DRIVERS had a change from their normal traffic queues when six horses galloped freely onto the main Dorchester Road towards Weymouth.

Shocked motorists stopped their cars when they saw the animals run onto the roundabout at Dorchester Football Club and head onto the A354 towards Weymouth.

The police were called and officers managed to usher the horses safely off the main road and into a field towards Winterborne Monkton before the owner was found.

One woman – who asked not to be named – said she stopped her car and ran after the horses as she keeps horses herself and feared for their safety.

She said: “There were about six of them running around the roundabout and then they ran towards Weymouth.

“I love horses so I tried to stop them. I was running towards them but then the police turned up and shooed them into Winterborne Monkton.”

A Dorset Police spokesman said they received ‘numerous’ calls about the horses at 11am on Saturday.

She said: “The owner thinks they were let out of a field deliberately but there’s no evidence of that.”