Singer Chesney Recalls Horse Ride

Tuesday, June 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) â€” Country singer Kenny Chesney said his arrest for taking an unauthorized ride on a police horse after a Buffalo-area concert was like a scene from the 1970s cop show ``Starsky and Hutch.''

``The guy in the driver's seat just slid over the hood, and they started pulling me off,'' Chesney told Jay Leno on the ``Tonight Show'' Monday.

After his appearance in the music festival June 3, Chesney was charged with disorderly conduct when he was pulled off a sheriff's department horse backstage.

Sheriff's officials said Chesney had permission to sit on the horse but not to ride it away, and he refused orders to dismount.

Chesney said he wanted to take the horse into the backstage bus compound to show the other performers' children.

Chesney's friend, singer Tim McGraw, was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest after he allegedly tried to pull police away from Chesney.

The pair are scheduled to appear in court July 18.

McGraw has been having his own fun with the incident. At the tour's final stop in Houston Sunday, his wife, singer Faith Hill, came on stage dressed as a law enforcement officer and led him off in handcuffs.