MT man jumps from SUV to rescue horse

A scene straight out of a Western movie stampeded through modern-day Montana: a man jumped from a moving SUV into a buggy being pulled by a running horse, and then jumped onto the running horse - without reins or stirrups. And the real-life ending couldn't have been scripted better. On Monday night, Dustin Burckhard, 29, noticed something outside the window of the Old Timer Café, where he works. He noticed an unattended horse and buggy tied up to the fence, about to break free. "We were actually just getting ready to go and fix her bridle and kinda tie her up a little when she busted loose," Burckhard said. "I said, let's go see if we can just kinda slow her down and catch her." Easier said than done. Midnight the mare had no intention of stopping - she and the buggy went flying down the road to home. "She went down through the ditch and back up, she's a smart pony, she didn't wanna stop," Burckhard said. But on a busy road, Burckhard knew if he didn't do something, the pony would be in trouble. "A horse on the loose on the highway, it's gonna hurt," he said. "She's gonna hit something, not gonna be pretty." Witnesses saw the horse and buggy side-swipe three cars. Burckhard, a horse lover, knew he had to hop on to the horse to get it to stop. He instructed his coworker, Tim Ranel, 15, to take the wheel and drive as close as he could to the buggy so he could mount up. Ranel just got his driver's license that day...more