Injured rider rescued near Quinn Meadow Horse Camp

An injured horse rider on the Deschutes National Forest west of Bend prompted a rescue operation and air ambulance flight to a Bend hospital Saturday afternoon, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.

Dispatchers got a 911 call around 12:40 p.m. reporting the injured rider on a trail near the Quinn Meadow Horse Camp, off Century Drive between Devils Lake and Elk Lake, according to Deputy Josh Westfall, assistant search and rescue coordinator.

The rider was identified as Robert Laroe, 57, of Creswell.

A deputy and 1 Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteers headed to the scene, while another deputy stayed in Bend to help coordinate the response, Westfall said.

The first DCSO resources reached Laroe shortly before 2 p.m. about a mile down the trail from the horse camp, the deputy said.

Laroe was treated for possibly life-threatening injuries at the scene and brought by wheeled litter back to Quinn Meadow, where a Life Flight helicopter was waiting to take him to St. Charles Bend.

A hospital supervisor said Laroe was in fair condition Saturday night.