Resulting bail conditions prohibited the men from riding horses in town. The men are part of a unit that provides mounted security and were training the horses on the roads to acclimate them to noise. The two have been forced to train on off-road trails since May.

Sprague pleaded guilty to his charge on Sept. 21 and was fined $100 for the infraction.

Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Lilley questioned five witnesses about the Sunday afternoon incident. Houlton Police Officer Troy Fitzpatrick testified that Geary and Sprague were each riding the horses abreast down North Street when a resident reported that the men were going very slowly and that traffic was backed up.

Fitzpatrick told Lilley that he got behind the men just as they were about to cross the bridge and spoke through his cruiser intercom, asking them to pull right and allow the vehicles to go by. The pair allegedly refused, and Geary reportedly swore at the officer before they turned left into Market Square.

Under state motor vehicle statute, a horse being driven or led on a roadway has the same rights and responsibilities as a vehicle operator. Vehicles moving slower are directed to move to the "right hand boundary" of a public way and allow faster vehicles "free passage to the left."

Fitzpatrick eventually was joined by two U.S. Border Patrol agents, and at times another Houlton cruiser participated in the hourlong pursuit. Most witnesses testified that the horses were at a "walking" speed much of the time.

The incident ended after Fitzpatrick followed the men to a residence on Ludlow Road. They were arrested two weeks later.

During questioning by Geary's attorney, Jeff Pickering, most witnesses agreed that the men kept the horses in the proper traffic lanes while riding. Fitzpatrick countered, however, that the pair didn't use hand signals consistently to alert traffic to their intended direction.

Pickering maintained that the police cruisers following the horses actually made it harder for traffic to pass, and that the animals couldn't possibly maintain the same speed as a vehicle.

"It is a misuse of the statute to indicate that you are obstructing public ways merely because the animal is not going the same speed as a vehicle would," the attorney told the judge.

Due to time constraints, further testimony in the trial was continued until December. Pickering is expected to call four witnesses on Geary's behalf.

Despite Lilley's objections, O'Mara mandated Tuesday that Geary could ride horses in town, provided he not obstruct traffic. The judge contended that if someone obstructs public ways in a vehicle, he "didn't think a bail order would state that you couldn't drive in Houlton."
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Friday, October 08, 2004 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."