A runaway horse sparked mayhem in evening rush-hour traffic in Vienna, galloping along a busy road pursued by nine police cars and the animal's distraught owner, police said Thursday.

The young animal was being trained to pull one of the Austrian capital's famous Fiaker carriages popular with tourists when it escaped at dusk on Wednesday, police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said.

Tearing along one of the main routes out of the city, "the horse collided with a car, damaging the vehicle, and then jumped onto another, smashing the windscreen with its hooves," Hahslinger told AFP.

"The horse, bleeding heavily from its front legs, carried on running but eventually came to a halt and the owner managed got hold of it," he said.

The animal's injuries were not serious. The driver of one of the cars also sustained light injuries and a police car was also damaged. afp, photo by

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