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 house. I 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. 

surprise!!

Walking past our kitchen window and what do I see, but two brown horses standing in front of me!!  Oh #&%@ our horses are OUT!!! 

I hustled to throw on a pair of shoes (no time for socks) or boots (it snowed last night) and grab a coat and my hat (conveniently located above coat). By the time I got outside, Brad was walking past the front of our house with a snorting Nemo in hand. 

In my morning "I haven't had coffee yet, stuper" I said "where are you going??" Brad replied "I am just following tracks" as he started down our long driveway towards the road. Gulp!! Silly me to think Koda & Harmony would choose to stick around. Ha!

"I'll grab some halters" and headed to the barn. I also put Tank in a stall, don't need another animal running loose.  He was likely wondering what the heck was going on, this isn't the morning routine. After breakfast, the horses go in the pasture. Yep, that's what I thought too. Looks like this is going to be a long morning! 

I saw Brads phone in the barn, so I popped into the house to grab mine. Just incase of an emergency. I headed down our driveway and saw Brad & Nemo already coming back from the road with Harmony nearby. My horse on the other hand had decided to explore the neighbors yard a bit more. 

Harmony wasn't sure what to do, stick by Nemo, do more exploring, or come to the person carrying the halter calling..."Haaarmony" ...my thought was to get the closest horse. Harmony was more dialed into Nemo & Brad, Koda on the other hand was heading away from all of us for more fun exploring...so I switched to..."Kooooda" ...he came joyfully running towards me past me, and stopped a short distance away in our field. The field that will eventually in part, include our outdoor arena. He grazed as I haltered him. Good boy Koda. 

I handed Brad Harmony's halter, and we all headed back up the driveway towards our house/pasture. I got "the sigh" from Brad when I stopped to take the worlds fastest selfie. 

Nemo & Harmony
walking away back to the pasture
Koda is with me.

Notice neighbors house in distance (along treeline) our road is beyond it.

Brad found Koda and Harmony across our road, munching in the neighbors field. He said once they saw Nemo, they were like "uh oh, I don't think we are suppose to be doing this" and crossed back over by them. 

I am thankful for so many things: our horses are level headed, that Brad had not turned Nemo out yet (our Alpha horse), we recently did walk-a-bouts with all three, fresh snow (for tracking), it was Saturday morning before 8am (less traffic) and most importantly everyone made it back home without incident.

I couldn't help myself and asked Brad "what did we learn this morning?". His reply "cold wind really has a bite in the mornings" Ha ha, he knew where I was going with this...annnnd, I said "the pasture gate doesn't stick anymore, you have to lock it every-single-time!!" Stuff happens.

When I saw Harmony and Koda standing so pretty outside our window (ohhh the photos I could have taken lol) I knew exactly how the horses got out. The gate used to wedge snuggly on the wooden post, but it has swung open every time for a while now. I always lock it. When turned out, usually the horses either take a fresh drink or head to the hay right away. They don't bother the gate. But haaay, if the door swings wide open they are going to walk through it!! Who wouldn't?! Surprise!! I am awake now! Let's hope the rest of today is less eventful.

a walk on the wild side ~ day two

We have continued having unseasonably warm temperatures in December, some days have been over 55F!! I love nice weather just as much as anyone, but it is truly odd to not have Winter in Wisconsin. We have had so many warm days, that the frost is coming out of the ground. Northern WI does have snow, but not the lower half. Central WI had snow, it's since turned into a muddy rainy mess. Of course the season isn't over yet. My 87 year old mother assures me Winter will arrive. She is usually right.  

With all the sunshine, we have enjoyed many hikes on our property. It also prompted another walk on the wild side with Koda, just three days after our first one...

our trio relaxing early in the day
December 22, 2019

We headed out mid afternoon this time. Koda was a-snorting again, so I hung back with the two labs. I overheard Brad talking to Koda "you were just here..." it didn't seem to matter much. 

Brad pausing with Koda

Nemo took to running the pasture towards them, and that's when I saw Koda start to do the "hot feet dance". I quickly mentioned that was way too much energy for my wild eyed boy! I could see he was about to explode. So glad Brad listened, and decided not to continue walking the newly created trail that borders the lower pasture. Instead, he headed the other direction... 

a familiar place

I thought Brad was going to repeat the short wooded walk, and come out by our newly planted apple trees again - but he didn't. He chose to continue walking Koda along the looong narrow path that we created. Gulp! It borders our largest field and leads to/from our pines. The path border is old fencing on one side and a treeline on the other. Single file on a horse. We walk it frequently, but it doesn't have the best footing and needs more work. I couldn't even see them, until they took the first turn that brings you out of the pines...

just out of our pine woods

they are further away then it looks

I stayed put with the dogs in the middle of the field. They love to race and dodge everywhere up and down all the paths. We will all walk them together eventually, and hopefully even ride them. Some day.

my tall shadow

walking the open area
around old fencing

coming back across our largest field

heading towards the pasture

it was total craziness after re-entering the pasture
(Koda, Harmony then Nemo) 

Below is a 24 second video of Koda releasing energy *after* several rounds of pasture antics...

a walk on the wild side ~ day one

Out of the blue, Brad asked if I wanted to take Koda for a walk. Um yes, of course!! I have only been asking him to do something *anything* with me and our horses at home for sooo long that I stopped asking. 

......................

Koda's little kid side keeps showing up. After primarily only having handling during turnout for over a year and a half, he is being bratty, pushy at the gate etc. He begrudgingly obliges when asked to back up and wait, take a stroll down the driveway, walk behind the barn before heading to his stall, or *gasp* entering the barn last. 

Koda is very very routine oriented. If Koda could, he would put his own halter on and turn himself in/out at the appropriate time and order, where he goes first. We humans just get in his way. Koda is not the kind of horse you can just let sit. He needs a job, and to be reminded of his manners on a regular basis. We absolutely remind him of the good boy that he can be, every time he is handled. However, I am sure Brad has noticed Koda's naughtiness increasing. He tests everyone, not just me. I thought he would grow out of being the class clown, but it is part of who he is.

......................

Brad is more reassuring then I am for our horses, so he walked the snorting dragon better known as Koda bear...

Heading down to the woods, on the wild side of the fence

Jameson (grand dog) isn't sure he want to be any closer
to the snorting machine

Tank watching Koda nibble & try to relax out of pasture sight

Nemo is very concerned

Brad & Koda took a short wooded walk
and came out by the apple trees

Walking past the huge scary brush pile

Happy to be heading back towards the pasture

walking up to the barn

Nemo & Harmony checking the situation

It has been a long time since our horses have been down to our woods, or any distance from the barn/pastures. We went for one trail ride after purchasing our land three years ago. Harmony has never explored our land. I hope her walk-a-bout days (and Nemo's) will be coming too. The first steps towards our original dream...

The dragon breathing diminished and everyone survived without incident. All is well in Koda's world, and he even got to go in the barn first :)