Change born of tragedy

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Mariann Deering will never forget the tragic events that ended the life of her 10-year-old Trote y Galope horse Chiqua.

On June 29, Deering and Chiqua were riding with friends on the Pacific Crest Trail to Little Crater Lake in Oregon. About 30 minutes into the journey, Deering got off Chiqua to fetch a bottle of water from her pack. Seconds later, a runner rounded the corner and startled Chiqua.

“She started backing up so quickly I could not stop her and like a horror movie I had to let go of her reins to save myself and watch her tumble backward over car-sized boulders down the 500-foot cliff,” Deering recalled. “I scrambled down the cliff to find her about 50 feet down lodged between the boulders.”

Deering tried to keep Chiqua calm while she checked all of her horse’s legs. Nothing appeared to be broken, but Chiqua didn’t have the strength to stand and nobody wanted to see her fall further down the cliff. Deering carried a Verizon and an AT&T cell phone, but neither of them had service that far into the wilderness. Her friends went to get help and within the hour, they had five park employees with them on the cliff.

As more time passed and Chiqua continued to struggle, Deering realized there was no way they were going to be able to climb back up the cliff. They needed a helicopter to lift her out. Mike Scheel, a pilot with Hillsboro Aviation, offered to attempt a rescue even though they didn’t have to proper slings or straps. It took him about an hour to get up the mountain and another hour to land and set up a rig with a 200-foot line to try and pull Chiqua out. By then, it was close to 7 p.m. and they were losing daylight.

“They attempted to lift her on two occasions, but we could all see she would slide out and we didn’t want that to happen. She was now slamming her head into the boulders and I tried to put my limbs between her beautiful face and the rocks but couldn’t all of the time,” Deering said. “At this point, we all knew we had to let both the helicopter and my beautiful Chiqua go.”

Deering was helped up the cliff and away from view, but nothing could keep her ears from hearing that gut-wrenching sound.

“Three shots from my own gun to put her out of her misery. It was over. I couldn’t save her,” Deering said. “The men and I spent seven hours with her in the rocks and we all cried. We are still grieving from the loss and are trying to find some way to honor her by having a better outcome for someone else’s beloved horse.”

The Sling Project is born 

In the days following this horrific accident, Deering shared her story on Facebook and it spread around the Oregon and Washington horse community. The number of responses she received touched her heart and inspired The Sling Project fundraiser.

“It was a good example that money doesn’t buy everything,” Deering said. “I would have paid a million dollars to have a different outcome, but it was not having the proper equipment.”

She started a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising money to purchase four slings, a Large Animal Lift and provide training on how to use the equipment for first responders in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. In four months, Deering received more than $17,000 in donations. She used that money to purchase two Anderson Slings, three Large Animal Lifts and other equipment that can be used to extract horses when they’re trapped. 



“We have a menagerie of supplies now that will fit most any situation,” Deering said. 

On Nov. 19, about 50 people came to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Ridgefield to hear Deering speak about Chiqua and The Sling Project. Since members of the Washington Trail Riders Association have been so supportive of her efforts, Deering announced she will donate one of the Large Animal Lifts to the group.

“I will keep going because I have made so many new friends. I didn’t know any of these people before six months ago,” Deering said. A few weeks ago, Deering and her new friends attended a Technical Large Animal Rescue Class in McMinnville, Oregon.

“We spent two days getting certified in large animal rescue and learning how to use all of the equipment,” she said. “I think a lot of good has come out of this.”

 Keeping Chiqua’s memory alive

Deering and Chiqua were together for three years. She purchased her from a friend in Florida. Deering said Chiqua was a rare breed — a Trote y Galope, which means trot and gallop. These horses are popular in Florida and South America, but not so much in the Pacific Northwest.

“She was like riding a Ferrari,” Deering said. “She was just so spectacular and flashy and willing to try anything.”

Chiqua loved galloping through water. They were playing in the ocean one time and fell into a sinkhole. Chiqua saved Deering that day.

“She was able to get her footing after the surf kept knocking us over,” Deering said. “She kept falling on me. I thought I had broken my leg. And she just stood there while I pulled myself up.”

Although Deering doesn’t have much desire to ride right now, she is concentrating her efforts on The Sling Project and saving other horses. It’s the best way she can keep Chiqua’s memory alive.

“I will get back into it next summer, because that was my passion. I had camping trips planned through the northwest all summer, but I just canceled them all,” Deering said. “It’s like PTSD. It’s the first thing you think about in the morning, last thing you think about at night.”