Little Man, as his rescuers called him, was found trotting along Hwy 97 right by the Starlight Drive-In Monday night.

Image Credit: Contributed/ Equine Rangers

ENDERBY - A miniature pony was on a big adventure Monday night in Enderby as he made his way from the farm to Enderby's Starlight Drive-In off Highwy 97.

Arriving around 7:30 p.m. Monday night, the little brown pony with a unique bolt of white running down his belly would have been plenty early for the 9 p.m. showing of Despicable Me. But he got a little tangled up in highway traffic.

He was trotting down the highway alongside trucks and semis when a passerby pulled over and guided him off the road and into the field across from the drive-in. Not sure who to call about the unusual incident, the woman dialed the number for the Equine Rangers, a riding group in Enderby.

Naomi McGeachy and her husband, who both used to rescue horses, were there with their horse trailer in a matter of minutes. It didn't take much to load the nervous pony into the trailer.

"We took him home and fed and watered him," McGeachy says, adding he was quite curious about her big steed Ranger. "We posted his picture all over Facebook, called all the radio stations from Sicamous to Princeton and notified the RCMP."

Overnight, McGeachy says she, her husband, and their daughter grew quite fond of the mini, whom they named Little Man.

"Our whole family fell in love with him," she says.

That night, Little Man's picture spread across social media, and in the morning, the McGeachys got a call from someone who recognized him.

"Our hay guy called and said his neighbour was babysitting the pony," McGeachy says. "We re-united them this morning, the lady was elated that we had cared for him. His real name is Odi."

While they were happy to see him re-united with his caregiver, the McGeachys had grown quite attached to Little Man.

"There were tears shed," McGeachy says. "Now our daughter wants a mini."

She credits his swift reunion with social media.

"People just grabbed it and were plastering it everywhere," she says. "Facebook is huge, it gets everything right out there."

The farm Odi had been staying at was just a few properties south of the drive-in, towards Armstrong.

"It's all fields in between," McGeachy says, noting he'd covered some pretty serious ground. "The place he was staying had a pool and tennis courts... We're all saying he wanted the full resort life."

While he missed the Starlight show, Little Man, or Odi, starred in his very own Okanagan Western, earning the hearts of many along the way.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013