Shoppers stunned to see horses inside of Abbeville Walmart

When you walk into Walmart, you never know who you’ll see.  But no one expects to see six horses with riders walking through Walmart. 
On Sunday at 4:30 p.m., people who shopped in the Abbeville Walmart saw exactly that.
At least eight people on six horses entered the Abbeville Walmart through the west entrance near the grocery aisles.
A video posted on social media shows two horses, each with two riders, walking past the Subway restaurant and near the grocery aisle. Another horse stopped in front of Subway.
All six horses stood in the Walmart lobby near the shopping baskets for a short time.
One rider got off his horse and led it to the checkout aisles near the drinks, but a woman waiting in line said Walmart employees told him to leave.
“I told myself, there is a horse in Wal-Mart,” said a woman, who did not want her name in the newspaper. “At first, I thought it was funny seeing the horse. Then I got worried because a horse is a big, strong animal. I know how to handle myself around a horse. But a kid or an adult who knows little about horses could have run up to the horse and wanted to pet it. It could have been a dangerous situation.”
As the horses left Walmart, each rider had to duck to get through the doorway.
By Monday evening, Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy said Walmart had not contacted the police about filing charges against the eight riders. Until then, the police department does not plan to take action, Hardy said.
That Sunday afternoon, the Bayou Xchan and the Bowzier Trailride was held at the Red Barn, not far from Walmart.
One shopper was loading his groceries in the Walmart parking lot when he saw a group of riders and horses by the gardening supply entrance on the east side. Then the horses trotted to the west side of the parking lot.
“I told myself, ‘I know they are not about to go inside,’” said the man in the parking lot. “They started going inside, and customers leaving the store were just going around them, hoping to avoid the horses. It was crazy. I’ve been on this Earth for 45 years, and I have never seen this before.”
The shopper also saw one rider fall off his horse in the Walmart parking lot after being thrown.
The Abbeville Police Department arrived and spoke to the large group of riders gathered in the strip mall next to King’s Restaurant. Then they drove to Walmart.
Earlier this year, four people rode their horses through a Walmart in Baker.
The Baker Police Department investigated to identify the riders and arrested three men and a teenager. The three men turned themselves in on misdemeanor counts of entering and remaining after a forbidden, unlawful post of criminal activity and disturbing the peace.
Walmart has a policy that prohibits pets or emotional support animals in its stores. Mason Webb, one of the riders charged in Baker, was interviewed about why he rode his horse through Walmart.
“It was fun, we were famous. That’s all. We didn’t wanna hurt nobody... that’s my emotional support animal,” said Webb during a TV interview from jail in Baker, back in April.