We're in a burned-out area of Yellowstone National Park, miles from any road, surrounded by hundreds of acres of fire-blackened lodgepole pines, the hooves of our 17-animal pack train kicking up dust.
It's horrific to see an animal so desperate to keep up with the pack, struggling to get up on three legs with that one snapped leg just swinging round and round.
No other stallion has come close to that, say experts in cutting, a sport wherein a rider and horse "cut" a single animal from a cattle herd, then try to keep it from rejoining the pack.