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[RC] Two Lost Horses Found (a short story) - Nat & RichardThis story is a testimonial to horse folk who ride to the rescue, even when they have plenty else that needs doing. My wife Natalie and I were returning to CA from a riding vacation in AZ on Thursday, May 8th, and stopped for the night at the Blue Tree camp in Lee Canyon just north of Las Vegas. We'd been driving all day and were frazzled by the time we led our two geldings out of the trailer. Giving them a chance to move around and roll inside a hotwire seemed like a good thing for them. The camp is at 5000' and the air was cold. The wind was whipping through the pinon pines. We fed and watered the boys and went inside the trailer apartment to fix dinner. Just as dinner was coming off the stove, I looked out and saw both horses running out of camp. (Instant recognition, here, that using the hotwire was a very bad idea.) We being the only horse campers for miles around, the two had no other horses to hang around for. They'd already gone through the hay, grain and water we'd given them. They were gassed up and ready to have a good time without us. Using the last hour or so of daylight left to us, we ran ourselves ragged with tracking, chasing and *almost* catching them. By the time we lost sight of them for the last time they had vanished down a narrow wash about five miles downhill from our camp. Not being dressed for the cold and having no flashlight, we gave up the chase and headed back to the trailer. After a sleepless night, we looked out to see there was ice on the buckets and a dusting of snow. We resumed tracking but could not tell for sure where they had headed. Nat continued to search, and I went to notify the local forest rangers, sheriff, etc., of the situation. As the day wore on, nearly everyone we spoke with mentioned the herds of wild horses in the area and the fact that the nearest water would be miles away, across several ridge lines to the northwest, near Cold Creek. Yes, the feds hold a roundup every year to cull the wild herds. Our two boys would be easy to spot (the ones with the halters on.) Last year they found a mare that had been missing for three years. Oh, great. We spent another night with water and hay set out in hopes that they would wander back in. It was now Saturday, the 10th. We had heard that there was going to be a ride in the area the following weekend, but for the moment the place was filling up with Boy Scouts. The chances of our horses coming back to camp seemed to fall somewhere between slim and none. We now hoped that they in fact had hooked up with one of the herds, if only to find water. (We wondered: Just how long *can* a horse go without water?) So far we'd received a lot of sympathy from contacts we'd made, but had no sense that there was anyone who was really going to mount up and go looking. Feeling somewhat defeated by the situation, we headed home to Colfax, 500 miles away, with an empty trailer. At home, it was hard convincing our one remaining horse that he was now an orphan. It didn't seem real to us either. But then on Sunday a breakthrough: Nat leafed back through her notes from when she had run the "Barn & Breakfast" and found the name and number of a Mt. Charleston area rider, Susy Madsen. She remembered talking to Susy back in 1998, no less. (Mind like a steel trap!) A couple of calls later we had Susy on the line. Her advice: "You need to call Claire Toomey." Claire, it turns out manages the ride we'd heard was to take place the next weekend at Lee Canyon and is the resident expert on the whole Mt. Charleston area. Susy gave us the number to call and added, "...but she may not be easy to reach." It was now 8AM on Monday morning. Claire answered, mercifully, on the first ring. Ironically, Claire had been out marking trail the afternoon our boys went AWOL, but had left shortly before because the wind was so bad. We told her that I intended to trailer back down the next day to resume the search (Nat would stay to be by the phone), but that I would need a horse to search with. Claire offered one of hers, along with maps of the trails and the best places to search. We headed off to the store to restock the trailer for the trip. When we got back at 11AM, there were several messages on our voicemail box. The first was the one that floored us: It was from Paul Callister, who Claire knew was going riding that morning with his son, Jared. Claire had asked him to check the Blue Tree camp, and he was calling from there on his cell phone. The connection was patchy, but the words "I've got them in my trailer" came through loud and clear. Paul hadn't really expected to find them so easily, much less right there at the camp. He called the rangers and asked them to bring over some water. They came with about 8 gallons and it was gone in nothing flat. Claire trailered up there and brought another 10 gallons, which also vanished at once. When she got them into her corral they continued to drink and drink. Fair to say, they had not found water on their own and had gone thirsty for nearly four days. Nat and I arrived at Claire and Fred Toomey's ranch in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. Our horses were in excellent shape, only a couple of shoes missing, and seemed thoroughly unimpressed that we had finally shown up. We are greatful to the several good people, fellow riders, who helped us so readily. Susy, Paul, Jared and especially Claire, who was in the middle of putting on a ride and could have done without an added distraction. And our special thanks to Ray Johnson and the rest of the staff of the Forest Service's Kyle Station for their help. We feel, for a couple of unlucky people, we sure are lucky. We have our horses safely home and we made some new friends as well. Natalie & Richard -- http://natbarn.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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