Another Pied Piper Moment

I arrived at the barn yesterday afternoon to medicate Abby's eye and to check the herd - Tim had left town that morning and I am in charge of the barn while he is gone. (Which I absolutely love.)

To my surprise, the horses were waiting for me at the wrong gate. Tim had said that he'd put plenty of hay in the feeder to last during his absence; why had he then moved them to the east field and paddock when the feeder was in the other pasture?

Plans can change, so I put the antibiotic in Abby's eye, made sure everybody was fine, and went back to my car. But I still had a niggling suspicion that things weren't quite right. I decided to send Tim a picture and see if he questioned the horses' location.

I got this text from him just as I sat down at the sewing machine to finish up a haversack order.

I snagged Craig to help me and we hopped into my car and headed back out to the barn.

The horses were surprised to see me so quickly again, but came right up to see us. Before trying to move the horses, though, I wanted to be sure I knew where the problem was and figure out how I was going to fix it.

I walked down to the gate between the pastures and saw that it was standing wide open.

We had had heavy winds that day and I suspect a horse spooked or bumped against the gate and popped the chain off the latch.

Turning around to go back and get the horses, I discovered Abby had followed me and was standing right behind me, with Sultanna, Hokey, and Dolly behind her. That gave me an idea. I called Craig over to man the gate, then turned and walked back through it to the pasture the horses were supposed to be in.

Pied piper moment! Abby always follows me when I am there, and she followed me right through the open gate. The other horses followed her, and Craig closed the gate behind them. Easy peasy and no rodeo fireworks!

I did the chain latch, wrapped the chain around and slid a link into the latch a second time, and then used a lead rope to tie the gate shut for good measure.

Craig took a photo to send to Tim so he knew that all was well again.

The first day of barn watching is over; who knows what today will bring? I'll be going out twice a day since Sultanna is expected to drop her foal any time now.

Here's hoping that if there are any problems, they are as easily solved as this one was.

Loose Horses!

(Sorry, no pictures for this entry - I wasn't there when it happened.)

Friday around noon the herd went sightseeing down the road. (Sans Diablo. For whatever reason, she remained behind in the pasture.) Alice, the woman who lives in the old farmhouse, saw Abby and the twins bucking and cantering past her front window and called Tim to let him know the herd was out.

Tim, the sheriff, and even Alice (who is older and has difficulty walking) were out to round them up. Apparently Abby and the twins were easy to corral and lead back home, but Trouble and Hokey had gone further and took longer to catch. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the horses were not hit by any cars on the road.

But how did they get loose?

The east gate by the old barn was standing open when it was discovered the herd was running free. Did someone prank us and deliberately set the horses free? Tim secures all the gates on the property really well - so well, in fact, that sometimes I don't go out in the pasture but just visit with Abby over the gate as it takes a lot to open and then re-secure the gates. Whoever opened that gate would have had to make a concerted effort. Plus, Alice has a huge and very vocal watchdog who barks loudly at anyone coming down the access lane to the old barn.

(I suppose it is possible that someone could have approached the gate from the next door property and thus circumvented Alice's watchdog. I've walked up from the new barn through the pastures and not been spotted by her dog before.)

Or maybe someone left the gate open while working with the horses? That doesn't make sense for several reasons. First, it is just Tim and me who go into the pastures. (Alice and her husband are mostly housebound due to age-related issues.) I did not open it when I was there Thursday; I visited with Abby in the barn. Secondly, that particular gate is not one that gets used. It only opens to the access lane to the old barn which is just used for storing hay and shelter. All the tack and the indoor arena where Tim rides are in the new barn, so if he is going to ride or work with a horse, he opens the gates over by it.

Could it be that the horses had an altercation and ran into the gate, somehow popping it open? As secured as those gates are, it doesn't seem likely, but then, neither do any of the other possibilities.

I feel a little unsettled about the whole thing, and wish we knew how that gate became open. And, I am really grateful that none of the horses were hit by a car and are now home safely.