# Panicked Horse swims three miles out to sea **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179 "2012-05-17T05:57:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/1 "2012-05-17T05:57:11Z")
A photo shoot that nearly went horribly wrong. Arabian show horse freaks out and starts swimming out to sea. They found him three miles out. You can’t exactly pull a horse into the boat with you. 😃 They had to guide the exhausted horse back to the beach. I never knew horses could swim this well. The horse is ok and maybe he’s heading to London for the Olympics? LOL 😃 [http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2012/05/16/11736450-arabian-show-horse-rescued-after-swimming-three-miles-into-the-ocean?lite](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/16/11736450-arabian-show-horse-rescued-after-swimming-three-miles-into-the-ocean?lite) few more pictures here. The close up of the horse in the water is amazing. > **[Spooked Arabian purebred swims out to sea for THREE hours before dramatic...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145509/Spooked-Arabian-purebred-swims-sea-THREE-hours-dramatic-rescue-oil-rig-worker-local-coastguard.html)** > > The horse, who is named William, was taking part in a photoshoot but it was scared by the loud, crashing waves and photographers and it panicked and galloped into the water. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/2 "2012-05-17T06:16:28Z")
Wow, that was quite the panic reaction. At least the horse survived though. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/3 "2012-05-17T06:57:37Z")
What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/4 "2012-05-17T07:35:05Z")
If you think that’s incredible, he only came in 3rd in the triathlon. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/5 "2012-05-17T07:40:32Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” What better way to conquer your fear than to run head first into it? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/6 "2012-05-17T09:13:03Z")
Elephants are also surprisingly good swimmers, and have been found miles out to sea. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/7 "2012-05-17T11:57:05Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > If you think that’s incredible, he only came in 3rd in the triathlon. Yeah but you have to admit the bicycle phase is not exactly designed for horses. StG ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/8 "2012-05-17T12:08:38Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Elephants are also surprisingly good swimmers, and have been found miles out to sea. Probably out to visit their cousins, elphant seals. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/9 "2012-05-17T12:09:32Z")
Was his name Bob? StG ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/10 "2012-05-17T13:49:00Z")
So I was on my oil rig and this horse swam by… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/11 "2012-05-17T14:57:53Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” Hey, works with burning barns. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/12 "2012-05-17T15:28:58Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” Horses can be smart, but not SMART smart. They’re herd herbivores, which makes working with them weird if you’re used to domesticated cats and dogs. Their actions often don’t make intuitive sense to us with our eyes on the front of our heads and all. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/13 "2012-05-17T17:39:57Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Elephants are also surprisingly good swimmers, and have been found miles out to sea. Its been said the reason elephants go out to sea is to form cocoons which later hatch as whales. Whether this is true or not may be debatable, but the movie “Cocoon” was based off this phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/14 "2012-05-17T18:29:43Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” I’m not entirely convinced that “thought process” and “horse” go together in a sentence like that. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/15 "2012-05-17T19:18:11Z")
In case people think I am pulling their legs, here is a video of some elephants swimming in the [Indian Ocean](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpD40ewOyC4). ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/16 "2012-05-17T19:19:08Z")
Whoa, that happened here in Santa Barbara. I was noticing that the photos were attributed to the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol. They do pretty good work and saved my ass when I turtled my catamaran and couldn’t right it. The owner of the horse is the ex-wife of movie producer Jon Peters. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/17 "2012-05-17T20:41:19Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” Actually running straight towards the enemy is a pretty good survival stragery. If it’s a wolf or other smaller-than-you predator, you might trample it, or at least surprise it and give yourself some time to scram. You can’t trample the ocean, but horses don’t generalize all that well. Anyway - yeah its surprising how well horses can swim. Their “paddles” are pretty ineffcient, but they are quite bouyant. My friend has a horse summer camp where every year as a treat the kids swim the horses in the pond on a hot day. the horses enjoy it. Except… She’s got one horse – otherwise one of the more athletic horses she’s got – who can’t swim. Just flails and sinks. It’s pretty strange. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/18 "2012-05-17T20:55:26Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > What a cool story. I love the thought process behind the horse’s actions, though. “A GIANT WAVE CRASH SCARED ME! I KNOW! I WILL RUN INTO THE WAVES, SURELY THAT IS A GOOD IDEA!” According to the Daily Mail piece linked in the OP: > [@](#): > > 'But William got scared by a big, crashing wave and just panicked. He was running up and down the beach and people were trying to catch him but he jumped into the sea. So, yeah, it sounds like the wave crashing spooked him, but it was the people trying to catch him that prompted him to try and become a seahorse. I just wonder if any sharks went to investigate him and were like “WTF!? I’ve never seen anything like that before!” ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/19 "2012-05-17T22:14:18Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > seahorse Oh lawdy, how did I miss making this pun the first time around?? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179/20 "2012-05-17T22:43:46Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Was his name Bob? > > StG Or, if he was waterskiing, Skip.😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panicked-horse-swims-three-miles-out-to-sea/622179.md?page=2)