A WILD-West-style stampede of horses, some with bareback riders, through a quiet residential road has shocked residents. They watched in amazement as the piebald ponies were driven into a field abutting Winches Farm Drive in St Albans. Mrs Anne Scanlan, w

A WILD-West-style stampede of horses, some with bareback riders, through a quiet residential road has shocked residents.

They watched in amazement as the piebald ponies were driven into a field abutting Winches Farm Drive in St Albans.

Mrs Anne Scanlan, who saw them arrive, said: "It would have been comical except that the horses looked so wild and out-of-control that it was quite dangerous."

It got even more surreal later on when the horses wandered out of the field and started munching the grass in the front gardens of some of the residents' homes.

It is understood horse riders gained access to the field owned by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine by chopping down a tree.

Cllr Chris Brazier, ward councillor for Colney Heath, said: "I started getting calls when alarmed residents found the horses in their gardens. Neither the police nor the RSPCA could help so unless the horses are reclaimed soon, they could be headed for an abattoir. No-one would seek this as a remedy but we can't have people leaving their horses on private land for free grazing.