Tony Baird, 43, of Lumberton, and his four-year-old Tennessee Walker "Candy" Wednesday afternoon. Candy, along with a three-year-old Mustang, were returned to Baird Tuesday after being missing for about two months. Julie Shehane/The Enterprise.

Tony Baird of Lumberton, Texas says he can’t help but smile this week. His two horses are alive, healthy and have been safely corralled after being on the lam for more than two months.

“I was so afraid they would be put down or hurt and I’m just so happy they are OK,” Baird, 43, told The Enterprise as he visited one of the mares at a Tyler County horse training facility Wednesday afternoon.

The horses, a 3-year-old mustang and a 4-year-old Tennessee walking horse, were returned to Baird late Tuesday night outside the Hardin County Courthouse. Until Tuesday, the horses roamed and grazed near the Village Mills Cemetery, close to the Hardin/Tyler county line.

The cemetery, with heavily wooded areas on both sides, is about a mile and a half down a gravel road from Baird’s Village Mills home.

On the other side of the cemetery is about 100 acres of private, fenced property where the horses were said to stay during the day. They returned to the cemetery at night to feed, since that’s where Baird left hay.

The mares were finally trapped by the owner of a private property adjacent to the cemetery, according to Baird.

But Baird said his gratitude goes to Sour Lake resident and horse trainer Walter “Igor” Authement, 51, for his “extensive” efforts in helping catch the horses.

So grateful, in fact, that Baird gifted the $1,500 mustang to Authement.

“He spent the better part of three weeks out there trying to catch them and he volunteered his time and money to help me. I am disabled and cannot do it myself, so I wanted to show my gratitude to him,” Baird said.

“He even trapped the mustang once, but she got away.”

Authement said he agreed to help Baird because “it was the right thing to do.”

“I had to earn the horses’ respect and show them I wasn’t going to hurt them and I spent a lot of time there feeding them and had them to where they would follow me,” said Authement, who says he will name the mustang “Blondie.”

“I’m going to work with her and get her to where she is tame and can be ridden again,” Authement added.

The Tennessee walking horse, who Baird calls “Candy,” was taken to a Tyler County horse training facility Wednesday.

“Since she spent so much time in the wild, she needs to be trained again, so I can ride her again,” Baird said.

Jamey Joe Frejia, a horse trainer for the past decade, said the horse appears to be healthy and will spend the next month at his facility.

Both mares were examined by a veterinarian after being returned by Hardin County Sheriff’s deputies and animal control, according to Baird.

“Candy has a little spot of hair missing, but both of them are in good health and in very good condition considering they spent two months in the wild. But we were feeding them every day, so they didn’t go hungry,” said Baird.

Once she leaves the training facility, Baird said Candy will be taken to a 65-acre property located near the intersection of U.S. 69 and Jimmy Johnson Boulevard in south Jefferson County. He already has moved two of his other horses to the property.

The two missing horses, which Baird described as “at times skittish,” bolted in April when animal control officers tried to tranquilize them for the move, he said.

“Candy will join her sister and a stud horse I have there. I am having her tested to be sure, but I think Candy might be pregnant and her sister, Mandy, just had a colt.”

“I’m just glad it’s over and my horses are OK.”

By JULIE SHEHANE