Dead horses on Hwy 180 for 18 hours

On a busy country road, cars slow down as they pass two dead horses.  Michele Buchanan was so upset, she stopped and got out of her car.

“It's rather obvious what happened at this scene.  My question is, ‘Why are they still laying here?’” Buchanan asked.

According to CHP, an Orange Cove man was riding one of the horses, holding the reins of the other horse.  They went from the shoulder of the highway into traffic.  A woman driving a Honda tried to stop but couldn't avoid them.  Officers say the horseman had been drinking.  He survived with moderate injuries but one of the horses was killed in the crash and the other was put down because of its injuries.

“I totally recognize the horses.  I'm 100% sure they're the same horses,” said Cody Luallen, who lives in the area.

Luallen says he saw the man and his two horses Sunday afternoon, just three and a half hours before the accident happened.

“He was on the wrong side of the road walking this way with two horses and his loose horse was basically almost on the road.  It kinda startled me as I was driving past it,” said Luallen.

On Monday afternoon the dead horses were still exposed.  Cal Trans, which normally picks up dead animals, says it called a livestock recycling company to pick them up.

“Our in-house personnel are experts in the maintenance and construction of the freeways, not in the disposal of large animals,” said Jose Camarena, public information officer for Cal Trans.

Cal Trans says the horses were removed at 3pm Monday by Baker Commodities.  The man on the horse was not arrested.