Another horse has gone missing in Yellowstone National Park, and its owners desperately want it back.
Morgan D’Ambra is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who can find and return Sue, a 15-year-old palomino gelding that went missing during a packing trip in the remote region near the Bechler Ranger Station in Yellowstone’s southwest corner.
“He’s very gentle, loves people, and is fully packed,” D’Ambra told Cowboy State Daily. “Anyone who comes across him will be able to approach him very easily. We are heartbroken and worried sick.”
Slipped Off
D’Ambra and her family live in Idaho’s Teton Valley. She and her sisters were enjoying an outing near the Bechler River Soldier Station, the park’s most remote and least-traveled entrance, near the Idaho-Wyoming state line.
“It was around 6:30 p.m. Friday,” D’Ambra said. “My sisters got separated from us around Dunanda Falls when he slipped and fell, and my sister got stuck underneath him.”
D’Ambra’s sister was fine, but she lost her glasses. Disoriented, she couldn’t see Sue as the palomino got up and scampered into the wilderness.
The group spent an hour searching, but it quickly got too dark to make any meaningful progress.
“We rode back on Saturday, and my friends went out again yesterday. Nothing. I drove every service road out there, hit every hunting camp, flagged anybody I passed on the road down, but I haven’t heard anything,” D’Ambra said.
It’d be one thing if Sue was unadorned, but he ran off wearing his saddle, bridle, and lots of other equipment. Any of that gear could catch onto something, making it hard for him to find food, water, or protection.
D’Ambra has notified Yellowstone Dispatch. Last she heard, a group of rangers was heading into the Bechler area with a team of mules to see if they can retrieve Sue while informing everyone in the area about the missing horse.
“You have to check in before you even leave the parking lot to hike or ride out there, so they're letting everybody know that he’s out there and approachable," she said.
Won't Ping Phone
D’Ambra has a potential advantage that normally could locate the horse. But she doesn’t have the means of using it, and the company that does isn’t cooperating.
According to D’Ambra, Sue was, and presumably still is, carrying her sister’s iPhone. That could lead her, or anyone else, directly to the horse.
“We tried using Apple’s ‘Find My’ app, but her phone’s dead at this point,” she said. “We’ve tried everything we can at this point.”
D’Ambra reached out to Verizon to see if the company would share any location data from her sister’s phone.
“Verizon will not ping it,” she said. “They're standing their ground on that.”
The only viable option left is to coordinate another search effort, unless someone else in the Bechler region happens to find the horse.
“We were probably around eight miles from the Bechler Ranger Station,” D’Ambra said. “There’s a chance he’s going toward home in the Teton Valley. I hope he just wanders back into the ranger station because they have mules there.”
Another Stranded Horse
Sue isn’t the only horse stranded in Yellowstone right now.
Evie, a 6-year-old mustang, escaped from an electrified corral near Yellowstone’s northern boundary in July. She’s been hanging out with a herd of bison near Slough Creek since then.
Multiple attempts to recover Evie have failed. Her owner was working with Yellowstone officials to plan a coordinated effort, possibly with wranglers, to recover the horse before winter.
D’Ambra isn’t worried about her horse avoiding people or capture like Evie. Unlike the formerly wild mustang, Sue is a creature of comfort.
“He's very food motivated,” she said. “If anyone sees him, the best way to approach him is slowly and quietly. If he doesn’t have a rope or halter attached to his saddle, you could loop a belt or anything around his neck, and he’ll follow you.”
Outfitters have reached out to D’Ambra with encouragement. In their experience, horses like Sue always find their way back to people and civilization, even if it takes a few days.
D’Ambra is planning another multi-horse search effort on Saturday if Sue isn’t found by then. In the meantime, she hopes the $1,000 reward will encourage anyone exploring the Bechler region to locate and lead her horse out of Yellowstone.
“He’s been out there before, so I’m hoping that he's on a great grazing vacation, but he’s still out there,” she said. “We are really hoping for a good outcome.”
Anyone with information on Sue can reach D’Ambra at (208) 260-2564.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
