OH SHIT my first thought ... a little more information and I find out they are out of their paddock but in the sand ring... WHEW!
"Give them some hay and be I'll there as soon as I can" is my advice. Phone rings again. "It's alright, they are back in their paddock, but the springy gate thing is broken."
"That's okay" I say, "get some electric fence ribbon and tie it across the opening."
I've been the one making that call before. One morning, I routinely opened all the stall doors. I wandered over to the barn door to watch the horses file into their paddock. What I saw instead was the butt end of the last one trot out the open gate and leave. I had forgotten to check the gates before I let them out! Wow, what a heart pounding next half hour. Those horses went right over the rock and around the far side of the house. Thank goodness, Sarah came immediately and left her car across the driveway to prevent them from getting on to the road. Heather's neighbour appeared and started rounding them up. I can now look back and realize that once they found grass they were going to stop and catching them was going to be easy. In fact, once I threw a rope around the neck of one, three more followed.
This week, when I got to the barn, my friend was still fairly shook up but the horses were all quietly eating grass in the paddock, just like nothing had happened. I commiserated with her, they're just so big and fast... Yes, she said, they're just so big and fast. She called Heather to see if she could get another springy electric gate thingy. " I got them hay, just like your mother said," " I got them back in their paddock, just like your mother said," " I got the electric ribbon tied across, just like your mother said." hmmm feelin pretty good bout myself. Almost sounds like I know what I'm doing, hahaha. (don't speak to soon, smartass!)
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment