CANADA Canada - Ben Tyner, 32, cowboy, his horse returned w/o him, Merritt, British Columbia, 26 Jan 2019

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I spent all day every day with my horse as a kid, bathing her, brushing her, and trail riding her, sometimes multiple times per day, in groups or alone. One day, trail riding alone, someone had a dog off leash that came running at her through tall grass and terrified her. Whatever our bond may have been, she spooked, I came off, and she galloped directly back to the barn, even crossing a fairly busy street in the process*. Smart? Yes. Loyal? Depends strongly on the horse and how scared they are. They are prey animals and their flight response means getting as far away from danger as possible, with or without their human. Also, if the horse was particularly spooked at an area, I think s/he would avoid the area vs alerting to the fact that their person was laying there. The predator mind of a dog and prey mind of a horse are very different.

*I was completely unscathed and by the time the farm hands came racing to the trailhead at 100 miles an hour, I’d ridden most of the way back out double behind a kind stranger. My horse sure as heck didn’t come back for me though.
 
Horses can be loyal and protective, however it's not as likely as it is with a dog.

cybervampira said:
Catherine Urquhart on Twitter

Help find missing cowboy Ben Tyner. His riderless horse has been found near Merritt. Family says someone dropped off Ben and horse in hills. Who? Where? Please come forward @GlobalBC @KamloopsSAR @BCSARAssoc @CFJC_Today @ChilliwackSAR

View attachment 166601
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This is SO WEIRD. I don't know what to make of it.
 
I think I read loggers found the horse. So the horse might not have known how to get back to the ranch. Also his 3 month job tenure wasn't necessarily long enough to get to know back country. I'm hoping he dismounted for some reason, the horse took off, and he would hike out but is lost. Maybe there are places out there where someone could shelter?
 
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I am a rider, and have owned horses all my life. ANYTHING can happen when you are riding. Last spring, while galloping my very steady horse in a pasture, he tripped and I came off, breaking the rein of the bridle and causing me to have memory loss for hours. I managed to lead the horse back to the barn but remember none of it. I ride in a helmet which wasn't even scratched. My horse must have stayed with me. Just an example of what can and does happen when you are on a horse. He may have fallen and had a concussion and became disoriented.
 
He's certainly an experienced cowboy, has worked on ranches
all over US and Russia. Born in Fl. (in cowboy country near me)
and lived previously in Laramie, Wy.
I'm a lifelong horseperson and have been seriously injured (broken femur
and collarbone) by a freak accident of a horse trampling me: I can assure you if
he has broken bones or other serious injuries, he may not be
able to move very far. Don't know how cold it is at night in
Merritt, BC but I hope he's conscious and can help himself.

He's a tough young man, hope he's found soon.

‘We’re coming for you’: Search on for ‘true American cowboy’ missing in B.C. backcountry
 
Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful responses about horses and loyalty. I figured I'd ask, just in case there was a chance that the horse might be able to lead searchers close to the area of where his owner was last before whatever happened to cause the horse to get spooked. I wonder if the horse left any hoof tracks for them to try and follow. I am really worried about this guy.

Also, are there hunters out there? We have lots of farms with horses, and I know when hunting season goes on around here, folks don't ride them much, if at all, as the blast from a gun can spook them, even a mile or so away.

I watched a friend get thrown from a horse- never in my life have I ever been on the back of one after seeing her fly up in the air and then fall to the ground. She was so lucky to escape with a minor injury, she even hit her head on the ground. Scared me half to death, let's just say I respect horses- they are gorgeous animals, but you couldn't pay me enough to get on one, lol! They would sense my fear for sure.
 
The horse wouldn't be of much help in tracking back to where
they parted company. Sometimes horses will stop and stay
in place when a rider falls off, other times horse takes off
running thinking they'll get punished. Probably a new horse
to him since he was only on the job for a few months.
Articles say they're having a hard time tracking the horse's
hoofprints due to wild horses and other large game in area.

They have a lot of people out looking for him including 4 SAR
dogs, helicopters and riders on horseback.

Pretty chilly weather there- 24F today, 17F tonight. Survivable
if he's dressed for it and not badly injured.
 
Baciagalupo said:
That's too cold to survive even with the right clothes.
Hope he found shelter...
Click to expand...
Yeah that's about -0.399 F or zero degrees F. If injured and unable
to dig a burrow, he will have a tough time.
Tidbit OT- One of my horses digs a deep pit to sleep in on cold nights.
Must work to stay warm as I had another one years ago that knew
enough to do the same. Those are the smart ones, the dumb ones
just stand out in the cold with their butt to the wind.
 
enelram said:
Yeah that's about -0.399 F or zero degrees F. If injured and unable
to dig a burrow, he will have a tough time.
Tidbit OT- One of my horses digs a deep pit to sleep in on cold nights.
Must work to stay warm as I had another one years ago that knew
enough to do the same. Those are the smart ones, the dumb ones
just stand out in the cold with their butt to the wind.
Click to expand...

Why can’t they sleep inside? Or, do they dig deep pits inside to stay warmer than a barn provides (assuming barns are generally not heated & that they have dirt floors, although I don’t really know, as I’m a dog girl myself)?

This is such a perplexing story. It’s not like someone just gave a ride to a person, which is easy to do. They would’ve had to have hitched up a horse trailer, loaded his horse, then dropped them off somewhere. But, why? That’s a lot of work. Who is this person & why isn’t s/he contacting authorities?
 
LarkBunting said:
Why can’t they sleep inside? Or, do they dig deep pits inside to stay warmer than a barn provides (assuming barns are generally not heated & that they have dirt floors, although I don’t really know, as I’m a dog girl myself)?

This is such a perplexing story. It’s not like someone just gave a ride to a person, which is easy to do. They would’ve had to have hitched up a horse trailer, loaded his horse, then dropped them off somewhere. But, why? That’s a lot of work. Who is this person & why isn’t s/he contacting authorities?
Click to expand...
They can, if they wanted to but they prefer to be out 24/7 where
they can mosey around the pastures. I even built new large covered shelters to feed them in, nicely bedded, but they prefer
being out in the open. Plus I have 2 barns and over a dozen
nice stalls, but nooooo they wanna be out. We're in FL. so not
bitter cold like a lot of places.

Since they haven't found him, I think they're trying to look at
all possibilities. Maybe no one saw him leave. Now they're
saying they don't know if he left the ranch on Sat. or Sunday.
I'm hoping he got off his horse to go to bathroom and horse
took off- maybe horse was tied to a tree and that's how the rein got broken. If that's the case, he could be OK, just lost and
trying to make his way back to ranch. Hoping for good news.
 
Updated articles.

At this point, RCMP say they have determined Tyner would've likely left on Sunday, however it's still not known how he got into the backcountry.

"We know of his whereabouts on Saturday night, so that gives us an extra day," Dunsmore explains. "We are still looking at how he may have gone up here, because we're still thinking that maybe he was driven up. So we don't know who would have driven him up, or if there's anybody out there that maybe brought him up with a truck and trailer, and we're looking for that person if that did happen."

Searchers narrow time frame of Merritt cowboy's disappearance

Volunteers determined to keep searching for missing Merritt-area cowboy
 
Ben sounds like he's one heck of a man. From the articles posted, it looks as if there's a large, experienced bunch of people looking for him. I do wonder if he carried his cell phone on him, and lack of any info re: that is concerning, too. Prayers for Ben.
 
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