The horse returns home after 8 years of being lost and running with wild mustangs

A Utah man thought he had lost his horse forever in Utah’s West Desert eight years ago, until he received a call from authorities last week.

Shane Adams told KUTV that his horse “Mongo” was discovered by the BLM while rounding up mustangs in Tooele County, west of Salt Lake City. The BLM stated that it noticed one horse acting differently and discovered an identifying brand. The brand was the same as Adams had reported eight years before.

REUNITED!❤️ A horse returned home after eight years of being lost and running with wild mustangs.

Shane Adams lost his horse Mongo while camping in Utah’s West Desert – and just this week the two were reunited.https://t.co/1KaifFzQhW

— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) October 6, 2022

Adams told the station about the day Mongo escaped and his effort to find his horse.

On a spring morning eight years ago, Mongo was tied outside Adam’s tent when a herd of wild mustangs passed by. Before Adams could stop him, Mongo broke free from the tent and joined the herd.

As time passed, his kids grew older. His son making up songs about missing Mongo, while he talked about Mongo in the past tense. Gone forever. Or so he thought.

According to KUTV, Adams returned to the area every weekend for three years in order to find Mongo. He alerted everyone in the area, including the BLM, about Mongo, but he couldn’t afford to keep looking.

Adams notified everyone he could think of, including the BLM, about his missing horse.

In the last week of September, BLM managers rounded up a herd of mustangs near military property in Tooele County.

One horse stood out from the rest; he walked in step like he’d been trained, unlike the others, and on closer inspection, he bore the same brand as Adams had reported eight years before.

“Never in my life,” Adams thought as he received the call that Mongo had been found.

Back home on the farm in Fielding, Utah it is as if nothing had changed.

“It’s crazy he still acts the same, same horse,” Adams said. “Eight years of being wild and he acts like nothing ever happened.”

Mongo is now 18 years old and underweight, but he acts as if nothing happened.

“It’s crazy he still acts the same, same horse. Eight years of being wild, and he acts like nothing ever happened,” Adams told KUTV.