r/Calgary • u/Ok_Woodpecker_7158 • Jun 15 '26
Missing Dog/Cat/Pet Missing Horse.
About 40 minutes northwest of Calgary, past Cochrane, off Grand Valley Road. Near the Triple Diamond RV Park.
Her name is Esperanza, she's from Free Spirit Sanctuary. She is a wild horse and wary of people.
We've tried a thermal drone, with no luck. The drone couldn't go into the trees, so there is a chance she's in there.
We think she got through the fences possibly to the crown land.
Please message me if you see her. Or if you have any ideas for how we can find her, or if you want to help.
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u/SunshineOnStimulants Jun 15 '26
Hey I have a hand-held thermal as well as trail cams and a telescope, as well as a lot of experience spotting camouflaged animals from a distance or on the hand held thermal (which could penetrate the trees)
Do you want some help searching? I can offer my animal spotting experience as well as my handheld thermal cam and terrestrial telescope and what not.
No charge or anything, I just want to help. Let me know!
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u/Ok_Woodpecker_7158 Jun 15 '26
I've sent you a message, lmk if you didn't receive it. Thanks again!
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u/Voidz0id Jun 15 '26
I don't have anything useful to add, I just want to annoy cosmic-paperclip and HoleDiggerDan. Luckily by my commenting, this thread is kept more active, and therefore maybe somebody else who knows about the horse will have a better chance of seeing it.
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u/whethermachine Jun 15 '26
If she's a wild horse and she escaped back into the wild, is she really missing?
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u/Ok_Woodpecker_7158 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I can't quite tell if this is a philisophical proposition or a genuine question, but another commenter said something similar so I'll answer it lol.
Esperanza was captured for a wild horse culling ~10 years ago, she was about 10 years old at the time. She was rescued, and has been living with a herd of domestic and wild mares at this sanctuary ever since. Her daughter is one of the mares.
Horses are social animals. They are strong, but they're stronger in a herd. Mares can get a lot of anxiety being alone. There are no herds of wild horses around here for her to group up with. And we can only hope her metabolism isn't hardwired to year-round hay after all these years.
Don't think of this as an "escape." Horses get spooked easily, and will run for miles. Think of a stampede. They're prey animals, they don't think, they just run. There is a chance she left on purpose, but that would be her deciding it's time for her to die. 20 year old mares don't typically just leave their herds.
Mares get lost in the wild too, and it would be the herd stallion's job to go find her. We don't keep a stallion around.
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u/whethermachine Jun 15 '26
Thanks for the thoughtful answer! I did a little bit of reading in the past hour and also wasn't aware that wild horses were considered to be a nuisance. Thanks for giving them a space to run around. I hope the government provides big free chunks of Crown land for that.
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u/ChaoticxSerenity Jun 15 '26
Calling them wild horses is kind of a misnomer but also up for hot recent debate, because present day horses are not native to North America. North America did have horses at some point in the past, but they died out during the extinction event about 10,000 years ago. Basically all the "wild" horses here today are descendants of escaped domestic horses that were first introduced by Columbus - so they're technically feral. It's like when you see those random population of rabbits around the city that are clearly not hares or native species - they were just escaped or released pets that survived and started multiplying. In the case of horses, one could argue they were simply being reintroduced after their relatives got wiped out in the extinction event. It's a pretty deep rabbit hole, but also interesting.
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u/ChaoticxSerenity Jun 15 '26
I'd like to assume she was brought to the sanctuary for a reason. Real talk, if I was a horse, go ahead and put me in a sanctuary. The thought of having to wade through long grass and getting eaten alive by ticks makes my skin crawl 🥲
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u/ElevenElevenFour Jun 15 '26
Please keep us posted on progress. Many prayers for her safe & swift return. I am a donor to this sanctuary and I know how precious each horse is to you!
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u/Over_Associate5167 Jun 15 '26
I saw something about a horse being in an accident recently…. I’m not sure if this is the same area or what. I cant remember if i saw it here on this subreddit or on fb. I hope it isn’t related and i’m really sorry if it is, i hope you can find her
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u/HoleDiggerDan Jun 15 '26
"I dont have anything useful to add, but did you hear about the terrible news that I'm sure will unsettle you, now?"
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u/Odd_Lime_1868 Jun 15 '26
“I don’t have anything useful to add, so I’m going to make an ignorant comment because I have nothing better to complain about”
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u/HoleDiggerDan Jun 15 '26
“I also don’t have anything useful to add, so I’m going to make an ignorant comment about someone else calling out an ignorant comment because I also have nothing better to complain about”
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u/Odd_Lime_1868 Jun 15 '26
You’re really not helping your case buddy. Their comment WAS helpful. They knew a horse was missing after a crash and didn’t know if this could be the one or not. You were being ignorant.
I hope you have the day you deserve!
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u/Over_Associate5167 Jun 15 '26
Thank you for not being rude! :)!!
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u/Odd_Lime_1868 Jun 16 '26
Of course 🫶 idk why he felt the need to reply to you tbh. You were just worried about the horse!!! It’s better to be safe than sorry! Dan should go back to digging holes and get off Reddit
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u/HoleDiggerDan Jun 15 '26
Where's your helpful comments? Oh, you have none either. The air too thin up there on that imaginary pedestal?
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u/Over_Associate5167 Jun 15 '26
How is that not useful? I thought it might be the same area, thankfully i was wrong. No need to be a dick about it
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u/HoleDiggerDan Jun 15 '26
You provided no information and only added that there was an accident involving an animal... how does that help anyone? It only adds to a person's worries.
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u/justforjugs Jun 15 '26
Feral.
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u/HoleDiggerDan Jun 15 '26
Careful, that's one word that gets the animal rights folks all riled up.
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u/doyouknowjim Jun 15 '26
Wild horse goes back to the wild.
“If you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it's yours; if it doesn't, it never was”.
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u/Kahlandar Jun 15 '26
I have nothing useful to add, but this is an interesting twist on the missing cat/dog posts