Snipped and BBM- First, that bolded sentence contradicts itself and it bothers me. I'm probably reading into it too much, but I have some questions about this "call in" procedure.
-Was the solo person supposed to inform someone at the ranch before they left? Who were they to report to? Supervisor or just any employee? How official was this procedure? Does it apply to all employees on and off the clock? Or only to employees that are leaving directly from the ranch and/or traveling on the ranch? Is the procedure followed all the time? Did Ben have a history of going out alone or was this a first time thing? Would he have known about or remembered the procedure? How were employees to "call in" if there wasn't reception? Did I remember reading Ben wouldn't/didn't take his phone because there was no reception?
You are asking a lot of good questions.
BT does have a known history of being safety conscious. He also has a known history of riding out to look for strays on his days off.
You are remembering correctly that it has been stated repeatedly in MSM that he didn't take his phone with him, something I gather is often done in that area, due to poor or nonexistent signal availability.
I can give you a little insight into how the cowboys I've worked with have handled the scenarios you are mentioning.
Most farms, both large & small, always have a general rule that you should notify someone that you are heading out for a solo ride. "Notifying" could mean a call in to someone, but more realistically it would be notifying whoever you encounter in passing as you prepare to head out. When you ride as much as BT does, you inevitably end up riding alone sometimes, for a variety of reasons, so I would assume he has ridden by himself, many times. Most professional riders have.
Most cowboys, and specifically most managers, are very tied to the general care of livestock. That care takes place 7 days a week, so "days off" do not mean you literally have no work that needs to be tended to on the ranch; it may mean you have a more simplified list of chores to do, but most likely you will STILL be interacting with at least some of the animals that are in your care or that you care about. So I do find it curious that it has not been made known if anyone thought BT to be missing or absent prior to local ranchers returning his horse to NR & figuring out who the owner is.
I can see how nobody noticed his horse missing, because his horse most likely was kept in a herd & it was not noticed that he was missing until he returned. But on some level, I wonder about that too.
There is a constant level of danger, daily, working with livestock & horses. However, those of us who live on farms and do the daily work that takes place on farms really become familiar & very comfortable with that. Therefore, certain things/activities that to a weekend rider or non rider would seem dangerous, are part of a normal day for some of us.
For example, I literally just came in from an unexpected ride out to the woods behind a back field to find and pony in a horse who sustained an injury. Should I have notified someone I was riding out? Yes. Did I? No. I didn't want to wait for someone else to be available and didn't take the time to call because the weather was about to change & I wanted to get that horse in quickly & knew I could. Is that poor judgement, regarding my own safety? Probably, yes. But to those who ride daily, it really does become part of your normal daily routine and and doesn't stand strongly out as something "out of the ordinary". I will admit though, that BT crossed my mind as I headed out & I will be making a better effort to notify someone every time I head out.
In my opinion, there are many reasons why BT could have taken his horse out that day on his "day off". Many who know him figured he was out looking for strays, which he has been known to do on his days off. Some MSM reports have said he may have had a drone with him. Initial reports stated he would be dressed for the weather conditions, which gives the impression LE had an idea of what boots, gear, etc. he may have had on based on what he normally wore, as well as what was not at his place.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I hope & pray new information, leading to BT, comes to light very soon.
