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Maybe it just wanted a Happy Meal.
Longtime harness racing trainers and drivers Shawn Thayer and Greg Bowden can joke about it now, but the escape of a Maine Standardbred from the back of a horse trailer could have ended badly if not for Rebecca Powers’ intervention.
Powers, a University of Maine sophomore equine sciences major, and Kate Smith of Lincoln, a UMaine equestrian teammate, only wanted a couple cups of coffee when they took the Newport exit off Interstate 95 on their way to New Hampshire on Monday, Dec. 10.
What they got was a sudden traffic jam caused by a runaway horse running around on the main road, Route 100, and into the McDonald’s entrance.
“I went around and dodged all the cars in front of me and pulled off to the side,” Powers recalled. “When we stopped, I jumped out of my car, and people were trying to stop it as it was turning into McDonald’s.”
Powers, well-versed in horsemanship and the daughter of a veterinarian, did what came naturally.
“I ran in front of the horse, put my hands up in the air and shouted ‘Whoa!'” she said.
It may not have been the most sensible thing the Freeport native has ever done.
“Yeah, probably not, but it was second nature for me to just run up and try to make him stop,” she said. “He was running pretty fast, but luckily he just came to a dead stop in front of me.
“Luckily, he was very calm and a very good boy.”
The horse, named Sole Survivor and owned by Mark Reynolds of Hermon, was one of two horses in the trailer on their way to race at Scarborough Downs.
“We stopped to fuel up. Evidently the back of the trailer wasn’t bolted down all the way and when we took off, he was up against it and popped it open,” said Thayer. “He slipped out of his halter at some point, which isn’t uncommon, but the rope was still across the back, so he must have gotten under it and out somehow.”
As it turned out, slipping out of the halter was yet another lucky break for Sole Survivor.
“I just recently bought a leather halter for the horse, and leather has more give to it, and it just happened that it snapped off,” said Reynolds, who has been a horse owner for a decade. “If it had been nylon, he might have been dragged.”
Instead, Bowden thinks the 4-year-old pacer simply walked out as the trailer lurched forward when he and Thayer shifted from park to drive.
“The truck wasn’t going that fast, and we figure it must have happened as we were leaving the parking lot next to the McDonald’s,” Bowden said. “We were probably going 5 to 10 mph. We didn’t feel a thing because there was no weight displacement or anything. We never knew he was gone.”
As Thayer and Bowden drove down I-95, Powers and Smith used their “horse sense.”
“I had a scarf on, so I wrapped that around his neck and kept him calm,” Powers recalled. “He had a lot of road rash and his legs were a little cut up, so the McDonald’s manager gave us some napkins.”
Meanwhile, a state trooper was dispatched to find Thayer and Bowden and alert them about their missing horse. The trooper pulled the pair over in Waterville.
“We thought we were speeding when he pulled us over. He said, ‘Jeez, you left a horse back in Newport,’ and we thought he was joking,” Bowden said.
“We said ‘no way’ and he had us look in the back,” Thayer said. “We couldn’t believe it. His halter wasn’t even broken.”
Since they figured the horse was in no condition to race, and a friend, Tim Powers in Newport, offered to pick up Sole Survivor and take him to a veterinarian, Thayer and Bowden continued on.
Sole Survivor lived up to his name and then some.
“I can’t take credit for that because he was already named when I bought him two months ago,” said Reynolds, a Weber Mortgage general manager.
“Tim Powers [Rebecca’s father] looked at him, and he came down figuring there’d be some mess with a leg hanging off and a puddle of blood, but he didn’t even have to give him anything,” Thayer said. “He just got a scrape on his hind ankle and his knees, and there’s not even any puffiness, so [Tim] put a bandage on the scrape and that was it.”
Sole Survivor returned to the track Saturday, Jan. 5. He finished seventh in an eight-horse field, but followed that up with a fourth-place finish Saturday, both at Scarborough.
“Shawn mentioned how many horsemen came over just to look at the horse. They were amazed how superficial the wounds were,” said Reynolds, who owns 10 horses. “It’s just a freak thing that happened. I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt and no one else got hurt either.
“And obviously I’m very grateful to Miss Powers for taking care of him.”
Powers was already on a horse-related mission before she stopped in Newport. She was on her way to New Hampshire’s Equine Medical Center to see her own horse, Best of Plans, after the 41/2-year-old mare underwent emergency colic surgery.
“She was in surgery for 21/2 hours, but she’s doing better now and back in Maine,” Powers said of the former racehorse she bought from UMaine. She’s training Best of Plans to be an eventing horse for jumping and dressage.
Thayer and Bowden can laugh about it now, but they are very aware that things could have turned tragic.
“It’s kind of embarrassing,” said Thayer, who has been a horseman, trainer and driver for 20 years. “You wouldn’t believe the people who’ve come over to hear the story. Everybody was talking about it.”
“This is probably the 20th time I’ve had to repeat this story,” Bowden said. “I’m just glad it has a happy ending.
“I’ve seen a lot of strange things happen over the years, so I never cease to be amazed, but this is definitely in the top five for me.”
aneff@bangordailynews.net
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