# Australian Woman Charged With "Drunk Riding"



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

This just popped up on our ABC news site, and I thought some people here might be interested, and perhaps link to / relate similar incidents in their own parts of the world...

Queensland woman charged with riding horse to bottle shop while four times over legal limit - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

It's kind of surreal, riding a horse through a drive-through bottle shop late at night...


----------



## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

I like that the bridle was off while the horse was waiting to be led home... 

I'm also somewhat disturbed by the concept of a "drive-through section" of a "tavern". That, to me, is just asking for trouble!


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

What a sweet horse... and wow, really? They have "brew through"... Is the alcohol drinkable when you order it, like in a up or is it in a closed bottle or can where you take it home before opening it? Seems... wow!


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

The mind boggles, no? It's all closed bottles / casks / tins / boxes of any of these, to take to a private residence or a BYO restaurant; but in a "drive-through" setting, kind of like getting burgers from a drive-through, except the drive-through goes through the building...


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Wow Sue...


We have a liquor store in town with a drive-up window...sealed closed bottles sold.
_{down here this is a practical thing with daily afternoon rainstorms that could literally drown you in intensity}_

Then we have a separate business down the street, the tavern. It does *not* have a drive-up/through window nor hitching post though... :|
:runninghorse2:...


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

And here I was thinking horses were a great _alternative_ to alcohol! ;-) More fun, more personable, more conducive to fitness and fresh air...

Sad though, as a cultural aspect of Australia. It's such an alcohol culture, it's not like in Mediterranean countries where most people just enjoy a glass of wine with a meal. The binge drinking is so endemic; whole school leaver crowds get blind drunk as par for the course; and at university there's drinking competitions (disgustingly, where you aren't disqualified for vomiting as long as you vomit up into a container and drink it again).

I dunno... to escape that kind of excess here, you almost have to be an outsider.


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

^^^^ Just YUCK. And I was eating breakfast. Guess where it went. We have drive throughs for frozen drinks. Come in a cup with a lid - why I have no clue as its like a gocup for coffee. Stick a straw in and there you go. The store name is large and on both sides so easily recognizable if you are driving with one. No drive through bottle stores that I am aware of. This would be Louisiana. Now when I lived up on the east coast they could only sell by the case so there were drive through liquor barns.....


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

horselovinguy said:


> Then we have a separate business down the street, the tavern. It does *not* have a drive-up/through window nor hitching post though... :|
> :runninghorse2:...


Here's a funny Australian law:

(Source under item!)

*Bars are required by law to stable, water and feed the horses of patrons.*

Don't take your horse on the lash. 







_

Australian country singer Smoky Dawson and his faithful golden palomino, Flash, take time out to have a drink, served by barmaid Ruby Ferguson, of Coogee, at the opening of the new Outback Bar at the Hyatt Kingsgate Hotel in Kings Cross, Sydney, 21 October 1974. Photo: George Lipman_

 Read more: Australia's most bizarre laws that make no sense 

​


----------



## SwissMiss (Aug 1, 2014)

That law seems a bit outdated :wink:
And re the original article: is it common in AUS to express the alcohol levels in percent? 



I remember during longer rides in Switzerland we got served our drinks outside - holding the horses, as there were no hitching posts...


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Yes, that's how Australians measure it. How's it done elsewhere? mmol/L? ;-)

That stopping at pubs on long rides and eating/drinking outside holding your horse is so European! :rofl: When I was a kid, some of the adults at my German riding school got so excited about the several-times-a-year social "pub rides"!


----------



## SwissMiss (Aug 1, 2014)

SueC said:


> Yes, that's how Australians measure it. How's it done elsewhere? mmol/L? ;-)


 :rofl: :rofl:
No, we are normally using promille (is this the way you spell it?) - it's a bigger number, so it looks more impressive :rofl: All that stuff behind a decimal point doesn't count :wink:


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Ah, I think we call that ppm (parts per million) here. Makes sense to use a standard that looks "bigger"!


----------



## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

SueC said:


> Yes, that's how Australians measure it. How's it done elsewhere? mmol/L? ;-)
> 
> That stopping at pubs on long rides and eating/drinking outside holding your horse is so European! :rofl: When I was a kid, some of the adults at my German riding school got so excited about the several-times-a-year social "pub rides"!


Speaking of Germany: There, BAC is measured in "per mille": 1‰ = 1/1000 = 0.001


----------



## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I am curious if there are specific laws that pertain to riding horses while drunk. In my eyes riding a horse does not belong in the category of driving any type of vehicle that does not have a mind of their own.


----------



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

In the US, state law determines if you can be arrested for riding drunk. Some states classify a horse as a "vehicle", which allows it to use roads but also means drunk driving laws can apply. Others say a horse has a mind of its own and therefor it's OK to ride drunk. It certainly was common enough, back in the day.

In Arizona, intoxication is measures by BAC - a percentage.

My favorite variation was a horse I read about from the 30s. His owner would ride him to work in the morning, then release the horse. The horse would walk home on his own and hang out in the yard. Near quitting time, the wife would go out, point the horse down the street - and the horse would walk to the factory. He would wait for the husband, then carry him home (sober, of course). Sometimes the kids would go with the horse to pick up their Dad. The website (now defunct) had a picture of a newspaper article showing the horse doing his thing. Wish I had thought to copy it...

Drinking while riding:











"An intoxicated man on horseback galloped onto the 91 Freeway in Long Beach on his birthday, putting himself and his animal in danger, CHP officials said. CHP officers responded around 1 a.m. Saturday to a report of a man riding a white horse on the eastbound 91..."

CHP: Drunk man rides horse onto 91 Freeway | abc7.com

My only question would be, "_Did the horse maintain the minimum speed limit on the highway?_"​


----------



## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

We'd ride to the bar pretty regularly, but we'd get dinner and a drink or two and ride home. Nobody ever got too plastered--- none of us were riding horses who would put up with too much, so if you tied on too many, you'd likely get dumped on your head. The bar had hitching rails and there wasn't ever anywhere to park, hence the reason we did it....

I think it varies from state to state, but most states in the US do consider horses in the same vein as lawn mowers, golf carts, and other motor vehicles -- bicycles, too. I think you'd have to be pretty obnoxious to get picked up while riding, but you can be charged. Even if you can't be charged with a DUI in your state, they can still get you for something like public intoxication.


----------



## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

QtrBel said:


> ^^^^ Just YUCK. And I was eating breakfast. Guess where it went. We have drive throughs for frozen drinks. Come in a cup with a lid - why I have no clue as its like a gocup for coffee. Stick a straw in and there you go. The store name is large and on both sides so easily recognizable if you are driving with one. No drive through bottle stores that I am aware of. This would be Louisiana. Now when I lived up on the east coast they could only sell by the case so there were drive through liquor barns.....


 @QtrBel beat me to it- as a former Louisianan (though not born and raised) I did get pretty used to the drive through Daiquiri places. Never had a horse when I lived there though...


The history of the drive-thru daiquiri shop | NOLA.com


----------



## mkmurphy81 (May 8, 2015)

Lol, y'all are giving me ideas! There's a Mexican restaurant with a drive through daiquiri window at the end of my street. Now I want to ride a horse through it. Also, yes, at least in Louisiana, a styrofoam cup with a plastic lid is considered a closed container... at least until you stick the straw through.


----------



## Kaifyre (Jun 16, 2016)

lol In Montana the horse is considered as having a mind of its own and it is perfectly legal to ride a horse while intoxicated. You can still get ticketed or arrested for things like public intoxication if you're being rowdy, but in my (limited) experience you have to be pretty obnoxious for an officer to go that far, because then they have to find arrangements for your horse and they hate that. 9 times out of 10 the officer will stop you and ask what you're doing, and if you're polite and tell him what you're doing he'll laugh and send you on your way. But if you are driving a horse and cart/carriage, that is officially considered a vehicle and all the usual rules apply, so don't "drive" drunk!!


-- Kai


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

LoriF said:


> I am curious if there are specific laws that pertain to riding horses while drunk. In my eyes riding a horse does not belong in the category of driving any type of vehicle that does not have a mind of their own.


Yes, I'm sure the intoxicated person would be less dangerous to the public, and to themselves, on a horse and not in a car. The problem area that occurred to me was the reduced safety for the horse, especially in a built-up area with cars about, when the rider has impaired judgement.

I'm sure many of us remember _this_, which seemed like a workable solution given the setting. As a bonus, the intoxicated human can't really interfere with the horse this way.


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

SilverMaple said:


> We'd ride to the bar pretty regularly, but we'd get dinner and a drink or two and ride home. Nobody ever got too plastered--- none of us were riding horses who would put up with too much, so if you tied on too many, you'd likely get dumped on your head.


:rofl:



> I think it varies from state to state, but most states in the US do consider horses in the same vein as lawn mowers, golf carts, and other motor vehicles...


Does that mean you can't take your lawn mower through the drive-through while intoxicated? :shock:

Not even as a substitute Zimmer frame?


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

HEHEHE that one on Johnson in Lafayette would have been my first experience when they first opened...


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

mmshiro said:


> Speaking of Germany: There, BAC is measured in "per mille": 1‰ = 1/1000 = 0.001


Yes, I was scratching my head thinking it must mean ppm because 1/1000 doesn't remove the behind the decimal point issue. Indeed it doesn't. Maybe they ought to use ppm - that'd be a far more impressive number. :rofl:


----------



## Loner (Dec 21, 2017)

A few months ago we had a women get a DUI and animal endangerment for riding her horse drunk.Florida


----------



## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Loner said:


> A few months ago we had a women get a DUI and animal endangerment for riding her horse drunk.Florida


I can see endangerment of an animal or even public nuisance from being intoxicated but DUI (Driving Under Influence) charges I can't see. You are not driving anything motorized or driving at all. An animal can do any number of things even if you are not intoxicated that could lead to trouble because they have their own mind or they can just peacefully carry your drunk butt home. Unless there is a specific law stating that you cannot ride horses while intoxicated.


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

If you were driving in a carriage, then I can see that it would be drink driving! :rofl:


----------



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

^^ I'd HAVE to be drunk to get into THAT! In fact, I may have seen those horses in some 'visions' during my younger days. Not now. Now a beer puts me to sleep...


----------



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


Pink's not my favourite colour either. I half expect a life size version of Barbie Doll to alight from this carriage, together with an inflatable Ken. Probably in Pleasantville.


----------



## Loner (Dec 21, 2017)

The women was riding the horse along the road and taking him in and out of traffic when the law got her.


----------



## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

It is illegal in California. You can also get a public intoxication. Even in your own yard.


----------

