CHULA VISTA, Calif. – It was a wild time in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista as a herd of horses galloped along paved streets, through a parking lot, fields and an Olympic training center for up to two hours before being herded back to a ranch.

Abel Canales, Ranch hand at the OK Corral in Otay Mesa says wild horses up from neighboring Mexico apparently were followed by about a dozen ranch horses on Wednesday afternoon.

According to Chula Vista police spokesman Bernard Gonzales "They had come down from the hills just above Chula Vista and they had intermingled with some other horses. I guess that the leader of that pack of wild horses induced the other horses to run free.”

"In their natural state, a horse will follow the dominant horse. They were all following the lead horse."

U.S. Border Patrol trucks tried to herd them and television helicopters followed as the horses galloped through the streets.

The horses ran into the U.S. Olympic Training Center near Otay Lake, where they cantered around the flag court and fields before heading through a parking lot and back onto the road.

Two of the horses stopped about a mile away and volunteers from the San Diego Humane Society roped and calmed them.

Pursuers on horseback managed to get the horses back to the ranch. Fortunately, none suffered serious injuries.

Police were unsure about  how the horses got out of their stalls.

"Did they jump? Was there an open gate? Were the horses so domesticated that the owner thought they would never leave? I don't know," Gonzales said.