Castlemaine Leading Senior Constable Grant Kendall said a four wheel drive and the horse collided at the Calder Highway at Taradale about 6.40am.

The driver, a Castlemaine man in his 40s, sustained minor injuries.

He was the sole occupant of the vehicle, which was extensively damaged in the collision.

“He was heading to work,” Leading Senior Constable Kendall said. 

“We don’t yet know who the horse belongs to.”

The speed limit on the Calder Highway was 100 kilometres per hour.

Leading Senior Constable Kendall said the horse weighed about 400 kilograms. 

He believed the bull bar saved the driver of the vehicle from sustaining serious injuries.

“If it had been a car, I reckon it would have been a different story,” he said. 

Leading Senior Constable Kendall said the collision was a reminder for property owners to check their fences and for motorists to beware of animals on the region’s roads. 

“While we were there someone driving in the other direction hit a kangaroo, a couple of hundred metres from us,” he said. 

“There was damage to their car as well.”

He also urged motorists to drive to the conditions. 

It was foggy and about -1 degrees when police were at the scene.