2 horses die on volunteer trip to clean hiking trails

The animals, spooked by bees, tumbled down a steep ravine.

Spirit and Mo were on a mission to help clean up hiking trails along rugged Snow Creek Canyon on the picturesque outskirts of Palm Springs.

But the volunteer journey turned perilous Saturday when the equipment-hauling horses became stuck on San Jacinto Mountain, necessitating a very different mission: a veterinary medical evacuation.

Mo, Spirit and a third horse were lugging equipment along the trail when they stumbled on a beehive, angering the insects, officials said.

When bees began to surround the animals, the horses became so spooked that they bolted off the trail and tumbled down a steep ravine, said Tyler Reynolds, a Riverside City Fire Department captain.

The third horse landed in an area where it could climb back onto the trail, but Spirit and Mo were not so lucky. They were injured and trapped in the ravine, Reynolds said.

A rescue call went out to save the animals, but the effort had to wait because of lack of daylight.

The Riverside Horse and Animal Rescue Team arrived Sunday and began looking for the horses.

The team has Riverside f irefighters, police officers, county animal control personnel and a veterinarian. They are specially trained in large- animal rescue via helicopter. The team has been in place nearly a year, Reynolds said.

When help reached Mo, some 20 hours after his fall, Reynolds said, he was in “very bad shape.” A veterinarian found that he was dehydrated, had a severe leg injury and appeared to have hip and head wounds as well.

“He was pretty too far off by the time we actually reached him,” said Reynolds, who is a member of the rescue unit.

Mo died before he could be airlifted off the mountain; the veterinarian euthanized him to ensure “he was 100% gone,” Reynolds said. Mo was left where he had fallen, and rescuers covered his body with brush. The veterinarian snipped off a piece of Mo’s mane and tail to give to his owner, which is a tradition when a horse dies, Reynolds said.

When rescuers reached Spirit, he had cuts on his legs and was covered in bees. Spirit was blindfolded, bound in a sling and airlifted out of the ravine.

Monday, authorities announced that Spirit did not survive.

“Spirit passed away at the animal hospital late last night due to kidney failure,” Reynolds said. “He hung on as long as he could, but we didn’t get to him soon enough.”