April 6, 1961 — A horse lost 16 years ago turned up last week in the Shenandoah National Park. Rangers said it was dangerous although weather-beaten and weak from exposure. The capture was made near Front Royal and rangers said it was a wild western bronc mare.
George Wallihan and Brooks Mims, owners of the Front Royal Livestock Market, immediately identified and claimed the mare as one of their horses lost 16 years ago.
Park Ranger Pete Nichols spotted the animal grazing new tender grass along the Skyline Drive roadway near Dickie Ridge south of Front Royal. Thinking the horse may have strayed from a local farm, the ranger stopped and soon noted the animal was wild, and a hazard to tourist traffic on the Drive.
The next day Ranger Nichols and a party of rangers herded the wild mare into a rock canyon south of Dickie Ridge. Ranger Nichols, a member of the Circle Seven Rodeo, and a good hand with a lariat, soon had the animal corralled.
~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier
Be the first to comment