Horsing around

ST. IGNATIUS — You won’t find “professional stuntman” on 29-year-old Dustin Burckhard’s resume. And 15-year-old Tim Ranel won’t be the “professional driver on a closed course” in any upcoming commercials. But on Monday, Jan. 9, both men could have easily been confused with those things.

Thanks to a runaway horse and buggy, Ranel and Burckhard sprang into action, parlaying 15 of the most exciting minutes of their lives into local legend status.

Just before 5 p.m., a horse and buggy tied to a fencepost outside of the Old Timer Café freed itself and bolted away.

“Tim saw the horse pulling against the fence and said she was probably going to go,” Burckhard, who works at the café with Ranel, said. “We were going to go fix her and she took off. I told Tim ‘let’s go catch her’ and Tim jumped right away — no thinking about it — and was ready to roll.”

The two got into Burckhard’s Chevy Trailblazer and pursued the horse down Main St., toward Hwy. 93. The horse and buggy sideswiped two vehicles and ran into one, but continued its getaway, with the soon-to-be heroes right behind. With three cars in front of the SUV, Burckhard threw on his hazards and swerved around them, catching up to the horse by Airport Rd. After the horse turned onto Airport Rd., it ran into a ditch before continuing on the road again, with Ranel and Burckhard closing in.

Oh, and now the story gets exciting.

“That’s when Dustin said ‘I have an idea, jump in the driver’s seat,’” Ranel said.

“Tim, with no hesitation, jumped right in,” Burckhard shot back.

At this point, it’s important to note that Ranel did have a driver’s license. He was the proud owner of one for an hour before he went to work, where chaos ensued.

“It was scary,” Ranel admitted.

After relinquishing control of the wheel, Burckhard moved to the outside of the SUV, clinging to the roof rack with Ranel driving as close to the horse as he could, which amounted to all of about 12 inches.

“I wasn’t really paying attention to the road or the speedometer. I was more worried about the wheels of the buggy and keeping up with Dustin,” Ranel said. “The wheel of the buggy was sticking out enough where if I went too far over, I’d have hit the wheel and the buggy would have gone off balance.”

Straddling the carriage and SUV, while doing close to 35 m.p.h., Burckhard got some news from his driver. There was a semi-truck coming their way.

“There were two choices: either let the horse go and let whatever was going to happen happen, or I could jump and have Tim slow down,” Burckhard said. “I was never thinking about where it could have gone wrong. The last thing I said to Tim was ‘see ya.’”

Burckhard made the leap. And…

“I stuck the landing pretty well that time.”

After the transfer, Burckhard was able to slow down the horse and lead it into a driveway. Just prior to bringing the horse to a complete stop, Burckhard was thrown to the ground, dinging himself up two-and-a-half miles and 15 minutes from the adventure’s beginning.

“We tied her up at the house where we finally got her stopped and came back looking for the owners,” Burckhard said. “They were standing at the fence, holding the bridle, wondering where their horse and buggy went.”

The horse came out of the incident unscathed, which is more than Burckhard could say. In the ordeal, he suffered torn ligaments in his left knee, which will also require X-rays, three bruised ribs, gravel rash and an injured ankle, revealing a possible fracture. But for him, that’s not what it was about.

“It was about making sure the horse was stopped for her safety and for everybody else’s,” Burckhard said.

As for the novice driver’s experience?

“I don’t think there will be much else like it,” Ranel said.

Hopefully for Ranel and Burckhard, that’s the truth. Parents are always saying to quit horsing around, but in this instance, the two Montana boys wouldn’t have had it any other way.