DCSO Search and Rescue assists injured horse rider at Quinn Meadow

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and Search and Rescue volunteers came to the aid of a horse rider injured in a fall near Elk Lake on Sunday afternoon.

Dispatchers received a 911 call shortly before 1 p.m. from someone at the Quinn Meadow horse camp off the Cascade Lakes Highway who said a rider had fallen from her horse and sustained potentially serious injuries, said Deputy Joshua Westfall, assistant search and rescue coordinator.

It was later learned that the 60-year-old Toutle, Washington woman had been riding on the Quinn Creek Trail when her horse bucked her off, for an unknown reason, Westfall said.

Two sheriff’s deputies and a dozen SAR volunteers responded to the scene to assist. Westfall said the deputies reached the woman, about ¾ of a mile down the Quinn Creek Trail, around 1:45 p.m., with SAR volunteers arriving a short time later.

Members of the SAR medical team treated the woman, who was brought to the Quinn Meadow Trailhead by wheeled litter and waiting Sunriver Fire & Rescue medics around 3 p.m. She was then taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend for further treatment, Westfall said.