A Dubois guest ranch is denying wrongdoing in a lawsuit of an Irish woman who accuses its lead wrangler of wrongfully bear spraying her horse during a ride, causing her foot to be crushed.
Lorraine Learmont filed a lawsuit in March in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming against Triangle C Ranch.
Her claims stem from a July 16, 2024, guided horseback riding excursion near Dubois. The lead wrangler on that ride mistakenly grabbed her bear spray rather than her water bottle, and sprayed Learmont’s horse’s eyes, the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint says the horse then bucked wildly, shook its head and fell backward with Learmont still on it, crushing her foot and injuring her ankle.
Deny
Triangle C Ranch filed a Tuesday response to those claims, denying wrongdoing and noting that Learmont signed an acknowledgement of risk before the ride.
The answer also points to the Wyoming Recreational Safety Act, which says anyone who participates in a recreational opportunity in the state “assumes the inherent risks” whether they’re known or unknown and is legally responsible for any resulting damage to herself — up to the point of death.
There’s an exception to that act if the provider acted with negligence, which is what Learmont accuses Triangle C Ranch of doing.
The ranch’s answer also notes that Learmont presented herself as an experienced rider. It “denies that the bear spray was not carried in a pack,” or essentially asserts that the bear spray was in a pack of some kind. That pack was accessible, the complaint “admits.”
Learmont is not entitled to any monetary damages, the ranch claims in its answer.
Crowley Fleck PLLP attorneys Christopher C. Voigt and Matthew J. Gradecki filed the answer on the ranch’s behalf.
The Recovery
Learmont’s original complaint says that after the wreck, the lead wrangler approached Learmont, “tears streaming from her face” from the bear spray as Learmont lay on the ground.
The wranglers poured water into the lead wrangler’s eyes and the eyes of the horses, says the complaint.
Someone tied Learmont’s horse to the limb of a tree, but the horse was still agitated and bucked, hard, Learmont’s attorney Rachel Berkness wrote.
The complaint says the lead wrangler drove Learmont down the mountain and back to the ranch on an ATV.
Later at the hospital, wrote Berkness, Learmont learned her ankle was broken. She flew home to Ireland and visited another hospital.
But before she left, the Triangle C Ranch owner told her he’d never believed in bear spray prior and had now made a rule of not allowing it on the rides going forward, the woman’s lawsuit says.
At the Beaumont Hospital in Ireland, Learmont was admitted for surgery. Medical professionals found she’d sustained a blunt force crushing injury to her ankle that had destroyed her cartilage and rendered it “unrecoverable,” says the complaint.
She spent 28 days at a rehabilitation facility, the document says, adding that she still suffers from limited mobility and has suffered well over $75,000 in damages.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
