Veedawoo

Well it was late June and the girls were off on our annual trip to Veedawoo with the horses. Mary and I left Thursday to try and get a couple of backcountry pens but when we arrived they were already full. We decided to camp just South of the spring and set up camp. Mary had one of those portable electric fence contraptions (don't waste your money on one of these) so we set it up but could not get the electric to work. We put Nico and Spear in the corral all day and kept an eye on them to see how they would do. They seemed just fine and content.

We went for a nice ride in the afternoon exploring the rolling meadows filled with Indian Paint Brush and baby antelope. Late that afternoon while we were in the trailer, one of our camping neighbors spotted the Bull moose, his route was just to the South of camp. We missed him but heard he was magnificent. As Mary and I were getting ready to hunker down for the evening we discussed whether we should tie the horse to the trailer overnight or leave them in the temporary corral. We opted for the corral since they seemed to be respecting the boundary lines.

My exhausted Abanico!

Early in the evening, before dusk, one of those wild Wyoming storms arrived with wind, electric and hail. We put the horses in the trailer and rode that one out. After the storm passed the wind continued but we put the horses back on the pen and checked them throughout the night. I think my last check was about 3:30 am and about 5:30 am I got up to take care of business and peeked out to a trampled corral and no horses, something must have spooked them, we guessed "Bullwinkle".

Those naughty boys escaped and were no where in site. I woke Mary, who at first thought I was joking, and we began to track the horses by foot. We realized that we needed a plan so we went back to camp, grabbed water, snacks and unhitched the truck. We reported the lost animals to the area Forest Service and proceeded to search and wait for other campers in the area to wake so we could leave our phone number and contact information in case someone sited them.

Mary found some tracks so we began driving the two tracks and climbing hills to get a better view with our binoculars. We discussed heading into Laramie to fill the tank with gas and decided to search a few more minutes than head out. On the way we saw one more camp and stopped to leave numbers with them. They hadn't seen the horses but were going to ride around in their truck later and said they would keep an eye out. We asked them where the road went where they were camped and they replied, "out to Happy Jack", so we decided to take it. It was a gorgeous two track which followed a creek and low gully, we spotted two set of hoof prints. I asked Mary to stop and I climbed up out of the gully. There he was, my beautiful, naughty grey gelding Abanico standing magnificently on the far ridge like a wild horse on the horizon. Spear was no where in sight. I whistled his call, his head turned and Spear ran up behind him. They were both safe, not a scratch, we breathed a deep sigh of relief. Three hours later and about four miles from camp they were found and we ponied them back to camp from the pickup.

The corral group saw us and come over to offer us one of the larger pens, they could double up. That was so generous and enabled us to get a good nights sleep the next night. The horses hung there heads, exhausted from their "all nighter", as we were from ours.

My suggestion: Don't waste your money on one of those portable pens. Get a Spring Tie and attach it to your trailer, it is more secure and the horse can move around even lay down. If you must have a pen get a sturdy metal portable one. Have binoculars, they were invaluable, don't panic have a plan of action and search methodically. Call in and report a description of the animals to the Forest Service in the area.