Somewhere in the mountains near Bailey, a sorrel horse with a star on his forehead and wanderlust in his shoes is roaming.
On the morning of Sept. 27, Bear wandered off from a campsite in the Craig Meadows area behind the well-known Glen Isle resort and Coney Island hot-dog stand.
It seems the 18-year-old quarterhorse gelding just vanished in the willows along the creek, leaving no trace, no tracks.
Bear’s owner, Reggie Fontenot, said he took off the horse’s lead rope to let him graze for a bit and turned around to boil some water. Minutes later, Bear was gone.
“I made the ultimate mistake,” Fontenot said. “He’s such a bomb-proof horse that I felt comfortable letting him off the lead. I feel like an idiot.”
Fontenot walked downstream, but figures Bear must have gone the other way toward the Colorado Trail. Since then, Fontenot and his wife, Sharon Moore, have been back numerous times looking for Bear.
They aren’t alone. Scores of people in the Bailey area have been out searching, many alerted to Bear’s plight by the U.S. 285 community’s electronic bulletin board, .
“It’s touched my heart,” said Fontenot, who lives in Parker. “It has really been awesome to see people helping each other — something that at times seems to be missing in today’s world.”
Bear was last seen wearing a purple halter with a metal tag bearing contact information.
“These people are really devoted. They love this horse,” Helen Cook, owner of the Bailey Depot Feed & Supply, said of Fontenot and Moore.
Fontenot worries that Bear could have broken a leg or been jumped by a mountain lion. He remains hopeful, saying, “I know I’ll get him back.”
Cook said Bear is probably grazing on belly-high grass and drinking from streams and ponds.
As it gets colder, Bear may traipse down to where he can be spotted. Searchers hope Bear will hear the herd on nearby Burger Ranch and want to join up. Horses have wandered in there before.
“It’s a matter of keeping your eyes open, and there’s a whole group of people watching,” Cook said. “This is a caring community. We look after each other, and a lot of us have large animals and we know how you feel about them.”
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
