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[RC] Valley of the Sun Ride 1 - Part 2 - irmurphy

The first riders arrived at the finish in the 2 o’clock hour and we completed CRIs and best condition judging.  First place and best condition were awarded to Dayna Weary.  The primary sponsor for the ride was Renegade Hoof boots who had rewards for the top ten placings and best condition.  The Western Ranchman Feed Store provide completion awards for the remaining finishes.  Pictures were also provided for all riders.
The riders continued to complete throughout the afternoon and after dark with the last rider arriving around at 7:30 pm.  
Meanwhile, the search for Masquerade continued.  The volunteers continued to scour the desert for some sign of the missing horse.  While they were hiking, though, they noticed that the rider was not as well off as previously thought.  Calls were placed to 911 and paramedics sent to ba secamp to meet up with the volunteers vehicles.  Lucian was taken to the hospital and emergency surgery performed for severe internal injuries that he received during the fall. 
The search was called off at night unsuccessfully due to the darkness.  
Sunday morning the volunteers returned to basecamp with fresh horses and 4-wheelers to both continue the search and clean up the basecamp and trails.  It was disappointing to see the condition of basecamp after the riders had left.  Clean up took many people all day to haul manure, hay and in some cases shavings to the dumpster to avoid the fines imposed by the park.  Helicopters arrived and the search began again.  Riders went out in multiple directions and again searched the park.  Reporters arrived at the basecamp and began to put together a news report for the evening news.  The search continued unsuccessfully for the second day and was again called when darkness fell.  
Monday morning came after the reward announcement played on the Channel 5 news Sunday evening and additional people showed up, many of which were attracted by the reward offer.  We focused on those on horseback and I received calls constantly while we again rode out into the park.  We located several of the wild horses in the park as well as a chestnut foal that had been separated from its mother but reunited.  I was fortunate to be able to borrow a horse (Kahn) from Lancette Koerner to ride on Monday after my own mare (Passion) was injured on Sunday and unable to ride a second day.  The search continued through the day and we were joined by the MCSO search and rescue squad which added numerous pairs of eyes continuing to search the park.  
Just as we were heading back to the trail head we began to hear reports that they had found Masquerade.  A riders stallion began calling and Masquerade came out of hiding and approached their group.  He was led out of the park and trailered to be reunit ed with his owner.