76 May 17, 2012
Shows & Events
Four-day Orange County trail ride turns tragic along Horse Thief Trail
N
ORCO—An annual, four-day San Juan Capistrano-to-Norco trail ride in its 18th year turned tragic May
4 when a horse died after a 300-foot fall down a steep, remote hillside near Trabuco Canyon. Clay Southerland of Orange Park Acres
and his 4-year-old, Cash, were among 45 horse-and-rider teams taking part in the 62-mile trek by the Norco Outriders. On the morning of Day 2—the most tech- nically challenging of the four days—Southerland, 56, fell with his mount and two other horse-and-rider duos along a portion of unforgiving single- track trail. Southerland, who had fallen with his
Norco Outriders hit the trail
horse before he came off during the slide down into the ravine, caught up to Cash and reportedly found him lying on his side on a ledge with trouble breathing. “I tried to make him as comfortable as
possible,” Southerland said. “Within three minutes, he was gone.” T e ride, organized into four groups of 11
riders who departed at 15-minutes intervals, followed South Orange County’s picturesque trails through O’Neill Regional Park into Trabuco Canyon and then near Santiago Peak, eventually reaching Norco on Sunday. Southerland was in the second group when trouble struck about 9:30 Friday morning. T e group had left an airfi eld in Trabuco
Canyon at 7 a.m. About three miles into the ride near Holy Jim Canyon, the trail changed from a fi re road into a single track. When the the trail leader of the group
ahead of Southerland, Mike Williams, noticed one of his 11 riders was missing, Williams alerted the group behind him and asked if anyone had seen the missing man and his horse. Southerland soon thought he saw a fl ash of a light-colored cowboy hat to his left in
the ravine as he rode past. As he slowed Cash and moved to the high side of the trail—just a few feet from a sharp-turning switchback—Cash turned and face-to-face with the horse behind him and made an eva- sive move away. “My horse took an evasive action to get
away, attempting to climb up the slope,” said Southerland. “T e dirt gave way under his front legs and he slid back. He reared up and fell into the ravine with me on his back.” T e evasive maneuver caught up two other
riders and their horses, and all went down the slope of thick brush and cactus. Southerland said everything happened
quickly, but he remembered tumbling and Cash rolling over him. He knew Cash had fallen below him because he heard the snap- ping of tree branches. One of the other riders, J. T. Garoutte, 53,
from Norco, and his horse, Dave, reportedly were caught on a ledge in thick brush before being eventually rescued by Williams and another experienced rider who had cut a path to them. Southerland also climbed up to help Garoutte, and the two men and Dave eventually walked out from the ledge and back onto the trail. T e Norco Animal Rescue Team responded
to the emergency. Riders and their horses were later airlifted by a OCFA helicopter. Williams had hiked down into the ravine after he alerted rescue personnel to make sure those two men and their horses were all right. He stayed there until everyone was airlifted. Williams was the last to be pulled up by fi refi ghters. On Monday, Williams and fi ve other rid-
ers hiked four miles to the site of the acci- dent. T ey gathered up the saddles, tack and supplies. Forty of the initial 45 riders fi nished the
trail ride.
Hutchison, SIG Excel win their fi rst grand prix together
trainer won the $20,000 Equine Insurance Grand Prix at the fi ve-day Horse & Hound
S
ONOMA—Susie Hutchison debuted the mare SIG Excel in her fi rst grand prix May 12, and the Temecula-based
Spring Show. SIG Excel, pur-
chased from Alan Waldman by SIG International Hutchison last November, is an 8-year old Dutch mare who under Hutchison was circuit Champion in the Level 6 division at the 2012 HITS T ermal Desert Circuit. T ey moved up to the level 1.40 classes Blenheim EquiSports events in San Juan Capistrano. In her grand prix debut, SIG Excel out-
Susie Hutchison and SIG Excel
classed a four-horse jump-off against sea- soned horses, even though she was fi rst to go in the jump off . After showing again at Sonoma the follow-
ing weekend, Hutchison plans to show SIG Excel at the Blenheim June Jamboree in San Juan Capistrano.
“Both mares think they are really good. They have ‘attitude’.” —Susie Hutchison
Hutchison’s barn has two promising 8-
year-old mares now that belong to SIG—SIG Excel and SIG Zulieka. At Sonoma, Zuleika, shown by Hutchison since last October, had a very light rail down and fi nished sixth. “Both mares think they are really good,”
Hutchison said of the spirited pair. “T ey have ‘attitude’.” Hutchison will focus this year on prepar-
ing these two mares to start World cup Classes in 2013. She purchased SIG Excel and her latest addition—a new 7-year old that just arrived last week and won a pair of 7-8 year-old classes—from Waldman in Holland. “Alan is a longtime friend and a great
horseman who is familiar with the American way of riding and what is needed to be suc- cessful in the sport today,” she said. “T e horse ‘Big Star’ that Nick Skelton is showing came from Alan.”
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OC Register photo
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