Riding a horse home when drunk IS legal...

Riding a horse while drunk IS legal, police confirm after ad campaign

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:43 PM on 17th January 2011

When transport chiefs wanted pub goers to get a 'sober friend' to give them a lift home they jokingly used a horse in their advert - not expecting anyone to take it literally.

But some drinkers in Montana, U.S., have started returning from bars on horseback - and police have confirmed it is legal to ride the animal while drunk.

The Department of Transportation were concerned that people were putting themselves at risk by not planning in advance how they were getting home.

Legal: Horses are not classified as 'vehicles' under Montana state law so there is nothing to prevent drinkers riding them home

Yet after the advert was produced, Helena Police Chief Troy McGee has revealed he has been inundated with calls from people wanting to know if they can ride home under the influence.

The Montana State law definition of a 'vehicle' excludes anything that runs under animal power - so police are powerless to stop drunks going home on horseback.

Bicycles and wheelchairs are also excluded, so these too could be used for getting back.

He said they had received no reports of drinkers riding home on horseback - but it wouldn't be reported anyway.

Carriage awaits: The 'sober friend' horse waits outside a bar to collect the drinker

Cheers: The Montana Department for Transportation insist the advertising campaign has been a success

'We’ve never been called as far as I am aware of someone drinking and riding a horse,' he told the Independent Record.

'They probably wouldn’t call us and you’d just find the horse tied up outside the bar.'

The 30-second advert, filmed in Hamilton, Montana, shows the horse slowly making its own way to the pub and stopping for red traffic lights on the way.

Department of Transportation director Jim Lynch said the advert had been a success and the message they wanted to get across was getting through.

'They absorbed the message. They got it,' he said.

The law in Montana defines a vehicle as 'device in, upon, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.'

Luke Berger, deputy Helena city attorney, said it is not a good idea to get a horse home drunk.

'I wouldn’t recommend that anyone does that. But as the law says, you can ride your horse after drinking,' he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1347928/Horse-pub-lift-ad-sparks-row-Sober-Friend-video-hit.html#ixzz1BIux5A4H