Source: By Melissa Locker @woolyknickers as published at Time.com
“I didn’t understand why they swooped in,”
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A Colorado man was determined to get to his brother’s wedding in Bryce, Utah. However he had lost his license and couldn’t drive the 600 or so miles to the event. He decided the next best option was to saddle up his horse, Dillon, stick his pug, Buford, in a backpack and hit the open road.
Boulder, Colorado residents began making calls to the University of Colorado police around 2 p.m. Monday to report that a man was riding his horse into traffic and onto the sidewalks, appeared to be intoxicated, and was disturbingly striking the horse hard enough to make it rear up on its hind legs. Police pulled the man — later identified as Patrick Neal Schumacher — over for a sobriety test, which he failed. After a search of his horse, officers found a saddlebag loaded with beer and a small black powder pistol.
Despite Schumacher’s explanation that he was just trying to hit a fly on the horse’s head, he was arrested on suspicion of charges of animal cruelty, reckless endangerment and prohibited use of weapons, as well as riding a horse while under the influence of alcohol, a traffic law violation. His animals were impounded and he was sent to the Boulder County Jail on Monday night.
By Tuesday, Schumacher was out and reunited with his horse and his dog and wondering what all the fuss was about. “I didn’t understand why they swooped in,” he told Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper, explaining that he had consumed two or three beers before police found him on Monday, but claims he was not drunk. He also noted that he had made trips with Dillon before, once riding horseback from Utah to South Dakota. “I got me a good horse,” he said. “I can get anywhere I need to go.”
Schumacher is due back in court in Boulder on Oct. 31 to be charged in the case. Officials from the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office told the Daily Camera that they had never prosecuted a “riding under the influence” case before.
Related Articles
- Ride of 600 miles to brother’s wedding comes unstuck with arrest (horsetalk.co.nz)
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- Boulder police arrest suspected drunk man riding horse to Utah (denverpost.com)
- Man reunited with horse, dog after riding drunk through Boulder (kdvr.com)
Categories: Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This man sounds like an accident waiting to happen. The worst thing is that Dillon, the horse and the little pug dog will probably be hurt as well as other people. If this were the old days of horse and buggies, it would be fine, but this man is endangering others on the road. There should be some way to stop people like this.
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…or you/they could do NOTHING and the guy would be much further down the road to his destination. And you and others (residents of Boulder) could continue down your roads in ignorant bliss, dodging the bikes as you go.
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Possibly one thing that would help is not to allow drunks to be incarcerated Monday night, then released Tuesday, as this bum was. Perhaps an ordinance of a longer jail stay for drunks endangering the populace might help. This overnight stay was in Boulder. I thought the city would be more sophisticated than that. And then, money, money, money. Who pays for the food to feed the horse and dog, at least one hopes they were fed and given water. If Boulder had to pay for feeding these animals, then we should not be surprised this disgusting drunk was released the next day.
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This is more common than many think; happened in my one horse town….but it was to 2 drunks and 2 impounded horses. The problem was the idiot sheriffs had no place to house the equines (aka NO PLANS) and didn’t provide water or food while the drunks worked out bail.
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Hopefully my question is valid. How many days would it have taken this bum to get a new driver’s license versus riding his horse 600 miles? Does anyone question that this cretin is abusing his horse to go faster when out of sight of other people? Apparently this useless piece of flesh was ” disturbingly striking the horse hard enough to make it rear up on its hind legs” and then states he was trying to hit a fly on the horse. I really loathe dregs like this excuse for a human being.
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My guess is that this drinking cowpoke probably had his license revoked for…….drunk driving. Not likely that he could apply for a new license. His horse Dillon is at risk with this guy..
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I can be naïve at times, I’m embarrassed to say. I should have realized what you said. He lost his license for drunk driving. One wonders what kind of family this guy has that does not help him get to the wedding, unless they don’t want him at the wedding (what a surprise!)
Yes. Dillon is very much at risk.
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Now I don’t know if this man abused his horse or not-there can be a fine line in abuse-the horse or dog did not look to be abused and the man did say he had traveled long distances before with his animals-its all in how the story was reported-funny how this man because of the media is singled out to be bad-but the man with the 3 mules and the Long Riders are considered to be doing something great-living in Colorado just as long as 10 years ago it was common to see horses tied in small towns and being riden on our roads, course we were considered nothing but a cow town back then.
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To: Geri
You are unsure whether this man [Patrick] abused his horse. Boulder citizens reported to police that “a man … riding his horse into traffic and onto the sidewalks, appeared to be intoxicated, and was disturbingly striking the horse hard enough to make it rear up on its hind legs.” Would you consider that abuse? An animal does not have to have welts (if that’s what you’re looking for) to have been abused. Then, we have Patrick’s drunken, but admittedly funny or stupid (take your pick) reply – he was just trying to hit a fly on the horse’s head. The normal human being waves his hands to shoo a fly away.
You wrote: “‘funny how this man [Patrick] because of the media was singled out to be bad….” He was not ‘singled’ out by the media. He was singled out by himself because he was riding his horse into traffic and the sidewalks. He was jailed and chances are the media learned about it.
Forgive me. I know I sound cranky, but your comment, “the horse or dog did not look to be abused” forces me to ask, Did you see Dillon, the horse, and Buford, the dog, in person? Then maybe you have a point. If you saw them in a photo, do you really think you would ‘see’ abuse?
I hope I do not sound nasty. That was not my intent. You wrote some challenging sentences.
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Rita—nope not nasty-you have a right to question me and the report, but this is the report on channel 31-there also was a report on channel 2-4-7-and channel 9 and at that time each one was different in their reporting-so is hard to jump to conclusions and condem the man with so many conflicting reports-thats all I ment. remember most people in Boulder probably have never been around horses. they have been known to-blow things out of proportion-you have to live around here to know what I mean.
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and think about it I just named 5 tv channels that carried this report-who knows how any police officers-you know the humane society swooped right in not counting the shelter/rescue that kept his animals-if they thought for one minute those animals were in danger, they would have given them back?
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Quite a story! I love the part “I got me a good horse, I can get anywhere I need to go”. That’s the spirit, but don’t ride while drinking! (-:
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And anyone with extra space in their horse trailer, please stop and offer this guy a ride…..if not for him, for Dillon and Buford
Patrick – they most likely “swooped in” because you were acting irresponsibly regardless of the report. So, kudos to the residents and police of Colorado which showed that individuals cannot just do whatever they want to animals in their care without repercussions.
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To: Geri
Thank you for your reasonable reply.
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