1.26.2020

it is snowing loose horses

Life sure has been challenging, rewarding and full of a variety of emotions lately. I had just sat down to enjoy a moment of peacefulness, sipping my warm morning coffee in the stillness of a snowy Saturday morning. I glanced up and thought was that the top of a deer that just ran past our house...hmmm...that's weird, it was so close to our houseI got up to look out the window to see if I could catch a better glimpse of it. 

What I saw was Brad shuffling his feet down our half plowed icy driveway with two halters in hand...OH NOOOO NOT AGAIN!!! Similar scene. Different day. Bigger problem. This time, all three horses are out!! Once again I throw on a coat & boots, and hustle outside down our looong driveway. Sigh.

I find Brad in our field by the road, trying to approach three less then cooperative horses. I call "Koooda" "Nemoooo"  and they all come running towards me. Sweet! Thinking the situation is about to be under control, I quickly snap a pic before tucking away my phone.


(L-R) Koda, Harmony & Nemo

After the horses came running over by me, I thought I heard something like "weeeeee, c'mon ma let's go explore the other fields" as Koda and Harmony abruptly headed north. For a hot second, Nemo stopped a few arms lengths away from me "whhhhoooaa, then #$@!" if only I had a halter...and he took off to round up the others. Great.  This isn't going to end anytime soon. I yelled to Brad "I am going back for the other halter". In hindsight, I should have just followed them and made do with whatever Brad grabbed.

I went back to the barn and grabbed the third halter, and a bucket of grain. While shuffling back along our icy driveway I heard a beeeep. Gulp! They must be on the road. I considered jumping in the truck. Who knows where the horses would head to, and the recent snow conditions made for really slow walking.


Harmony & Nemo checking out the poop pit
Koda is more interested in the new humans

Looks like all three horses are calmly heading back, with Brad and two additional human helpers. So I snapped a few more pics on the fly. It is wrong, I know. I can't help myself, and only took seconds. However, the horses took off towards our back field. That was good, and bad. It is away from the road, but the back of our property butts up to miles of land and marsh. 

(L-R) Nemo, Koda and Harmony

I also turned, and headed towards the back field thinking "I have grain, they will come to me now for sure" 
but they didn't venture far and could care less about the grain. I guess it was worth a try. Nemo was running amuck trying to round up his new herd friends. 

The snow was deep in the back field. I did my best to trudge through it quickly. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill, Brad had Koda & Harmony. I tried to get Nemo. Brad tried to get Nemo. We could get close, but Nemo had no intention of being caught. He was high tailed, blowing, snorting and prancing like the beautiful horse that he is. He went back-n-forth between us, and the two helpers that had stopped to help Brad. They were headed back to their vehicle. Nemo was in dismay that his new potential herd members were not following him "Haaaaay guys, the pasture is this way" We gave up on catching Nemo, and headed towards the barn...

(L-R) Koda, Brad and Harmony

I yelled "c'mon Nemo, they aren't part of your herd - lets goooo"...he chose to follow us. When we got near our driveway curve, Nemo tried to start the rendezvous up again. Suggesting we take the driveway back towards the road "that was fun, let's do it again!" NO, Nemo - that was not fun we are going back to the pasture with or without you. We split the two horses we had up. Brad took Koda and I took Harmony back to the pasture. Nemo followed along, the not so little turd.

With the horses safely back in their pasture, I asked Brad what the h-e-double-toothpick happened. It was an accident. While clearing the path between the barn and pasture (which is at an incline) the bobcat slid into the gate, not realizing the amount of slippery slushy wet snow that was underneath. The only way to get the bobcat unstuck was to unlatch and open the gate somewhat. Brad said he couldn't get out of the bobcat fast enough, before the horses escaped. I know what you are thinking, no comments from the funny farm from me this time. Just thankfulness that everything turned out okay. 

It turns out the people that stopped to help Brad are our neighbors down the road. A mom, and her 12-ish year old son. I haven't met them, but I will when I bake them some cookies to say thank you. 

I don't know what it is about snowy loose horses running around 8am on Saturday mornings, but it can stop any time now. 

3 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

Oh crap! That sounds just like the sort of adventure you can do without in the snow or anytime. Glad it all turned out okay though. Let’s hope you have all peaceful mornings from now on and get to finish your coffee.

Linda said...

Dear Lord! That had to have been scary. I’ve been there before. You have to at least catch one in order to get the others, but that is hard. The last time it happened, ours ran to the neighbor horses, two places down, and I know his gate system pretty well, and how to cage them in. Lol. They have zero sense when they’re in that mode.

Shirley said...

Another post that I missed!
Loose horses area pain in the butt! The more we panic about it the more they think it's a big deal and they turn into wild mustangs! With wings! And breathing fire! Brats.....
Glad it all turned out ok and that you have good neighbours.