Horse injured, put down after being hit by unidentified vehicle on Stonewall Creek Rd.

A horse belonging to Joe Youderian had to be put down Sunday, after being hit by a vehicle on Stonewall Creek Road sometime over the weekend.

The horse, named Harley, survived being hit by the vehicle, but suffered a shattered leg. The injured animal managed to make his way back to the ranch’s shop, where he was discovered Sunday afternoon by Youderian’s son-in-law Scott Zarske.

“I found the horse lying next to the shop and realized something was wrong,” he said. He went over to look and saw the horse had a compound fracture of his lower leg with about six-inches of bone sticking out. After notifying everyone he put the horse down and backtracked Harley’s trail, ultimately finding where he was first hit along Stonewall Creek Road. While coming back from hunting with his daughter earlier in the day they noticed a spotwhere someone had slid, overshot the corner and ended up off the road.

While examining the tracks he noticed bone fragments near the spot where the back of the vehicle had been, which confirmed to him that was where the horse had first been hit.

“There’s no other reason for bone fragments to be lying in the snow where the horses footprints and those vehicle tracks are,” he said.

Drawing in his experience investigating accidents while he served as a Montana Highway Patrol Trooper, he believes the most likely scenario is that the vehicle hit the animal with its bumper as they were backing around to get back on the road.

“They would have had to know they had hit him,” he said.

Tracks in the snow indicated two people got out of the vehicle while it was off the road, and then walked along the edge of the road after getting the vehicle free.

In a response to a Facebook post by Julie Zarske, Youderian’s daughter, neighbor Art McAfferety said he recalled seeing headlights from a vehicle that appeared to be trying to turn around in the area sometime between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday night.

Scott Zarske reported the incident to the Montana Highway Patrol, the agency tasked with investigating vehicle accidents.

Highway Patrol Trooper Cooper Sutherland said they are following up on their investigation, including information provided in online posts.

Anyone with information on the incident can call Sutherland at 406-647-7954.

The fact that no one reported hitting the horse is aggravating to Julie Zarske, whose father lost another horse on the same road several years ago. Stonewall Creek Road runs through the Youderian Ranch property, which is fenced and has cattle guards on the roads at the fence line.

She said they could have reported it anonymously, rather than leaving the injured animal to suffer.

“It’s sickening that someone could leave an animal like that,” she said.

For residents of the area, news of the horse’s injury and death struck a nerve. According to McCafferty, the horse was well known to the neighbors as a gentle animal kids could ride bareback and that was almost something of a pet to people in the area.