Manitoba teen rides horse through snowstorm to bring coffee, dinner to stranded truck driver

A Manitoba teen says she was just doing the right thing when she rode her horse on a nearly 10-kilometre round tripthrough a snowstorm twice on Tuesday to help out a stranded truck driver.

Eileen Eagle Bears, 18, and her horse, Mr. Smudge,made thehour-long round-trip journeyTuesday morning, and again Tuesday evening, to bring coffee and supper from her home outsideMinto, Man. to the trucker.

"I just did it because I wanted to help, so I just feel like I did the right thing," Eagle Bears said Wednesday.

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She said she was keeping an eye ontraffic cams showing Manitobahighways with her momMonday night when they spotted a trucker stopped on Highway 10 about five kilometres away from her home near the town of Minto, which is approximately 215 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

She decided if the truck was still therein the morning she'd bring the driversome coffee.

Rider in a storm: Teen rides horse through snowstorm to help stranded truck driver

8 years ago

Duration 5:50

Eileen Eagle Bears, 18, and her horse, Mr. Smudge, made multiple hour-long outings in the middle of a snowstorm Tuesday to bring food to a truck driver stranded in his truck.

Sure enough, it was still stopped on the highway Tuesday morning, so Eagle Bears filled a Thermos with coffee and hit the road with Mr. Smudge.

"There was a lot of ice on the road from the rain that we had got and drifts were bad in a few places. Butthe morning wasn't too bad to get there and come back," she said.

"But I had gotten to the truck and I had to wake him up because he was sleeping, and he was pretty surprised to see me there with the coffee."

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Eagle Bears said the driver was grateful for the coffee, and she promised him she'd bring him some dinner if he was still there at suppertime. When dinner time rolled around and he was still stranded, she and Mr. Smudge brought him more coffee and a hot meal.

"He was just really glad that someone knew that he was there and that someone cared," Eagle Bearssaid.

The trucker was finally able to move onlater Tuesday night, she said. In total, Eagle Bears said he was stuck for around 28 hours.

Since her mom posted about her act of kindness on Facebook, Eagle Bears said she's been surprised by the response and media attention.

"It is overwhelming," she said."I had gotten back and my mom had posted just a post on Facebook. And there was a few likes at the beginning, but we went back and there was just more and more, and it just totally blew up."

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