Saddle up for a wild horse story

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

What does the story of a wild horse chase have to do with Riley Children’s Health?

If you love horses or if you love Riley, this story might speak to you. If you love both, you’re in for a double treat.

The central character in this tale is a mustang named Annie who bumped a gate and bolted from the pen of a Hendricks County horse owner last month, leading to a frantic six-day search over many miles and involving many good people.

The Riley connection revealed itself over those six days, beginning with mustang owner Dawn Butrum, an associate administrator of nursing at Riley who has a soft spot for wild horses and reached out to share this story, which she believes embodies the IU Health/Riley values of purpose, compassion, excellence and team.

It might not be medically related, she said, “but the things we do outside of Riley matter and are relatable to our pillars.”

Maybe that’s why she was not surprised but delighted to learn that the young woman who eventually helped rescue the horse Butrum had just purchased at an auction through the Bureau of Land Management is also a Riley team member.

Hayley Grubbs has worked for IU Health for five years, the past three at Riley in radiology. On the weekends, though, you’re likely to find her on the rodeo circuit with her dad, Shawn Spaulding.

She grew up with horses, so when word raced around via Facebook, animal rescue, police and the community at large that a skittish and scared wild horse was on the loose, Grubbs and her dad used their training to track Annie, rope her and load her into a trailer to be reunited with Butrum.

That was Day 6 of Annie’s great adventure through farm fields and pastures over several miles in Hendricks County. She was exhausted, as was Butrum, her husband and everyone who had pitched in to bring Annie home.

“We had people on horseback, in cars, people with drones, people we didn’t know looking for her,” Butrum said.

Come to find out, the searchers also included two former Riley NICU nurses.

“It seriously took a village to accomplish what some said would not be the end result,” Butrum said. “We believe in the power of prayer and never gave up, knowing God is in control and brings a village together to do what seems to be impossible. Hayley and her dad demonstrated compassion, teamwork, purpose and excellence … and brought a scared horse home to start her journey with her new family.”

Grubbs, who reconnected with Butrum this week at Riley to see more pictures of Annie, said reuniting the mustang with her owner was second nature.

“I was raised that way,” she said. “We help people out.”

Or, to put it another way, wild horses couldn’t keep her away.

Now, as the two former strangers swap horse stories, they look forward to maintaining a connection going forward. Turns out they live within a couple miles of each other, and Butrum has invited her to visit Annie anytime and said she’d like to learn some tricks from the younger woman to help the newest addition to her equine family adjust to the other horses.

“I’m excited that she has all this knowledge and I can pick her brain.”

As Butrum showed Grubbs a photo of Annie on her phone, she said, “I take selfies with her all the time. It’s the least she can do after all she put me through.”