At about 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Idyllwild Fire responded to an incident on Highway 243 between Marian View and Saunders Meadow. According to witnesses, a truck pulling a horse trailer was traveling north on Highway 243 when the door of the trailer opened. The horse fell out of the trailer and onto the highway. The horse broke both rear legs and was euthanized because of the injury. Photo by Jenny Kirchner
At about 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Idyllwild Fire responded to an incident on Highway 243 between Marian View and Saunders Meadow. According to witnesses, a truck pulling a horse trailer was traveling north on Highway 243 when the door of the trailer opened. The horse fell out of the trailer and onto the highway. The horse broke both rear legs and was euthanized because of the injury.
Photo by Jenny Kirchner

A horse was injured and had to be euthanized when it fell out of a moving horse trailer a quarter-mile north of the intersection of Saunder’s Meadow Road (lower) and Highway 243. No other vehicles were involved in the Saturday, Jan. 30, incident nor were any people injured.

Idyllwild Fire Department said the incident occurred at 5:15 p.m. and the horse was euthanized around 6:30 p.m.

Idyllwild Fire Chief Patrick Reitz said, “We do not have any definite reason for the trailer door to have suddenly opened. It is possible that the door was not latched properly or the latch assembly failed for some reason.”

The California Highway Patrol officer who was at the scene had not filed his report so no further details were available.

At 11:50 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, an unidentified motorist was driving a tan, 1999 Ford Explorer eastbound on Ridgeview Drive in Idyllwild west of Village Center Drive, when the car collided with a parked 2004 green Acura.

The Acura was parked on the right shoulder and was moderately damaged on its left rear section. The driver fled the scene after the collision.

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