No Intro to Journalism class would be complete without a smug professor staring down his nose and feeling oh-so-smart about that line.

But in the end, it makes sense. After all, how many times have you repaired a vehicle that was damaged by hitting a fence? Countless, I’ll presume. But how many times have you been told the fence hit the vehicle?

I thought so.

Thus, I’m writing to tell just such tale, or in this case, a "tail" might be the more appropriate word.

Burl Ives, owner of Ives Auto Parts – Collision Services, in Tecumseh, Mich., says he’s heard just about every story there is about how damage occurs to a vehicle.

"But I guess there are still some that will surprise you," Ives says.

A customer came into Ives’ shop requesting an estimate for the damage to his car. A simple enough request. Ives began inspecting the car, which he quickly surmised had gone off the road, through a fence and possibly into a ditch. He paused only when he saw the "strange dents" on the driver’s-side door that looked suspiciously like horse hooves.

The car’s owner recognized the confused look right away. "Well, it happened like this," the owner said. "I was over visiting a friend of mine who was helping his granddaughter get her horse ready for the county fair."

The man continued about how he and the grandfather went into the house to chat while the granddaughter tied the horse up to a wire fence and left to get some supplies from the barn.

In the meantime, the dog had slipped out of the barn and spooked the horse. The horse reared up and pulled the wire fence out of the ground, took off with the fence still attached and dragged the fence down the length of the car.

At that point, the granddaughter called for help and all three ran outside – where they saw that the horse was caught on the fence and that the fence was caught on the car’s bumper. The horse was now lying on the ground next to the car, kicking in a frenzied attempt to break free.

In the end, the granddaughter jumped in the car through the passenger-side door and moved the car out of harm’s way, and the grandfather held the horse’s head to calm him as the other man and the granddaughter freed the animal from the fence.

The horse was fine, but the car suffered $2,700 damage.

Now that’s a vehicle damage story with kick! Wouldn’t you say?

Writer Cheryl McMullen is managing editor of BodyShop Business.