This guy wasn’t horsing around.
An 80-year-old man dressed as a cowboy was lassoed after he rode his horse across the Outerbridge Crossing between Staten Island and New Jersey Monday morning, causing traffic to slow and more than a few odd stares.
The mistaken cowboy, Tod “Doc” Mishler, 80, from Ulster Park, N.Y., is reportedly riding his horse across the country to raise awareness for childhood hunger.
Mishler received two summonses, for trespassing and impeding traffic, a Port Authority spokesman said.
“I didn’t pay any toll,” Mishler laughed afterward to a CBSNewYork. “They said, ride on cowboy.”
“My dream is to ride across the country and let the people know that we have the money to feed every starving child in the world,” he added.
A video posted to Twitter just before noon showed Mishler on one horse while a second — laden with belongings — trotted next to them.
A Port Authority Police car was seen driving behind him.
Fans of Mishler and his journey set up a Facebook page inviting people to post spottings of the cowboy.
“Did you Spot Doc?” the page asks.
But it hasn’t always been fun and games for Mishler, who was charged in Madison, Wisconsin, with failing to provide adequate food to his animals after his horses apparently appeared dehydrated and underfed, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The charges were dropped in August 2011.
At the time, Mishler — the father of 10 children with a doctorate in philosophy — was in the middle of his cross-country trek and insisted his horses were well taken care of, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
