable to motorists involved and Caltrans for the damage to the cars, towing, cleanup of the roadway and disposal of the carcasses, authorities said.

Officials said it was not clear how the animals got away from the ranch, where horses are identified by a heart-shaped brand.

“These horses are usually older horses,” Hulett-Curtner said. “He keeps them to provide trail horses, then after a few years they’re euthanized because they’re already old.”

Frick said Friday was not the first time horses from Coal Canyon Stables have escaped and wandered onto the freeway, but stable hands always managed to retrieve them without trouble.

“By the time we got the call and caught up with them, they were about four miles east of the stables,” Frick said.

There were no traces of problems at the stable Friday. About 50 horses grazed in their pens, and none of the fences or gates appeared to be broken.