A teenage girl deserves a major award. Not because of a winning horse show, but because of a winning chase behind a fleeing racehorse.
One of the best racehorses from the 4H at Andover Farms broke free from her halter and galloped down Aviation Blvd during a 20-minute pursuit in Glen Burnie.
Sixteen-year-old Caroline Shoults was getting ready for her next class in the show when she heard the announcement regarding the runaway horse. Without hesitation, Shoults took a leap of bravery to chase her down.
"I live by this life quote, 'do for others as you would want to be done for you' and it has got me into quite the situation," said Shoults. "And I tried to control myself and just stay focused, I was about to walk in the rain, and I spun around and took off through the horses in the showground."
Followed by two adults who immediately jumped into a vehicle to control oncoming traffic, Shoults aimed to steer the horse into a parking lot or off to the side of the road during the pursuit.
"I was not about to watch this horse right in front of me get hit by a car, injured, die, anything of the above."
The horse finally tired out after a 3-mile run and stopped when Caroline was able to get a line around her.
This young girl's bravery runs deeper than just doing the right thing. She too rescued her own racehorse 'Tinkerbell' from a Kill Pen and transformed her from a horse with little to no hope to a stellar all-around racehorse.
"People are thanking me so much for what I did, but in the end, I couldn't have done it without Tink."
After all the chaos and a gut-wrenching adventure, Shoults was able to finish strong and take on Tink's first competition completing a fantastic run finishing 3rd out of 19 horses in that class.
