We’ve seen some incredible animal rescue missions at InspireMore. There was the moment that a snowboarder named Rafael saved a mare trapped in the high Andes Mountains. He led the mare, that’d been trapped for days, down from the peak and back to safer pastures. There are countless other harrowing moments that we’ve covered, but the one below will be hard to beat.
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Valentine, is a 6-year-old pack horse that helps hunters and woodsmen bring supplies, to and from, remote stretches of wilderness. The loyal steed was on the job 6 weeks ago when she suddenly became very ill. The hunters stayed with Valentine as long as they could, but based on her condition and the worsening conditions on the mountain, it became clear the horse would probably not survive.
When last they saw her, Valentine was lying on her side, breathing heavily and unable to move… so they made a difficult choice.
The hunters had no way to carry her back, and no gun, so they decided to leave Valentine on the trail with hopes that she would recover and return home.
“That would be normal horse behavior, to follow the trail back,”Maury Jones, a friend of the hunting outfitter said.
Jones continued, “the outfitter [BJ] and his staff checked the trailhead frequently and talked to people using that trail and no one had seen her. So BJ surmised she had died and been picked to the bones by coyotes, wolves, bears, eagles, and ravens. It wasn’t worth a 20-mile ride back up there to see a pile of bones.â€
But one day, six weeks later, a snowmobile trail groomer saw something moving in the woods. It was Valentine.
Somehow, the lone horse survived for 6 weeks with little food, ravenous wolves, and freezing temperatures. The determined mare just would not quit fighting for survival.
But the moment she saw the man on the snowmobile, Valentine made it clear she did not want to be left behind.
Her owner, an outfitter named BJ, caught wind of her survival. Then he, his son, and a park ranger drove to her location and worked for hours to pack down snow, so she could make it back onto the trail. 8 more inches of snow were dumped on them as they worked but they successfully made a path.
US Forest Service
Though weakened and frail, Valentine followed the snowmobile for 20 miles through 5 feet of snow.
At the end of the snowy trail, a trailer outfitted with all the hay a horse could desire sat waiting to take Valentine back home.
It was an amazing rescue for the sweet horse. No one could believe she had made it through! Thankfully Valentine is now healthy and relaxing in a pasture safe and sound.
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