MESOPOTAMIA, Ohio (WKBN) – The clip clop of horse hooves pulling a buggy is a common sound on Girdle Road in Mesopotamia, a scenic, highly traveled but bumpy county road nestled in Mesopotamia’s Amish country.“These horses have to go through a lot of training to become safe on these roads,” said Samantha Mast.Mast is friends with the Amish community.“Their biggest concern is the roads, and mine, too, because I live here,” she said.Mast used to be a livestock trucker and now help...
MESOPOTAMIA, Ohio (WKBN) – The clip clop of horse hooves pulling a buggy is a common sound on Girdle Road in Mesopotamia, a scenic, highly traveled but bumpy county road nestled in Mesopotamia’s Amish country.
“These horses have to go through a lot of training to become safe on these roads,” said Samantha Mast.
Mast is friends with the Amish community.
“Their biggest concern is the roads, and mine, too, because I live here,” she said.
Mast used to be a livestock trucker and now helps the Amish.
“I’ve hauled a lot of hurt horses that have gotten hurt on this road before.”
For Mast, nothing compares to what she saw on Monday.
“The buggy was sitting there. Something straight out of a horror movie.”
Mast was told a buggy hit a bump, causing its bolts to snap as the buggy was heading downhill.
“The shafts had literally sawed the horse’s feet off.”
The animal had to be put down.
“I am frustrated. I’m mad. I’m ticked,” Mast said.
“It was an unusual, unfortunate situation, and our sympathies are with the owners of the horse,” said Deputy Engineer Gary Shaffer.
Shaffer says the stretch of road was paved eight years ago.
“Since then, we’ve chip-sealed it, but we continually patch,” Shaffer said.
“We’d rather have dirt roads than this because these patches create more bumps,” Mast said.
Shaffer said a dirt road wouldn’t hold up to the traffic on Girdle Road, but its condition is on the county engineer’s radar. The plan is to apply for funding to fix it early next year.
“I know it’s bumpy. Bear with us. When the money becomes available, we’ll go out there and do a complete rehabilitation of that road,” Shaffer said.
“We’re not asking for reimbursement. We’re not asking to pay for our truck repairs and our horses and our buggies. We’re just asking for our roads to be properly fixed,” Mast said.