Search-and-rescue saves the day

Everyone loves a happy ending, which is often dependent on people who volunteer their time, skills and strength to rescue someone from misfortune.

I carefully planned my horse ride on April 19, picking a trail that was safe. I had a new puppy and horses without shoes. The Windigo Trail north of USFS Road 1514 was just right, a favorite trail that I've been riding for over 30 years.

The horses and I skirted a muddy section of the trail, a normal routine in the spring, until suddenly we were thrashing, as if an explosion had gone off under us. On the second lunge, realizing what happened, I thought my mare was going to bury me under mud when she came down the next time. Instead, her leg was twisted by the mud, she landed sideways and I was able to bail off.

The mud was deep. Neither horse could rise. I tried to get them out for a while, then let them rest while I perused options for getting out of the bog. It extended 20 yards in any direction. There was nowhere to go. I was still determined to gradually move my horses, lunge by impossible lunge, to higher ground.

My 29-year old Arabian was smaller, so I concentrated on him. He and I were able to move uphill until he was sucked down, spun and landed over a downed log with a root ball at his belly and a small fir tree at his back. This was going to take a chainsaw. I needed help.

There was no cell-phone coverage, so I was obliged to leave my horses to drive to Sisters, nine miles away. At Sisters Fire, Jay Crawford came out of the building, listening to my 911 call. A deputy drove up shortly after, and the three of us headed back up the hill.

Over the next three to four hours, five Deschutes County Search and Rescue volunteers, three deputies, the USFS law-enforcement officer, another horse-rider and Dr. Findley, DVM, dug at mud, wrapped webbing around the horses and tried to extract them by gently pulling with extreme caution to avoid breaking the horses' legs.

They were efficient and unwilling to quit. My duty was to keep my Arab down as they concentrated on the mare, who was in much worse circumstances. I was the only one there who believed the situation was hopeless, which is not like me. I did not see any hope that my horses would come out alive.

Yet, this perfect storm of crisis-management people tossed ideas back and forth, disregarded those that were unworkable and kept thinking creatively while they continued to dig, clear brush and small timber, and slog through the muck on the surface or sink deep in the bog.

After 5-1/2 hours in cold water and mud, each horse was sledded out on plywood to an old road because of the team's cooperative ingenuity. The exhausted mare was unable to stand for a long time, restrained to avoid more injury. After a long, very slow walk out, two SAR volunteers followed my horse trailer home.

Deschutes County Search and Rescue is noted for their life-saving efforts, but they do not get nearly the credit they deserve from the public. They don't think as individuals. They think as a team. Their funding is limited, but their passion for rescuing people and animals from hazardous situations is tremendously rich. They don't ask for praise, but, instead, 125 volunteers and a sheriff's office coordinator attempt positive results in an average of 100 disasters a year.

The day after their heroism with my horses, the mountain rescue unit and horse team of DCSAR were back in a training seminar. That was their weekend.

My hope is that those who are looking for a worthy cause will remember our story (or so many others, in which these volunteers have made the difference in how the tale ends) and help with their funding. Rescue equipment is costly.

Donations to Deschutes County Search and Rescue can be mailed to P.O. Box 5722, Bend, OR, 97708 or at www.dcsarinc.org.