Pukehina firefighters are searching for the owners of two horses involved in a crash on State Highway 2 last night.
A section of State Highway 2 was closed last night after a horse killed when it was hit by a 4W4, leaving the surviving horse extremely distressed, chief fire officer Errol Watts said.
The crash happened near Otamarakau at 7.50pm.
Mr Watts said the brown horses had been on the road. A driver had stopped and used hazard lights to warn other motorists to slow down but an oncoming car failed to do so and collided with the horse, he said.
The impact of the crash threw the horse into the parked car, killing the horse and creating extensive damage to the vehicle, he said.