Those who show horses at RodeoHouston are passionate about it, like 15-year-old Ivy Bailey, who shows Tequila.
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For Ivy, seeing a picture like this is disturbing. "Horses get spooked really easily," Ivy said.
Her mother Waverly Bailey added, "That's animal abuse. She's the one that rides."
Some rodeo visitors have seen the picture making the rounds on social media Monday, others hadn't heard of it.
WATCH: Horse caught in back of man's pickup truck
Horse in the bed of pick-up truck going 70 MPH on US-59
The picture, which is not affiliated with rodeo activities, was taken in Corrigan, Texas. The photographer who snapped it says the pickup driver was traveling at about 70 miles per hour.
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New video into the ABC13 Eyewitness News room shows the reaction of one driver, Ami Parbs, who quipped how crazy the sight really was.
"It's unsafe. It's unsafe, because you don't know what the horse is going to do. He's so big over the sides," said horse owner Donna Skura, who is attending the rodeo with her daughter and grandsons.
"I wouldn't do that with a dog," Waverly said. "Put it in the back of a truck on a highway with a bed down like that. Not a horse."
Police in Corrigan say the driver was on his way to work at the Stockyards. He was pulled over, but according to officers, there isn't anything illegal about the transportation so the driver was let go.
He claimed his truck that can pull the trailer wouldn't start, so he did this as an alternative.
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Ivy says she would have sprung into action.
"If I was driving and I saw them on the freeway, I would chase them down and stop them and get the horse," Ivy said. "And keep the horse for myself."
The horse is now safe at the Stockyards. According to police, the horse is extremely well-trained and worth $15,000.
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