Horse survives 3-mile swim through tunnel

POWELL, Wyo. - A horse named Eddie survived a swim of more than three miles through a frigid irrigation tunnel after falling into the waters above the Corbett dam in northern Wyoming.

Kent Black said his son, 16-year-old Joshua, was leading the saddled Arabian horse across the trail when the trail gave way, sending Eddie rolling down the steep bank and into the deep water on Sept. 24. Joshua Black tried to pull the horse out, but instead slipped into the water himself. Kent Black said his son realized he had to let Eddie go or he would drown too.

"I got back on top of the dam, and I couldn't see him," Joshua Black said.

Long swim

The horse was sucked through the gates into the tunnel, which carries irrigation water and is 3.3 miles long, 11.5 feet wide and 10.75 feet high. During irrigation season the water level is about 9 feet high.

Bryant Startin, Shoshone Irrigation District manager, said he believes the horse had about 2 feet of head clearance and would have been in the cold, dark tunnel for about 45 minutes before exiting on the other end.

Everyone figured he was lost.

"We were crying for two days," said owner Paul Watkins, who boards Eddie with the Blacks.

But Saturday morning, Eddie was found by district ditch rider Don Eden nearly a mile away from the tunnel exit.

Eddie suffered a nasty laceration on a hind leg and injuries to his head.

"He looks like he went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson on his face," Black said.

Eddie may have been put through the ringer, but he is recovering.

"He's an Arabian," Watkins said, rubbing salve on Eddie's wounds. "He was bred for endurance, and he endured a lot in that thing."