Horse returns home after missing for 8 years

FIELDING, Utah (KSTU) – A man in Utah who thought he lost his horse forever found him eight years later.

Shane Adams and his horse, Mongo, were best friends that never left each other’s side.

Mongo is 18 now and spent most of his teenage years running with wild mustangs in the west desert.

“I felt pretty lost without him,” Adams said.

Adams and his horse went camping in the Cedar Mountains eight years ago when Mongo ran away. Adams thought he’d never see his best friend again, until a couple of weeks ago.

“I thought he was dead,” Adams said. “I believed in my mind he was dead.”

Every weekend for the first three years, Adams went to different spots looking for Mongo.

“I went through a lot of effort when I first lost him to make sure he was properly reported missing,” Adams said.

On Sept. 27, the Bureau of Land Management reached out to Adams on Facebook with a possible lead on Mongo.

Adams loaded his horse trailer and drove almost three hours to bring Mongo home, and it was like the horse had never left.

“We’re getting back to where we were before because he was always my escape route,” Adams said.

Adams has been feeding Mongo and is trying to get him to gain weight because the horse lost over 400 pounds on his adventures and is more than 200 pounds away from his previous weight.

After overcoming challenges life has thrown him over the years, Adams said Mongo coming home has been his shining light.