California: With help from goat, wily Clydesdale goes on lam for 5 days

CALIFORNIA -- A 1,900-pound fugitive dressed in a brown coat and white fetlocks was finally captured Sunday afternoon after a five-day spree in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The desperado, a Clydesdale horse named Budweiser, or “Buddy” for short, broke out of his pen in the area of Laurel Road near Highway 17. He was busted out by his best friend, Lancelot, a Nigerian dwarf billy goat, according to owner Tamara Schmitz.

“Last Wednesday I closed the gate to the horse pen with Lancelot still inside. He’s figured out that if I don’t lock the gate he can ram it open if he butts it a few times. So that’s what happened,” said Schmitz.

A second Clydesdale named Harry also escaped, but Harry got thirsty, wandered into a nearby meadow and was captured the next day.

Buddy had different plans.

“Buddy’s very elusive. He’s not like other horses. He’s not attracted by meadows and other horses. He can stay hidden,” Schmitz said.

And stay hidden he did. For the next five days, Buddy escaped detection as he ranged across a 3-mile area from Schulties Road to Redwood Lodge Road to Laurel Road.

“One of the neighbors heard him snorting across the ravine one night. The next night someone saw him at Redwood Lodge. But by the time we would arrive, we would only find his tracks,” said Schmitz.

Schmitz said she received a great deal of help from the entire community. Volunteers from as far away as Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz and Hollister joined the posse. They hiked the ravines, rode horseback and drove nearby roads calling his name.

Schmitz even brought Harry and Lancelot out to see if the smell of his friends could coax him into the open. No dice. Buddy wasn’t falling for it.

Every day from 7 a.m until to dark, Schmitz and her posse combed the rugged area, praying that Buddy would stay away from Highway 17. Sunday, they caught a break.

“Two members of the posse caught sight of him while riding by on horseback. He was hiding in some Manzanita about a mile from the house,” Schmitz said.

Just like that, Buddy’s run was over.

“When we got him back in the pen, he was particularly frisky and playful and happy,” Schmitz said. “I think he was glad to be back.”

(Santa Cruz Sentinel - Aug 28, 2016)