Monday, September 13, 2010

Silly horses

Yesterday Cliff shut the gate to the big lot, with the three horses confined in it.  (He thought.)  
He forgot he had removed one gate and put it up here in our back yard fence.  
Two of the horses didn't know this, but Snickers, our next-door neighbor's horse who is never ridden or touched, is the smartest of the bunch.  She immediately found the opening, ran out, and started eating the expensive seed Cliff was going to plant.  
The seed was in the bucket of the Mahindra tractor, so Cliff just went and raised the bucket out of her reach.  
I didn't see any of this.  But my daughter came over, saw the problem, and told me about it, asking if I could catch Snickers.  
I figured I would block the escape hole in the fence, try to catch the horse (I have my own group of names for her, but they aren't nice names) and put her back in the lot.  
I found a livestock panel and dragged it down to the opening, then wired it to the fence.  They couldn't escape now.  
That's when the real fun began.  
I got a rope and tried walking sideways up to Snickers.  Many times I've been able to catch a horse just by not looking her in the eye and approaching her from the side.  
It wasn't happening this time.
So I got a can of feed.  Snickers was interested in this turn of events, so I held a handful of sweet feed out to her.  She grabbed a quick bite and ran.  
Imagine this happening about ten times in a row.  Picture me, a person who really doesn't curse, calling Snickers a name that starts with a "b" and ends with an "h".  
Then I decided to think the way she does.  
I took the can of feed into the lot, where two other horses had been watching from the other side of the gate.  I led them to a spot where I could give them the feed.  Snickers, of course, was watching intently.  
I walked to the gate, opened it, and Snickers RAN through and joined the other two horses.  
I closed the gate, and that free spirit was captured.  You can imagine my pleasure when she later ran down to the place where she had escaped before and found it closed.  
It was almost worth all that trouble I had gone to.

6 comments:

  1. Donna , I had a pony i would catch by hiding the bridle behind my back and coming up on the side of him. I love that story and I especially,loved the part where you seldom swear but I can imagine how frustrated you were.

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  2. So far as I know there are only two ways to get a horse back within confines. You struck upon one. The other involves a tractor, log chain, and a gun but I'll not go in to that one.

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  3. There is nothing,NOTHING more frustrating than a horse that you can not catch. And, there have been times I have thought about using Cliff's method. lol

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  4. I love horses. Got to pet and talk to the police mounts last Sunday....

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  5. YOU ARE A SMART LADY DONNA!!!

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