A Story Worth Telling

[RBluebirdpr@aol.com]

It was a week ago this past Sunday at about 6PM and we were having the worst 
storm of the season.  I got a call from Abbie Saunders, Ride Mgr. of The 
Leatherwood Mountain Challenge.  I could tell she was somewhat concerned as 
she told me that she and Debbie (I will withhold the last name until I get 
her permission) were out conditioning their horses and that Debbie's horse, 
Tyrone, had spooked when Debbie had tried to sponge him and Debbie 
bailed/fell off and Tyrone bolted at a full gallop back the way they had 
come.  She said she had tracked him as far as she could but it was raining so 
hard the tracks just disappeared.  I told her I would meet her where she lost 
the tracks in 10 to 15 minutes. I was in my Jeep Wrangler and decided to cut 
across a ridge know as the Daniel Boone Trail (about 2 miles long).  Bad 
decision.  The storm was so bad it had blown trees down across the trail and 
the mud was deeper than I had ever seen it in this part of Leatherwood.  
Finally I made it through and we started trying to track with no luck.  Now 
remember that Abbie and Debbie had walked and backtracked 6 miles in pouring 
down rain and lightening to the rental barns.  Both were soaking wet and 
Debbie had blisters that were hurting her so bad that she was afraid to take 
her boots off in fear that she would not get them back on.  

I had ridden with Debbie and Abbie two weeks before and Tyrone was new to 
endurance and trails, fresh out of the dressage ring.  She had only had him 
for two weeks.  Nice looking horse but real hyper.  Debbie herself is also 
new to endurance and both were learning together.  I was on my horse Romeo 
and was blocking Tyrone for most of the ride because he was trying to run to 
the front out of control so he got a good taste of Romeo's rear end.  He 
finally settled down and Debbie was extremely pleased with his first time 
out.  

Back to the story, no luck with any tracks and the fog was setting in.  Now 
for those of you that have ridden The Leatherwood Mountain Challenge you know 
that the terrain is very dangerous in the daylight and with no light it is 
suicide.  I bailed out at about 9PM and Abbie and Debbie stayed out until 
about 9:45.  The next morning I called Joan (former wife but we are still 
great friends) and also Mark Williams, our barn manager. They would meet us 
later that morning. It had poured all night but we woke up to a clear crisp 
day.  I was on my four wheeler at 6:30AM and along with Abbie, Debbie and the 
general manager of Leatherwood, we started looking.  We went down every trail 
we knew in Leatherwood and not a sign.  I mean not a sign of anything!!  The 
only tracks we saw were deer and turkey.  At about 10:30AM I was heading back 
for gas and met Mark coming down the trail on my horse, Romeo.  Mark probably 
knows the area where Tyrone disappeared better than anyone.  He and Joan 
condition in that area all the time.  He said he had an idea where the horse 
may head for but it was a 25 mile trip through rugged terrain.  It's why he 
picked Romeo because he was built for this type of riding.  Romeo is a Rocky 
Mountain Horse and very powerful in the rear end.   

After refueling I headed back out and went down and found trails that we did 
not know existed in Leatherwood.  Still nothing.  At 7PM I had to go back and 
refuel and was heading back out and met my sister-in-law and another friend 
that lives at Leatherwood and Mark.  He and Romeo looked like they had been 
ridden hard and put up wet.  My sister-in-law and our friend had picked up 
Mark's and Romeo's trail and thought they were tracking Tyrone.  Still 
nothing.  We stayed out until dark and called more people to look the next 
day, Tuesday.  By this time Debbie is a basket case and she called me at 7:15 
Tuesday morning. She had just gotten off the phone with a physic and was told 
that Tyrone was fine but very lost and about 15 miles from where he bolted.  
She described where Tyrone was and Debbie was very excited.  She then called 
Mark and he told her of a place that sounded like what the physic had 
described.  It was just past where Mark had taken Romeo on Monday.  That 
morning, Tuesday, we had about 20 people out looking and again nothing.  Of 
course by now most people were on horse back and there were tracks 
everywhere.  Debbie had gone to the place where Mark had told her about and 
said she could pick Tyrone's tracks out and said she thought she had found 
some but still no luck.  Again we were out all day and most of the night.  On 
Wednesday Debbie brought in a professional tracker but the dogs could not get 
a scent.  Mark had gone to the area where Deb said she saw the tracks and did 
find a set of tracks other than Romeo's.  By now everyone was exhausted and 
starting to think that Tyrone was hung up in a thicket.  He was fully tacked 
with biothane gear, saddle, a running martingale, waterbottles, heart 
monitor, and a 12ft lead rope attached because he had ran away the week 
earlier at another ride area and was gone for two hours before they found 
him. 

Thursday we went into the thickets on foot and up and down cliffs (now 
remember this is 5,000 plus acres).  Nothing, nothing ,nothing!!!!   Friday, 
after 2 more physics, another tracker, fliers to every radio station in the 
area, newspapers, post offices, all law enforcement offices, Debbie was at 
rock bottom.  I have to say I have never seen someone put so much energy and 
emotion into something as she did this. The weekend at Leatherwood was fully 
booked for Memorial Day Weekend and there were about 60 riders that would be 
out on the trails.  All were given information about this situation.  On 
Sunday our worst fears were starting to become a reality. Joan and Mark were 
riding the area where Tyrone had disappeared and saw the buzzards circling.  
They rode to the area but could not find anything.  The brush was extremely 
dense with deep drop offs.  Monday, Memorial Day, we found nothing again.

Debbie called Monday night and said she had a helicopter on standby for 
Tuesday morning and asked my opinion of this.  I told her the foliage was 
just to thick and she would be better off putting the money in a reward and 
more fliers and start a door to door search beginning today, Tuesday.  She 
said other friends had told her the same thing.  I mean 9 days and nothing.  
In this heat and humidity and with some of the worst storms we've had in 5 
years.  I said Deb, it's time to start thinking about the worst.  She was 
crying and it about broke my heart.  

Well, guess what!!!  This morning at about 9:30AM this damn horse popped out 
of the woods at a dead gallop with two of our neighbors dogs chasing him!!  
Mark had just left our barn because he had forgotten his daily medicine and 
had just pulled out of our barn driveway and here comes this horse flying 
down the road.  Mark's first thought was that someone else had been dumped 
and lost their horse.  He said he could not believe his eyes and in fact 
rubbed them twice to focus on this horse.  He stopped the car and stepped out 
and yes, Tyrone stopped about fifty yards from him and started toward him 
very cautiously.  Now Mark is one of the best horse people I have ever seen 
and is considered one of the best horse "connectors" (he hates the term 
horsewhisper) in the area.  As the horse approached him he said he turned 
toward our barn and started walking away from Tyrone.  Tyrone fell right in 
stride with Mark and after about a hundred yards and time given for the horse 
to regain his wits after being chased by dogs, Mark reached out and took the 
lead line and walked him right into our barn.  In fact Mark said the horse 
was leading him to our barn.  With the exception of one saddle sore (about 
the size of a silver dollar) and 125 to 150lbs lighter, this horse did not 
have a scratch on him and was bright eyed.  He was fully tacked just as he 
was when he took off and yes Roger, the heart monitor was still in place and 
working.  The saddle was moldy from all the rain but everything else was 
fine!!  Of course the reunion between Tyrone and Debbie was a tear jerker.  I 
had to walk out of the barn.  

NOW, the question is where has this horse been for 9 days?  We do have one 
theory and it's only a theory.  Remember me telling about blocking Tyrone 
with Romeo three weeks earlier.  Is it possible for this horse to have been 
lost in the woods for a couple of days and then found Mark and Romeo's trail 
and tracked it all the way out to where Debbie thought she recognized his 
tracks and then took five days to travel the 20 miles back to our barn?  And 
by the way, where Debbie saw his tracks is within a mile of the place the 
first physic had described where Tyrone was. 

All I can say is that a lot of prayers were answered and this is one tough 
little horse!!
Hope I didn't bore you with this story and I'm not a writer like Angie and 
other writers on ridecamp but I had to tell it to people who know and love 
horses like we all do.
BTW, guess who is sleeping on a cot outside of horse stall tonight!!!

Phil Rash 
Spirit of the Mountain Farms