Special to the Insider
On the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 28, two horses from the McLendon Hills Community walked through an open gate (owner’s fault) and took a 3-hour walk on the wild side directly into the community of Seven Lakes North.
An emergency alert was posted on the McLendon Hills’ Facebook page, and both communities went into action. In the dark and cold conditions that night, more than a dozen of our friends and neighbors went out on foot, in carts and in trucks to search for the horses, Luke and Moe.
Our wonderful neighbors in Seven Lakes, Tonya Parks and her daughter, Crystal Fraveland, and Rachel Pratte and her husband Eric as well as the Moore County Sheriff’s Department assisted in tracking our lost equines by keeping the McLendon Hills residents informed of their sightings.
When Luke and Moe made their way to the Pratte farm, Rachel and Eric Pratte caught them and safely held them in one of their pastures. The Prattes offered to feed and keep them overnight so as not to risk injury loading them on a trailer in the dark.
At a time in our country with so much division, the overwhelming response of the people of McLendon Hills, Seven Lakes North and the sheriff’s department was truly heartwarming. Myself and my husband, Tom Virgilio, of McLendon Hills, and our horses, Luke and Moe, would like to thank everyone who helped find our horses. Whether you helped on foot, by phone or looking through a window, you are all heroes to us.
-Anne Virgilio
