The accident happened Friday evening around 6 p.m., east of Heber in the Crooked Creek area.
An 80-year-old man was thrown from his horse in the backcountry, resulting in what Wasatch County Search and Rescue Commander Kam Kohler called “significant injuries.”
“I’m not sure if it bucked him off, or sometimes it’s just the terrain you’re in,” he said. “And he found himself flying through the air, landed on the ground, and old guys like me don’t bounce as good as we used to.”
Kohler said the octogenarian suffered possible head injuries, so he was airlifted to the hospital.
He said the man is now recovering and commended him for still being out in nature on his horse at age 80.
“I say kudos to him – the fact that he can still be out riding horse like that at his age,” Kohler said.
He said Search and Rescue typically sees a handful of horse-related calls each year.
