Outlaw is a blind Leopard Appaloosa we brought in January 19th, 2024 after the tragic loss of his owner, Cody Sorenson. This drawing I did of Cody and Outlaw is to commemorate the loss of Cody and how he and his blind horse stole many hearts of Montana.

?Cody Sorenson and Dakota Pearle went into the Bob Marshall Wilderness on a September elk hunt. The trip went south almost immediately. They got a late start and it was pouring rain. Still, they packed up Sorenson?s blind Spotted Leopard Appaloosa horse Outlaw and headed to Basin in the heart of the Bob Marshall.

Outlaw, which had been Sorenson?s first horse, had lost its eyesight on a trip years before. The horse had wandered away and become lost in the Bob as horses have been known to do. It ended up stuck in a bog and was found by some hikers. As it thrashed around in the brush, both eyes were damaged. 

But the horse was Sorenson?s best friend and he vowed never to abandon it or put it down. Outlaw proved its mettle on that September hunt. It hauled in the gear with barely a missed step and the next day, when the rain had subsided, Sorenson and Pearle built a big fire to dry the horse off.

You don?t saddle up a wet horse ? it?s a recipe for sores. The horse, being blind, stood close to the 6-foot high flames and relished the heat after the soaking rain, Pearle recalled.

?Outlaw was steaming,? Pearle said. ?It was the coolest thing I?d ever seen in my life.?

With the horse dried, they saddled it up and continued their journey. The hunt was unsuccessful, but it was memorable nonetheless, Pearle said.

GIVEN SORENSON'S love for horses and the outdoors, it was no surprise that he was doing all he could to keep his stock watered and fed during a series of winter storms earlier this month.

He was well-known in local rodeo circles and was trying to get a fledgling outfitting and guide business going, said Sorenson?s mother, Bilynda Jassman. He was leasing several mules and horses and, of course, he still had Outlaw, boarding them at the Flying Eagle Ranch in Coram.

As a snowstorm pounded the area, Sorenson had to haul water from the spring at Berne Park up to the animals, as he didn?t have running water. With temperatures 30 below zero and a howling wind, it was all Sorenson could do to keep the water from freezing. He started a fire near the water tanks and then tended it to keep them from freezing.

On Jan. 14 he went into his running pickup truck and laid down on the seat with the engine running to get some rest. That was the last day anyone got a message from Sorenson. 

It appears that snow covered the tailpipe of the pickup, and preliminary results indicate Sorenson died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, though it will take a month for an autopsy to reveal what definitively happened, Jassman said in an interview last week.

Sorenson was 24 years old.

He was found three days later by a friend who was worried about him. 

?He died trying to live his dream,? Jassman said.

He leaves behind his wife, Molly, and 17-month-old daughter, Eleanore Josefine Rose.

His stock, the ones he was working day and night to make sure they weathered the storm, all survived, including Outlaw.? -By CHRIS PETERSON Hungry Horse News