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
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.
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| Nemo & Harmony walking away back to the pasture Koda is with me. Notice neighbors house in distance (along treeline) our road is beyond it. |
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.
5 comments:
Oof, that's a lot of excitement for first thing in the morning! Glad everyone was ok.
Never a dull moment! My gates are the kind that has a chain to close them; I also put a double ended clip on them when I know I am leaving the barnyard. One evening I forgot to do that on Beamer's gate and the next morning I discovered that his gate was wide open, he had lifted the chain out of its slot, and had spent the early morning hours circling the mare pen. Fortunately it's hotwired and he couldn't do much more than talk to them. And at least he's easy to catch too! Now I double check for the clips being on before I head out.
Glad you got your horses caught without incident!
Guess that got your heart started early in the morning! I hate when that happens. Glad everyone got home okay.
We that happen about 2 years ago. The whole herd escaped after a hunter left the gate open and they wound up across the street in a neighbors yard. He was such a jerk about it and wouldn't help us get them home. So my daughter and I each took a few and walked them down the road before they wound up on the highway. The neighbor wouldn't even close his gate so they couldn't escape his property and proceeded to ride his tractor up and down the driveway while we were trying to round them up. I'm pretty sure he's the one who was on our property in violation of every sign known to man and left the gate open. We now have combination locks on all the gates leading off the property.
Definitely a bit more excitement then anyone needs first thing in the morning. Except for Koda, he was pleased as punch with their rendezvous. I mentioned to Brad that I wondered who the instigator was. I went into instant action and didn't stay put long enough to watch. He laughed!! I should have known. He said Koda's tracks were in front, my horse led the entire escape...
Oh Beamer, such a ladies man lol. We've always had the chain system in the past, we clipped ours too.
Arlene, I remember when that happened to your horses. Sorry you have such a rotten neighbor!! Combination locks are a good solution.
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