Ever have one of those days where everything you touch goes wrong? I had one of those days. Thankfully enough it happened at the end of the day so the entire day wasn't trashed but it made for a pretty bad night. It started out by my getting out of work fairly close to on time and deciding to start dinner before bringing the horses in for the night. As I stood at the kitchen sink washing my hands I gaze outside to see the horses standing at the gate staring at me, waiting for me to bring them in. Except I don't see them standing at the gate staring back at me. I see them eating grass outside of the pasture. Next to the house. Everyone is out!!! All 4 of them! It is dark, dark too, not dusk but full on night time with no moon shining through. I casually walked outside and said Hi to the App and walked quickly to the barn and started to make noise in the feed room. Of course no one is interested in grain, they are OUTSIDE and have GRASS. I grabbed a bucket with grain and a spare lead rope (Thank goodness I love having extras of everything!) and walked up to the App.
The App is the herd leader. The App controls where everyone goes and at which speed. If he decides to run around then everyone else will too just because you do what the App suggests. I had a pit in my stomach as I walked up to the App but he let me put the lead rope over his neck like it was no big deal. Thank goodness he didn't decide to take that moment to show Appytude and move away from me. In my mind I pictured him knowing he was outside and knowing he wasn't supposed to be outside and choosing that moment to flee for more freedom with his tail waiving in the night as he faded from sight. Yes, I was shaking as I walked him back to his stall.
I successfully and easily grabbed the TWH and put him away, leaving me with the pony and the donkey. The TWH is such a good horse. I went for the pony next and he stuck his head in the bucket for a nanosecond bite before taking his head out and then started to run away. That is one of his tricks, one I really dislike. About a half second later he stopped though, he realized I had sweet feed in that bucket! I didn't have stupid boring carrots or plain pellets, I was offering sweet feed! He decided if sweet feed was the offer then he was happy to be caught and went happily into his stall. I went back out to grab the last escapee and the donkey wasn't there.
I looked around and barely saw a swish of her tail as she went around the house to head to the road. Dang donkey, what is your problem? You are dark grey and it is dark out. I can only see you because I have the outside lights on, do NOT run away from me. I ran around some things to cut her off and offered her the grain. She, unfortunately, was not nearly as impressed as the pony and turned around and headed back to where she had been but this time had her ears on the treeline. She was enjoying this freedom. I was again able to cut her off and she stopped and stared at me for a moment before deciding to make a run for it between me and the fenceline. I did the only thing I could think of, I jumped at/on the donkey and hung off of her neck until she gave up. Thankfully it only took about 6-7 steps to do so but she gave a small rear and a little buck in protest. I then ordered her to her stall and told her she was a bad donkey.
For good or bad it looks like they pulled on the gate and since the gate post isn't driven far into the ground due to rocks, it was loose and I think it wiggled just enough to be loose enough to let go of the gate. Needless to say I dug the pole up, put some sand in there too to fill gaps and refilled the hole. I also now have a pin that goes in a hole in the gate's lock. It is reserved for padlocks but I am using a lynch pin.
After that endeavor I didn't think much more would go wrong, right? What had I done to Karma to deserve more? Well I don't know the answer to the last question however I had to dump the 10 cu ft wheelbarrow filled with pasture poo and then dump the poo box into the dumpster. The wheelbarrow didn't make it all the way into the poo box before dumping it's contents everywhere resulting in my cleaning poo off the ground again. Then I forgot SO had placed the back blade on the tractor so when I pulled the tractor out of the barn to empty the poo box, the back blade drug the ground making a mess of all of the mats we store the tractors on, making a mess of the grass and making a mess of everything. What was supposed to be a 30 min chore night (bring in, feed and dump poo) ended up being almost 1.5 hours as I tried to fix the tractor damage so SO didn't see my dumb moment. Is it bedtime yet?
Showing posts with label Pony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pony. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Little booger
With a new boarder comes the fun of herd integration. On Sunday and Monday I turned pony out with Daisy in the electric as the owner had said he can be a bit of a Houdini. I wanted him to respect my fences since they are not as solid as I would like and at 12,000 volts on a low amperage fence I figured he would respect it fairly quick! Those two got along fine and when I brought the boys in Monday night, Pony threw a fit whinnying and running around even though he had been separated from them by a fence and he still had his donkey in the pasture. On Tuesday we were to get severe storms so at lunch I opened the fences and let Pony introduce himself to the boys, this way if storms came everyone could go into shelter instead of just the boys. It was extremely boring. No squealing, no kicking, no ears, just "Oh, okay, hi. Let's eat". I ate lunch outside to watch them and got bored and went back to work. I checked on them at 1, 2 and 3p and everyone was quiet and happy.
At 545p I finished work and went downstairs to make dinner. I saw the boys and the donkey in the electric part of the fence and figured Pony was in the arena. I picked up a pan off of the stove and put it in the sink to wash and thought to myself "I should check on the pony". I followed that thought by "He is fine, he isn't getting out of the pasture". I turned the water on to wash the pan and thought "I really need to check on the pony". I threw some shoes on and went to the arena and as I was approaching the arena I had the pit in my stomach. I already knew he wasn't there and it turns out I was right. I now have a brand new pony that has escaped after being in my care only 48 hours, he has been gone up to 2.75 hours and I have no idea where he is.
I called my immediate neighbors and no one had seen him, I grabbed a feed bucket and walked the pasture and (still, to this day) could not find where he got out or find tracks to try to track him. I then called his owner and then the police to report a missing pony and walked across the street to the huge field, no pony. Just by luck someone pulled into my neighbors drive and said yes they had seen a pony down the road in a neighbors back field. Picture me trotting my out of running shape butt down the road with a halter and lead in one hand and an orange halloween bucket in the other. I am sure it was a sight. It just so happened another neighbor was checking her mail on her golf cart as I was running by and she offered to drive me down the road to get the pony, thank goodness!!! Nothing like already being out of breath and being offered a ride after someone has spotted your lost pony to make your day look better. Did I mention it was misting/raining during this? Of course it was.
Thankfully we saw the pony near one of the semi-major roads and when I called him he looked at me. When I rattled the (orange with black pumpkins and bats) bucket with oats he trotted over to me with a whinny. I was very relieved I didn't have to chase him all over creation, thanked the neighbor and walked home. Pony has some impressive scrapes and scratches, I am not sure if they are from the App beating up on him or scrapes from him getting out or scrapes from running through the brush. I cleaned him up by the time his owner arrived and gave him a half gram of bute and called it a night.
Neither the owner nor I can find any indication of where he may of gotten out. There are no signs in the ground anywhere in the pasture of a scuffle, no signs in the grass of footprints or rustling, no fence is out of place, it is very baffling. My only conclusion is that he squeezed between the Electrobraid and got zapped but he still kept going. I am keeping him separated from the boys until this weekend in case it was the App being a bully. I can't think of any other reason of why Pony got out on the only day he was with the boys and hasn't gotten out before or since. Hopefully things settle down else I will put a hobble and muzzle on the App. Not sure what else I can do with the PIA if he won't stop being a bully, darn horse.
At 545p I finished work and went downstairs to make dinner. I saw the boys and the donkey in the electric part of the fence and figured Pony was in the arena. I picked up a pan off of the stove and put it in the sink to wash and thought to myself "I should check on the pony". I followed that thought by "He is fine, he isn't getting out of the pasture". I turned the water on to wash the pan and thought "I really need to check on the pony". I threw some shoes on and went to the arena and as I was approaching the arena I had the pit in my stomach. I already knew he wasn't there and it turns out I was right. I now have a brand new pony that has escaped after being in my care only 48 hours, he has been gone up to 2.75 hours and I have no idea where he is.
I called my immediate neighbors and no one had seen him, I grabbed a feed bucket and walked the pasture and (still, to this day) could not find where he got out or find tracks to try to track him. I then called his owner and then the police to report a missing pony and walked across the street to the huge field, no pony. Just by luck someone pulled into my neighbors drive and said yes they had seen a pony down the road in a neighbors back field. Picture me trotting my out of running shape butt down the road with a halter and lead in one hand and an orange halloween bucket in the other. I am sure it was a sight. It just so happened another neighbor was checking her mail on her golf cart as I was running by and she offered to drive me down the road to get the pony, thank goodness!!! Nothing like already being out of breath and being offered a ride after someone has spotted your lost pony to make your day look better. Did I mention it was misting/raining during this? Of course it was.
Thankfully we saw the pony near one of the semi-major roads and when I called him he looked at me. When I rattled the (orange with black pumpkins and bats) bucket with oats he trotted over to me with a whinny. I was very relieved I didn't have to chase him all over creation, thanked the neighbor and walked home. Pony has some impressive scrapes and scratches, I am not sure if they are from the App beating up on him or scrapes from him getting out or scrapes from running through the brush. I cleaned him up by the time his owner arrived and gave him a half gram of bute and called it a night.
Neither the owner nor I can find any indication of where he may of gotten out. There are no signs in the ground anywhere in the pasture of a scuffle, no signs in the grass of footprints or rustling, no fence is out of place, it is very baffling. My only conclusion is that he squeezed between the Electrobraid and got zapped but he still kept going. I am keeping him separated from the boys until this weekend in case it was the App being a bully. I can't think of any other reason of why Pony got out on the only day he was with the boys and hasn't gotten out before or since. Hopefully things settle down else I will put a hobble and muzzle on the App. Not sure what else I can do with the PIA if he won't stop being a bully, darn horse.
Clean tack room and tired horses. Life is good.
This past weekend went pretty well, even it if things didn't go as planned. On Saturday we went to a local festival and overall had a pretty good time. Much smaller than I expected and it reminded me of a community yard sale but we had a good time and I found a recipe for fabulous icing so it was all good. We came home with the intention of work, clearing for the new fenceline, maybe even getting the fence up, reorganizing the tack room, cleaning pasture, clearing brush, etc. As I was demolishing the tack room I got a call from RB3, she wanted to see if a saddle would fit. She found it on consignment and want to try it on the boys before she purchased it. No worries she said, she had somewhere to be and would only be out for a little bit.
She came out and the saddle fits the boys fairly well. While she was there the farrier came out and RB3 stuck around and helped hold them and then stuck around as I finished completely emptying the tack room and then rebuilt it. After the chores of tack room, stalls and sawdust was done she wanted to ride so we went on a quick ride and then had pizza for dinner. For someone that was only going to be out for a little bit she stayed from 3p until 10 lol. It worked out well however and I had a good time.
On Sunday RB3 and I hauled out to the rails-to-trail trail I went on a couple of weeks ago and this time went north instead of south. Overall it was a nice ride, quiet surroundings, fairly well maintained trail despite having to do "trail maintenance" on a newly fallen tree, not super buggy and not super hot or humid. We rode for about 2 hours then I called and had SO meet us at a road crossing to pick us up and go home. The boys were eager to hop in the trailer and got the rest of the day and the next off. Having a "chase vehicle" was kinda nice, we could ride until we felt we were done and not worry about turning around or be somewhere at a certain time.
I also got my new boarder on Sunday, went and picked him up and brought him here. He was a little hesitant to load but light tapping with a crop anytime he went anything but forward seemed to fix that and he was on and ready to go in about 5 mins. He had been at the previous barn for a couple of years and the owner doesn't think the barn was bringing him into a stall as he has last almost all ground manners and is fairly sun bleached. No worries, I was given permission to reinforce ground manners and he is coming around already.
Have I mentioned that this little guy is LITTLE?! Much smaller than Daisy, he is a 10.1 hand pony. Very cute face with the tiniest ears. Very nice and personable, he is still a bit overweight and is only getting 1/3 of a cup of a hay extender. Poor guy wants more food and begs for it with these huge eyes lol. He drives and does some riding so hopefully the owner can come out and play with him on a regular basis. He is a cutie.
She came out and the saddle fits the boys fairly well. While she was there the farrier came out and RB3 stuck around and helped hold them and then stuck around as I finished completely emptying the tack room and then rebuilt it. After the chores of tack room, stalls and sawdust was done she wanted to ride so we went on a quick ride and then had pizza for dinner. For someone that was only going to be out for a little bit she stayed from 3p until 10 lol. It worked out well however and I had a good time.
On Sunday RB3 and I hauled out to the rails-to-trail trail I went on a couple of weeks ago and this time went north instead of south. Overall it was a nice ride, quiet surroundings, fairly well maintained trail despite having to do "trail maintenance" on a newly fallen tree, not super buggy and not super hot or humid. We rode for about 2 hours then I called and had SO meet us at a road crossing to pick us up and go home. The boys were eager to hop in the trailer and got the rest of the day and the next off. Having a "chase vehicle" was kinda nice, we could ride until we felt we were done and not worry about turning around or be somewhere at a certain time.
I also got my new boarder on Sunday, went and picked him up and brought him here. He was a little hesitant to load but light tapping with a crop anytime he went anything but forward seemed to fix that and he was on and ready to go in about 5 mins. He had been at the previous barn for a couple of years and the owner doesn't think the barn was bringing him into a stall as he has last almost all ground manners and is fairly sun bleached. No worries, I was given permission to reinforce ground manners and he is coming around already.
Have I mentioned that this little guy is LITTLE?! Much smaller than Daisy, he is a 10.1 hand pony. Very cute face with the tiniest ears. Very nice and personable, he is still a bit overweight and is only getting 1/3 of a cup of a hay extender. Poor guy wants more food and begs for it with these huge eyes lol. He drives and does some riding so hopefully the owner can come out and play with him on a regular basis. He is a cutie.
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