Elk? Moose? No, It's a horse! South Entrance

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karenandbill
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:55 am

Elk? Moose? No, It's a horse! South Entrance

Post by karenandbill »

We went back east for a few weeks to visit family and escape the smoke. Wouldn't ya know it while we were gone, it turned cooler and the park got welcome rain. Oh well, thankful for the rain even though we weren't here to enjoy it.

Coming back home we drove through the parks as that is the shortest distance for us. It was dark as we drove through the abandoned South Entrance. Just after the gate the headlights caught something large standing in the road. Our initial thoughts were elk or moose but we quickly realized it was a horse, fully saddled with no rider. We pulled off and Karen, who is extremely gifted with handling horses, managed to get hold of it and lead it off the road.

So now what do we do? I tried calling 911 but no signal. A few vehicles came through and I flagged one of them to stop and asked if they had a different phone carrier that might get out. They tried but no signal either. We went to the ranger station there at the South Entrance and no one there and no emergency phone. The guys that stopped kindly offered to go back to Flagg Ranch and call Dispatch.

There were full saddle bags, a jacket, and the lead rope was tied to the saddle horn indicated the horse had not been tied and gotten away. Also, he was somewhat wet indicating he had been moving for a while. Karen was concerned that maybe a rider had gotten thrown. The only thing that gave any clue were 3 initials one one of the saddle bags. It took a while but finally a ranger from the Tetons showed up followed shortly by 2 from Grant Village. They believed the initials indicated an outfitter that they were aware of. They called but couldn't get much information other than to find a corral and the outfitter would deal with it in the morning. They thanked us but told us we could leave and they would handle it from there. So the ordeal took over 90 minutes and we left not knowing the outcome.

We asked the lead ranger to call us and let us know when they solved the mystery. She took Karen's number and indicated she would. Of course, we never heard from her so it's still a mystery as to why this horse was standing in the road at the South Entrance during the middle of the night.

--Bill



Dorothy
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: Elk? Moose? No, It's a horse! South Entrance

Post by Dorothy »

What a strange thing. Do hope that at some point you are told what happened. You certainly went above and beyond in trying to help. thanks!



Dorothy
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: Elk? Moose? No, It's a horse! South Entrance

Post by Dorothy »

Wondered if you ever heard anything about this horse? I'm still wondering what happened.



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