Amish Buggy Horse Runs Onto Interstate After Pre-Dawn Crash – But Passing Driver Uses His Car To Save It (Ohio)

A quick-thinking driver likely saved an Amish horse’s life earlier today – and possibly the lives of other drivers on a well-trafficked Ohio interstate highway.

An Amish horse ran onto the busy thoroughfare early Tuesday morning after an SUV struck its buggy in Ashland County, Ohio. But a passing driver used his own car to hold the horse against the guardrail until troopers arrived.

The crash happened on U.S. 250 in Montgomery Township shortly after 6 AM. The horse broke away from the buggy and kept running until it reached Interstate 71, a main route between Cleveland and Columbus with plenty of semi traffic.

Cleveland 19 reports, citing the Ohio State Highway Patrol:

Around 6:18 a.m. on Tuesday, a 2014 Ford Explorer struck an Amish buggy due to following too close to the horse-drawn carriage.

OSHP says that after the crash, the horse became detached from the buggy and continued running west on U.S. 250 before entering I-71 North in Montgomery Township.

A passing driver noticed the horse running in the right lane and used his car to guide the animal onto the right shoulder against the guardrail.

The driver kept the horse secured until troopers arrived, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Good that driver had his wits about him at that early-morning hour – and was able to pull off what sounds like it was a tricky, if not dangerous, maneuver. The horse is described as “running” in the right lane, so it was moving at some speed. Not to mention, this happened about an hour before sunrise, so it was still dark.

According to the OSHP, neither driver was injured. The horse suffered several cuts to its legs, but that doesn’t sound too serious, at least not life-threatening to the horse.

This is the second buggy crash in Ashland County in less than a week; the area is no stranger to them. And a number have happened on the county’s highways. Last Friday, a car struck a buggy from behind on State Route 302, and a 9-week-old girl was seriously injured. In February, a car hit a buggy on U.S. 42 and threw a 4-month-old and the child’s parents from the vehicle. In July 2025, a small child had to be airlifted after a pickup struck a buggy on Ohio 96.

Tuesday’s crash is also not the first time a horse has turned up along I-71 in the county. In November 2023, troopers from the OSHP followed a loose horse beside the interstate and eventually coaxed her in with granola bars, according to Fox 8. That horse had escaped from its owner along with several others and was not reported to be an Amish-owned horse.