On Sunday 1-23-11 at about 2:48 PM, Sheriff’s dispatch received a 911 call from two horseback riders that had been thrown from their horses west of the Bodega Dunes area near Bodega Head.  State Parks Rangers, Sheriff’s Deputies and the Bodega Bay Fire Department were dispatched to the accident. The Sheriff’s helicopter crew on “Henry-1″ was nearby as well and arrived on scene within two minutes.

The father/son pair were thrown from their horses in the thick Pampas Grass area west of the Bodega Dunes campground, between Bodega Head and Salmon Creek Beach. The men were trampled on and kicked by the horses during the incident before the horses ran off.  They suffered lower extremity injuries.

This area is covered with Pampas Grass and sand dunes, which would have made access difficult and time consuming for ground-based emergency crews to get to and treat the injured men. The Henry-1 crew located the pair, landed in the Pampas Grass area and provided medical aid to them.  The men were then loaded into the helicopter and transported to a Westshore Rd. parking lot where they were turned over to Bodega Bay Fire crews.  One of the men was transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

The horses were located a distance away and were later corralled and returned to their owner’s trailer.

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