Mountie gallops from evacuated Williams Lake on horseback

A Kelowna-born police officer put his cowboy skills to good use to help move an old, stubborn horse from an area of B.C. that was being threatened by a wildfire.

Const. Ryan Grottolo was helping evacuate a rural area of Williams Lake on July 15, when he came across a young woman struggling to move three horses, according to an RCMP media release.

Grottolo grew up on a farm in rural Kelowna and is quite comfortable with horses, RCMP say. He ran into the young woman while she was riding a horse and trying to lead two others. Time was of the essence and she didn't have time to wait for a trailer. 

Grottolo's cowboy instincts kicked in and he hopped on the horse without a saddle and led it to safety.

Grottolo said the woman warned him the horse was "old and a little crotchety," but that didn't scare him away.

“The horse started to get off track a couple of times but I was able to pull him back into line,” Grottolo says in the release.

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