CHARLIE BROWN 2006 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| An outfitter dragged Charlie Brown into Big Prairie at the beginning of July. The man never told us what was wrong with the horse, but it didn't take much to know that it was hurt pretty bad. The poor critter could barely walk. When Charlie Brown first got to Big Prairie, he laid down immediately. The crews came back from hitch and saw this wounded horse that couldn't get up. It gave us all little hope of trying to rescue him. Thanks to Jess, we learned that horses have a habit of getting up on one side and one side only. Well it turns out Charlie was laying on his wrong side. So we all grabbed a leg and rolled him over. He stood right up! He still couldn't really walk though. His shoulders and hips both looked like they were injured. The horse was very dehydrated and very hungry. So, our station guard, Cindy, took it upon herself to care for the poor guy. Charlie spent most of his time laying down and grazing in one spot across the airstrip. Dan and I would venture over to him to make sure he was still alive. Time went on, and we waited for the outfitter to return for his horse. Well he returned a few weeks later with a veterinarian. And the vet pretty much said, "Yup, its hurt." So the outfitter left again, trying to decide what do with Charlie. Charlie looked like he was starting to improve a tiny bit, but the last week proved to be disastrous for him. He made his way back over to the corral. He was loosing weight fast and he would very rarely stand. He would graze all the grass around him as he laid there. Charlie became severely dehydrated, and took on the image of skin and bones. He was starving because he could not stand to graze. HIs bed sores finally caught up with him and he could not stand. |
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| What to do with Charlie Brown? |
Cindy and Charlie |
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| Finally with some negotiation, we gained permission from the outfitter to put Charlie down. We waited for our packer, Bill, to come back from a blasting job down on Limestone creek. When he arrived we cleared all the horses away from the corral and put down the wounded horse. After dragging the body over the bank by the barn, we prepared it for disposal. Since the we had to put down the horse close to the station, the safest way to get rid of the body without attracting tons of animals was to blow it up. We strapped on the rest of the explosives that were left over from Limestone Creek and took our trail-guard positions. The blast went off and Charlie was dispersed among the meadows. |
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| Pulling shoes |
This looks like a good enough spot. |
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| Loading charlie with four sticks of dynamite, five 2lb cones, and one other exlposive. |
Ready to go. By the book. |
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| And of course, we have video of it. HIGH - LOW Video is by my accomplice in weed killing, Dan Pickar |
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| "I must say it was pretty odd to see a living breathing horse one minute (although he was struggling for conciousness), then within an hour or two he is a thousand tiny pieces and a few big ones scattered all over the prairie. It's amazing what man will do for a horse, yet he lets his own suffer and die." ~Bob Journals 2006 |
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| Home > Bob Marshall > Charlie Brown |
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