A horse ran away with wild mustangs. He just came home, 8 years later.
Eight years ago, Shane Adams jolted from the tent he was camping in - underwear-clad and scurrying to get dressed - when he heard a herd of wild mustangs zoom past. His heart broke when he saw his beloved horse had joined them, running off into the Utah desert.
Mongo, a gentle stallion who loved to munch on Sour Patch Kids candy, had been missing ever since, but Adams never let go of his hope that the horse would eventually find its way home. Last week, it finally happened when Mongo was returned by federal officers with the Bureau of Land Management.
"He was his calm, mellow and normal self - like he had never left at all," Adams told The Washington Post. "But I was overjoyed. I couldn't believe it. It was like a dream come true."
Seeing Mongo - now 18 years old and "a few hundred pounds" skinnier - brought back a flood of memories, the 40-year-old said. He could easily picture the "goofy," bigheaded horse nickering for treats and their weekend camping trips to northwestern Utah. But he also remembered the dreaded scene of Mongo scurrying off into the brush-speckled landscape. Some six inches of snow covered the desert plains that cold March morning, Adams said.
"I ran after him and I tried driving, but I really couldn't get anywhere because of the snow," he said. "Then I went back every weekend for three years to see if he was there. I reported him missing and tried every person I could to find him. But I never saw Mongo again."
In less than five minutes, Mongo had joined the approximately 71,000 wild mustangs that roam the West, according to Bureau of Land Management figures.
In Utah, some 22 herds have called the state home since the 1800s, most of them descending from horses that banded together after escaping from early settlers and ranchers. They now live on nearly 2.4 million acres controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
Since 1971, when Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses & Burros Act, the horses have been protected as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." But their mushrooming population has sometimes eroded Utah's ecosystem. And in the midst of a severe drought, some of the horses haven't been able to find enough to eat and drink. That's why the Bureau of Land Management in September rounded up about 700 wild mustangs in the Cedar Mountain herd management area - where about 920 horses free-roam in a space with the appropriate resources to manage between 190 to 390.
It was during this roundup in Tooele County that the Bureau of Land Management finally found Mongo, Adams said. Unlike the other horses, Mongo behaved like he had been trained in a previous life, and the branding in his coat was a telltale sign that he wasn't feral like his mates.
Now that Mongo has returned home, Adams is trying to get him back to a more healthy weight after years of free-roaming on scarce land.
"There's not a lot of food out there with this drought, and the horses look like walking death because they're so skinny," he said. "I get why Mongo ran off - horses are tribal animals and will follow each other. But I'm happy we can take care of him now and make sure he eats enough food."
In the time they had spent apart, Mongo had become a bit of a legend in the Adams household. Pictures of the chocolate-colored, Persian and Quarter horse mix were still displayed at home. Adams's son - who was only 2 when the horse vanished - had made up songs about Mongo's escape. But while the horse's memory had been preserved in time, many aspects of Adams's life had changed.
The former construction worker had gotten into a car crash in 2021 that left him disabled after a serious brain injury. He had to relearn how to walk and said his doctors told him the odds of him ever getting back to work - or atop a saddle - were fairly low.
"They said it'll be probably like five years before I could think of getting on a horse. But I've already proved them wrong on that," said Adams, who is now easing his way back into the saddle. Though he can ride again, he said he is still working on regaining the same level of control he had before.
These days, Adams enjoys taking his two kids, an 11-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, on rides. The two are often atop the family's ponies, Captain, Pretty Boy and Sleepy Old John. Now they're also taking out Mongo, whose name is a reference to the character in the 1974 Western spoof film "Blazing Saddles."
"Now I'm a firm believer that you have to look past your trials and trust that things are going to get better," Adams said. "Everything happens, but you've got to keep your chin up. I mean, a month ago I would've never imagined Mongo would be back."
And Adams isn't the only one excited to see Mongo return. His daughter, who was a 3-month-old baby when the horse disappeared, is already showering him with kisses - and, of course, Sour Patch Kids.
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