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Copyright 2008 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
Check back for this story's updates!
September 2008 Issue Print this article
A middle-aged bay gelding, along with three other horses, were
used by two Georgia men, Curtis Heyden, 37, and his father, Craig Heyden,
71, to ride and pack in the Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness, on the
Montana–Idaho border, for two months during the summer of 2008.
Obviously deprived of proper food and water and even shoes, the
emaciated horses were forced to carry the men and their equipment while
having large, open saddle sores that went bone-deep. Their story is
heart-wrenching, in part because the owners have admitted no wrong.
The horses’ story came to light in August 2008 when “Q”
DeHart, of Victor, Montana, and friend Dawn Merrill, of Missoula,
Montana, went trail riding up Big Creek Trail on the west side of the
Bitterroot Valley on August 1. A few miles in, they came upon Curtis
Heyden who was riding out, who asked them in a very friendly manner how
far they were going to go up the trail.
According to DeHart, when they told Heyden they were going to
continue for a few hours, he admitted to them that his pack horse had
refused to continue walking “for no apparent reason” and was up the
trail. He called the gelding “she,” swore about it, and said “she
was lazy.” He said he planned to return for “her” the next day
after first picking up his truck and trailer, driving over
Heyden had large bags slung over his saddle, front and back, and
was anxious to get down to the trailhead.
Disturbed by Heyden’s manner, DeHart and Merrill continued on
until they came upon the emaciated horse lying flat in the hot sun. They
were both shocked at the sight and thought he was dead, until he
nickered. He was still saddled, terribly thin, and had oozing sores
covered by meat-eating bees and biting flies. The sores were open all
the way to cartilage and bone on his withers, and his shoeless feet were
too worn and painful to stand on.
He had been tied to a log, and was down after collapsing. The
women tried in vain to get the horse to stand, even attempting to aid
him with a rope and one of their own horses.
The creek was about a hundred yards away through heavy brush, but
DeHart managed to bring five bottles of water to the horse, who sucked
them all down. The women were reluctant to leave the horse on the trail,
fully expecting him to die that night. They untied him, covered him with
his saddle blanket wet down with more water, and tearfully left to find
help.
As they neared the trailhead, they were able to get cell phone
service again, and called the Ravalli County Sheriff and the Forest
Service.
Loaded up and ready to leave at the trailhead, the women
encountered Curtis Heyden again, arriving with a truck and trailer. He
said he was coming back for his saddle horse that he had tied to a tree.
He hemmed and hawed a bit before asking if they had found his pack
horse.
DeHart and Merrill said they were reluctant at this point to
confront Heyden and cautiously admitted that they had given the horse
water. Heyden again disparaged the horse, saying that “he was going to
go back for it the next day, with ‘her’ favorite things, carrots and
sugar cubes.”
Merrill and DeHart took note of Heyden’s large SUV and trailer
license plates, which they gave to the sheriff’s department.
DeHart and Merrill had carpooled to the trailhead that day, and
drove back to the supermarket parking lot in Stevensville to pick up
DeHart’s truck and trailer. They were startled to see Heyden pull in
on the other side of the lot at the same time that a Sheriff’s deputy
found them. They pointed out Heyden to the deputy, who followed him
across the road to a mini-storage facility.
Later, the three other sadly mistreated and emaciated horses were
found in a makeshift pen between mini-storage units, and confiscated.
The sheriff’s department asked the Bitter Root Humane Association to
pick up and care for the animals.
DeHart and Merrill decided not to wait for the authorities and
made plans to get the bay horse out. In a first attempt to rescue the
horse, DeHart’s husband, Jay, walked six miles up the trail the night
of August 1, in the dark, but was unable to find the horse.
The next day Merrill and her friend Mike Svaboda found the bay
standing by the creek, whinnying a welcome. Merrill said that there was
absolutely no grass in the area for the horse to eat. They had brought His rescuers quickly nicknamed the horse
“Able,” in honor of his willingness. After about two miles, he would
go no further. Merrill removed the clamp-on, cushioned boots from her
own horse’s feet and put them on Able. Able reluctantly tested them,
but then found his feet were eased enough to continue the rest of the
way out, and for the trailer ride to the vet’s.
Stevensville District Ranger Bill Goslin recognized the name of
the horse’s owner as soon as he was contacted as the District Ranger.
He had met Curtis and his father at least three times previously.
Goslin says, “Curtis and Craig arrived in the valley with four
horses in early June and were taken aback at the amount of snow still in
the mountains. I met them first when they camped with the horses at Big
Creek trailhead, and then had to move camp due to the horses eating all
the available food.”
The men told Goslin that Curtis’ wife had recently died of
cancer and the father and son had decided to make a wilderness “living
off the land” trip together. Goslin warned the pair that grazing was
limited in the Wilderness Area, and that they should not depend upon
finding enough food for the animals. He also tried to help them with
their packing system, which was wood bars secured to riding saddles and
long bags hung from the bars to just a foot and a half off the ground.
He showed them how to tie up the bags with a rope basket hitch onto the
top and sides of the saddles, and to balance the load so that it would
be easier on the horses.
Goslin next found the duo camped at
“They were always very polite,” Goslin explains, “and when
I went back in on July 19, they were gone and the camp site was
immaculate.”
The next time Goslin made contact with Curtis Heyden was after he
rode out of Big Creek Trail on August 1. Heyden told Goslin he had
“trotted down the trail until the horse couldn’t go any more.”
Goslin estimated that the horses had traveled with Heyden about
seventeen miles barefoot that day over rocky ground, before the pack
horse gave out.
After being contacted by Merrill and told that the horse had been
brought out, Goslin called Curtis Heyden and explained that the horse
had been rescued and was at Blue Mountain Veterinary Clinic in The Heydens did not contact the veterinary
clinic or the animal shelter to find out how the horses were faring.
The Heydens were arraigned in Ravalli County Court before Judge
James Bailey on August 13, 2008, where they posted a $10,000 bond each,
and pled not guilty to four counts each of animal cruelty (a misdemeanor
charge in
A pre-trial, omnibus hearing has been set for October 9. A judge,
prosecutor, possibly the Heydens, and their lawyer will be present. The
main purpose of the hearing will be to introduce evidence and testimony,
present a plea agreement or set a trial date.
On August 14, Vicki Dawson, Bitter Root Humane Association
Shelter Manager, said the horses were doing better, but their joints
were still swollen, their feet still very tender, and the ulcerated eyes
from biting flies were beginning to improve. The deep wounds from
ill-fitting saddles and unevenly packed goods would be the last to heal,
if ever. Jay DeHart, a natural barefoot horseshoer, had trimmed the
horse’s hooves and donated padded boots to help them recover more
comfortably. “Our shelter may be the only one in
The fate of the Heyden horses is still up in
the air. Both Merrill and DeHart say that their main concern is that the
horses are never given back to the Heydens. Merrill said that she
visited Able on August 14 and he was still in an extremely painful
condition. His internal organs were not yet able to process food and
water properly. She wondered if she had done the right thing in rescuing
him. DeHart says that they had to try. She believes that they did do the
right thing, and would do it again. It is not certain where the horses came from,
but it has been reported that the Heydens did not bring them all the way
from Georgia. A Google map search showed that Craig Heyden lives in a large home in
an upscale subdivision on one to two-acre lots with no horses, and is
listed as a real estate appraiser. The men were driving a large
Suburban-type vehicle pulling a Circle J 4-horse slant-load trailer. The
shelter does not have any travel papers indicating the horse’s
origins. The Heydens may have gotten them along the way to Montana.
Read next month’s RMR when we will give readers an update on
the status of this case, as well as the condition of Able and the other
horses. What You Can Do To Help 1)
To
help the horses with money for veterinary bills or food, or to donate
hay, contact the Bitter
Root Humane Association
at 406-363-5311,
262 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton, MT
59840.
The county does not give any funding for animals in abuse cases such as
this one and the shelter relies upon donations for help. Visit their website to see adoptable animals, including
the two other horses they have had in their care, at www.bitterroothumane.org. 2)
To put pressure on authorities to prosecute the Heydens
to the fullest extent, write to prosecutor John
Bell,
Check back for this story's updates! Copyright 2008 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
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