If you are hiking in the McDowell Mountains, be on the lookout for a white Arabian horse.
$10,000 reward offered for missing horse
by Heidi Homa - Dec. 1, 2008 01:03 PM
The Arizona Republic
SCOTTSDALE - A Scottsdale man will give a $10,000 reward to the person who finds his horse that went missing Saturday.
Lucian Spataro, 50, and Masquerade, the 7-year-old white male Arabian, were competing in an endurance ride Saturday morning at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park when the horse tripped and fell.
"I went down with the horse," Spataro said. "He tripped and went down and rolled over me."
Masquerade got up and took off, leaving his rider injured on the ground.
"He got up and was disoriented, I'm sure," Spataro said. "There's adrenaline rushing through your veins, so you don't know what's going on; he was hyped and probably went in the wrong direction."
Spataro, also filled with adrenaline, was able to run about 5 miles to a base camp, despite severe injuries.
"I ended up in the hospital that night for surgery, but the horse is still out there and no one has been able to find him yet," Spataro said.
About 20 family members, friends and other riders and horses from the competition have searched for the horse since Saturday.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office provided a helicopter when Masquerade first went missing and volunteer Sheriff's posse members continue to help.
Spataro also enlisted private helicopter services.
Irene Murphy, endurance ride manager, is coordinating the search.
"In endurance rides, there are many incidents where horses do get lost," Murphy said. "A lot of times the horse returns the same day."
They tend to stay near the riders or find their way to a base camp set up along the trail, she said. But horses at times were missing for three to six months in more remote locations, she added.
As the search continued Monday, she laid out a clear plan for the search party.
"We're going to the trail where he was last seen; we'll also look where we know there was food and water," she said. "As far as getting sustenance and being able to stay hydrated, there's stuff (horses) can find."
Murphy is hoping they will find Masquerade but said you can never be too confident with horses.
Rand Hubbell, park supervisor, said the search party will do everything it can to find the horse.
The restriction that requires search parties to stay on the trails has been waived in this incident, Hubbell said. The search party has been given permission to ride along the washes and look anywhere within the 30-plus square miles of the park.
"We're going to continue the search until we find Masquerade," he said, adding that he was confident they will find the horse.
Spataro, unable to assist in the search due to his injuries, said he hopes that more people will volunteer their time to help find his horse.
"He's part of the family," Spataro said.
How to help
Where to search: For those who want to help find Masquerade, the missing white Arabian, owner Lucian Spataro believes the horse is in the northwest quadrant of the park, along Dynamite Boulevard between 120th Street and 160th Street.
Where to call: Anyone with information may call Spataro at 480-570-6896.
Anybody can make a hike harder. The real skill comes in making the hike easier.
life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. Andy Rooney
Route Editor
Route Scout
