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

[SandyQLS]

How could someone local who drove him up there not be aware by now that he is missing and there is a search underway? Is this foul play?

In the weather conditions and as an experienced outdoorsman, he would know to have some minimum supplies on his person at all times - things like a knife and matches/lighter. No one has reported seeing smoke in the wilderness, and that is a bad sign that he has not attempted to light a fire.

 

[MsFacetious]

How far is it from the ranch to the back country? Is it a ride that could have feasibly been done on a horse? I can't imagine there are too many options for people who could have dropped him off. I really wish they had found him already... it's hard to hold onto any hope right now.

correction: Looks like the horse was one he brought with him from Wyoming, so his own horse, not the ranch's horse.
The horse was unscathed when found so not attacked by wild animal.
Horse belonging to missing Merritt cowboy arrived at ranch unscathed

The horse was not attacked, for sure. However, horses have survival instincts when it comes to wild animals. Fight or flight kicks in and they just don't stop. If the horse sensed danger and bolted when Ben wasn't prepared.... it could explain why the horse is unscathed.

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.

We have a 28 year old gelding that prefers to be out as well. We just put him out in the most sheltered area we could, which has a turn out with a stall. He didn't have enough weight on him when winter started so he had a great blanket too. He likes standing in the snow. He's weird! However, he's also gained several hundred pounds and thinks he's a yearling again, so we aren't quite as concerned about him now.

 

[enelram]

and the search continues-
Mystery of missing Merritt cowboy deepens as search continues amid plunging temperatures

 

[Hoosier952]

Nicola Ranch where he works is just outside the search area in the area between Highway 97C and the Coquihalla. Maybe 2 miles to the Coquihalla. For some reason I was thinking he was many miles from the ranch. I don't know why they seem to think he would need to haul a horse via trailer to get to the search area when it looks like by the time you loaded the horse and tack up and drove, he could have been to the edge of the search area and beyond.

He did keep his horse at the ranch right? I'm just assuming this based on the comment from someone at the ranch about how it was unlike him to not tell someone he was leaving. I wonder how many employees worked at the ranch? How do folks up there feel about out of towners, especially someone new to town taking over a pretty important job?

 

[enelram]

Here's a link showing the terrain of Swakum Ridge the area they
are honing in on for the SAR teams. Use google earth link in
article to see how rough and wooded the area is. I wonder if he was following one of the bike trails or riding off the beaten path.

Swakum Ridge near Merritt, BC - a mountain biking trail

 

[zecats]

Here's a link showing the terrain of Swakum Ridge the area they
are honing in on for the SAR teams. Use google earth link in
article to see how rough and wooded the area is. I wonder if he was following one of the bike trails or riding off the beaten path.

Swakum Ridge near Merritt, BC - a mountain biking trail

And I also wonder if he had ridden there before. Coming from Wyoming, he and his horse would have been situated to cold and rough riding conditions, I assume. But I do wonder if this was a new trail area for him (and the horse) and if he became lost, he was not familiar enough to get back. All JMO

 

[enelram]

In my area trail riders carry garmin devices (gps) to allow others
to track their routes in the woods.
I'm starting to wonder about foul play.
Did a couple bad boys take some pot shots at a lone cowboy out
riding on his horse?
There were a couple arrests Sunday night in Merritt where a
group in a motel flashed a gun at another. And the recent
church arson shows there's plenty of deviant guys in the small
town of Merritt. Alcohol and drugs can be a problem in remote areas.

 

[Hoosier952]

And I also wonder if he had ridden there before. Coming from Wyoming, he and his horse would have been situated to cold and rough riding conditions, I assume. But I do wonder if this was a new trail area for him (and the horse) and if he became lost, he was not familiar enough to get back. All JMO

I too felt like he'd be well prepared for this type of riding. I also think he'd be pretty decent at keeping his sense of direction and figuring how to get out. It looks like walking straight east or west would get you to a major roadway pretty quickly with the added chance of running into loggers along the way (not sure where or how many logging operations are around that area). The sun even if behind clouds should have been able to give him a pretty good idea of direction. I'm sure the rugged terrain would mean no easy direct route, but it looks like there are enough logging roads and trails scattered about that you wouldn't have to walk terribly far out of the way.

My thinking is that he got thrown and was injured enough to not be able to walk through that terrain or walk at all.

 

[watcher9]

Nicola Ranch where he works is just outside the search area in the area between Highway 97C and the Coquihalla. Maybe 2 miles to the Coquihalla. For some reason I was thinking he was many miles from the ranch. I don't know why they seem to think he would need to haul a horse via trailer to get to the search area when it looks like by the time you loaded the horse and tack up and drove, he could have been to the edge of the search area and beyond.

He did keep his horse at the ranch right? I'm just assuming this based on the comment from someone at the ranch about how it was unlike him to not tell someone he was leaving. I wonder how many employees worked at the ranch? How do folks up there feel about out of towners, especially someone new to town taking over a pretty important job?

In one of the links above, it was reported they knew where he was Saturday night. It would be helpful to have a general idea if that was important to give us an idea of what happened. Maybe it was only important to know that he left out a day later that they originally thought?

Did he come back to the ranch before heading out? Maybe he didn't leave from the ranch but from where ever he was that night?

Did he have his horse with him on Saturday night?
If he had his horse with him then, did he ride from the ranch to that unknown location? If it was far away, did he catch a ride with a trailer to get to that location?

Maybe they suspect that whoever drove him there must have carried him part of the way back so he could trail ride back to the ranch?

Maybe this unknown person was headed further out into the back country after dropping him off and doesn't even realize he is missing?

 

[Hoosier952]

In one of the links above, it was reported they knew where he was Saturday night. It would be helpful to have a general idea if that was important to give us an idea of what happened. Maybe it was only important to know that he left out a day later that they originally thought?

Did he come back to the ranch before heading out? Maybe he didn't leave from the ranch but from where ever he was that night?

Did he have his horse with him on Saturday night?
If he had his horse with him then, did he ride from the ranch to that unknown location? If it was far away, did he catch a ride with a trailer to get to that location?

Maybe they suspect that whoever drove him there must have carried him part of the way back so he could trail ride back to the ranch?

Maybe this unknown person was headed further out into the back country after dropping him off and doesn't even realize he is missing?

I'm thinking it was shared just because it meant he left later than Saturday afternoon and possibly later in the day Sunday depending on how late he was out Saturday night. But it could be relevant to him being missing.

No idea on where he left from. To my knowledge no one has ever said where he was living or where he kept his horse normally. I had just assumed he lived at the ranch or on land owned by the ranch and kept his horse there. I figured he used his horse for working livestock, so it would make the most sense to leave it there for whenever needed instead of needing to haul it from place to place. Many ranches and big farms have houses or rooms where employees can live here in the US, not sure about Canada. Basically, all of my ideas are based on giant assumptions and you know the saying...

If he kept the horse elsewhere, then I haven't the foggiest clue where he may have taken off from. I'd also love to know where the idea of him and horse being hauled somewhere came from.

 

[Elainera]

With all the unanswered questions I'm wondering how they even decided on a search area. Something must have pointed them to the area they have been searching so far. They must be having additional information or clues. I hope they find him today!

 

[enelram]

With all the unanswered questions I'm wondering how they even decided on a search area. Something must have pointed them to the area they have been searching so far. They must be having additional information or clues. I hope they find him today!

Good point about where they're looking. Nothing in any of the articles I've seen has explained why they're searching this particular area. And if no one saw him leave, and there's no tracks,
and he didn't tell anyone where he was going- Unless he was
previously talking to someone on the ranch about all the lost cattle
up in the hills. Maybe they're just speculating at this point.

 

[legalmomma]

Ok so this man has obviously had a life time of experience working on ranches.

That makes me more worried about him. He obviously knew horses and how to handle them and I doubt that he would have taken a skittish horse to an environment that might make the horse nervous or get spooked.

What the heck happened to this poor man. Do horse's have instincts or loyalty towards their owners? I wonder if letting the horse could lead the way to where it was last with Ben? I admit, I know absolutely nothing about horses, other than they are beautiful animals that you could not pay me enough to ride (saw a friend get thrown off of horse when I was young........), so I don't know if they get attached to their owners like some animals do.

Yes horses have loyalty. I rode hunter/jumpers for years. When/if I was dumped my horse would come back and stand by me and look like "are you ok?" But we were in a fenced in area. Not sure if he would be able to bring others back to me in a situation where I was hurt. But I did always say he was like a dog...affectionate and loving. I think if his horse was HIS horse the rescuers should try this.

 

[cybervampira]

Search for missing cowboy near Merritt to continue through weekend

Aiding the search Friday were rescue dogs, tracking teams, helicopters, UTVs and snowmobiles. The massive effort included teams from the Central Interior, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Members of the local First Nation’s bands, and the ranching community were also volunteering their time.

Const. Tracy Dunmore, a spokeswoman for the Merritt RCMP, said the weather was in their favour, and with so many volunteers the plan is to keep searching into the weekend and cover the terrain as much as possible.

She said Friday that no new evidence has been found.

 

[watcher9]

With all the unanswered questions I'm wondering how they even decided on a search area. Something must have pointed them to the area they have been searching so far. They must be having additional information or clues. I hope they find him today!

How close to the area being searched is to where the horse was found by the loggers? Would the sound of chainsaws startle a horse?

Mods, thanks for fixing his name in the thread title.

 

[Tbone144]

As a long time rider I’ve found personally the ones I’ve been at ease on thinking they won’t startle are the ones I end up on the ground. My Arab if 16 years was very laid back but a few deer jumped up and startled him and I was on the ground. On the more intense ones I’m mindful of what around me and stay alert and balanced and loose.
The broken rein leads me to believe he fell off and hung on to the split rein and the horse took off snapping the rein. Just because the horse shows no sign of injury doesn’t mean there wasn’t a predator or what the horse perceived as a predator. The horse being excited when caught leads me to a bolt scenario. Would be handy to know if it was lathered and breathing heavy or just freaked out from being alone.

Hopefully he was dress appropriately and had a flint on him if not a lighter. If there is deep snow it should have cushioned his fall a bit but an awkward fall can still be dangerous.

As a trail rider this is one of my fears, I try not to ride alone or if I do I let my husband know the exact path I will be taking and my estimated times. As a kid though I would disappear for hours at a time with no set point in mind.

 

[enelram]

I saw a pic of him and a horse near a trailer and he had the horse
rein (one) wrapped a couple times around the strut on the trailer,
so he was in the habit of tying his horse like this. And there was no
halter on although in other pics he uses a rope halter/tie line along
with his bridle.
I guess he didn't carry a cell phone. Maybe reception isn't good in that area. We know so little.

 

[zecats]

Yes horses have loyalty. I rode hunter/jumpers for years. When/if I was dumped my horse would come back and stand by me and look like "are you ok?" But we were in a fenced in area. Not sure if he would be able to bring others back to me in a situation where I was hurt. But I did always say he was like a dog...affectionate and loving. I think if his horse was HIS horse the rescuers should try this.

I believe you have a point. I fell off when riding in the fields, only because my Quarter Horse decided he wanted to turn left (maybe towards the barn) and I went straight. He did stop eventually, and wait for me to get back on him. Who knows why.

Another time, in a fenced-in ring, I was taking him over a few jumps. Suddenly he stopped short and refused to take one, and I flew over top of him and landed on my feet in front of him. He stopped and waited then, but I believe he was confused as to how I suddenly ended up in front of him.

So I don't really know how any given horse will react in any given moment. Depends on what spooked the horse, how close to home field you may be, and perhaps the disposition of the horse itself.

BT obviously either fell or was tossed...or dismounted somewhere and then the horse left him, for what ever reason. I'm sorry he hasn't been found.

OT My son, who was little at the time, was there when my horse refused the jump, and he though it was a trick I did on purpose. Still funny to me today.

 

[enelram]

some of the thick woods searchers are looking through for him-
there are 3 searchers in photo so you can see what a hard job this is.

<modsnip: no link; all images require links>

 

[Tbone144]

I saw a pic of him and a horse near a trailer and he had the horse
rein (one) wrapped a couple times around the strut on the trailer,
so he was in the habit of tying his horse like this. And there was no
halter on although in other pics he uses a rope halter/tie line along
with his bridle.
I guess he didn't carry a cell phone. Maybe reception isn't good in that area. We know so little.

I think general knowledge is you don’t tie a horse by its rein with a bit in its mouth. Maybe still done by old school cowboys but I cringe when I see it in movies. I’ll see if I can find the picture and how he had it tied.

ETA: found it. Even a loose wrap like that makes me cringe. I would never do it personally and I wouldn’t let anyone tie my horses that way. May be a personal preference and me being overly cautious. I see one tied to fence that way too. Also see a picture of him riding with a hackamore.