Eileen Eagle Bears is a true rider on the storm.
The 18-year-old Manitoba girl rode her horse, Mr. Smudge, through a blizzard – twice in one day – to bring a stranded trucker coffee and food.
“I just did it because I wanted to help, so I just feel like I did the right thing,” Eagle Bears told CBC.
She said she was watching the traffic cams outside their home near Minto, about two hours southwest of Winnipeg, when she spotted the rig lodged only about 5 kilometres away.
So on Tuesday, she grabbed her trusted horse, and rode – and walked – to get to Peter Douglas, the trucker who had been stuck there overnight. She brought him coffee in the morning and then returned with supper.
“She had to walk that horse half a mile up that hill and half a mile down because it was so icy. Blew me away,” Douglas told CTV. “She said she saw me on the camera. Her and her family were watching.”
Her mother couldn’t be more proud of this one-of-a-kind delivery by pony express.
“He was just really glad that someone knew that he was there and that someone cared,” Eagle Bears told CBC.
Douglas got out after 28 hours stranded on the highway.
And, Mr. Smudge is doing just fine.
Photos Eileen Eagle Bears/Heather Eagle Bears/Manitoba511/Facebook
