They saw the horse sprinting northbound on Wells Street after it escaped from the Noble Horse Theatre, 1410 N. Orleans St.
"It was a horse for an antique coaching carriage that was staying in our barn," said Daniel Sugrue, manager at Noble Horse Theatre. "The horse was tied up to the wall while its owner was getting ready to put it on his trailer. It escaped. It's as simple as that."
Sugrue said he wasn't sure where the horse was heading.
"If it was a city horse, it would have just found a patch of grass and stayed put," he said. "I don't know, maybe it was looking to walk into a bar."
Apparently, this wasn't the first time a horse was found roaming the streets of Old Town.
On the same day last year, about a half dozen horses escaped from the Noble Horse Theatre.
"A drunk guy opened the gate because he thought the horses should be 'free,' " Sugrue said. "Eight of them got loose."
Kathleen King saw the horse while she was riding her bike south on Wells.
It first headed southbound on Orleans before turning west onto Schiller Street. Then it sprinted north on Wells before making a right onto North Avenue, King said.
The horse was found unharmed and was returned to its owner, Sugrue said.
"The horse is safe and back home," he said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2013.)
