There are certain scenarios that show up repeatedly on the list of Top Ten Worst Horse Disasters for most horsekeepers.
Last night, I endured one of mine. I'd been away from the farm for dinner with a friend. Retuning home at midnight, I looked forward to quickly throwing hay to the horses and crawling into bed. I drove to the back pasture, turned into the aisle between the two paddocks...and saw the gate to Lucy's and Abby's field standing wide open.
I didn't have to ask if the horses were still inside. The grass is always greener, after all.
I shone my lights over the unfenced part of the field, which was empty. And Suzette the Ever Vigilant was staring toward the front of the farm, which meant the escapees had headed in that direction. Fortunately, when I got back to the road, I saw the ghostly form of a Cream Draft horse within the darkness across the street, casually grazing on my neighbor's front lawn.
The dogs were going insane, barking at the strange visitors. TBone and Merlin, the geldings who live in the front paddocks, were galloping back and forth, whickering and neighing to demonstrate their manliness. So much for a quiet night in the country!
I fetched halters and lead ropes, but the girls wouldn't stand still to be caught. I went back for a bucket and grain, which captured Lucy's attention immediately, but the halter which fit her a year ago proved to be too small. In the process of moving the buckles, I dropped the other halter, then had to lead Lucy around with me as I located a flashlight and searched for the halter to put on Abby. Thank goodness she decided to cooperate. As our grande dame, perhaps she felt further disorderly conduct was beneath her dignity. Or maybe she was ready to head back to bed.
Lucy doesn't like dogs, so she cavorted on the end of the lead rope as we walked by the back yard with the canines barking up a storm and then the paddock with the crazed gelding dashing around and calling out. Dancing draft horses are a challenge, especially in the dark, with mud and puddles on the road. And me in street shoes. Thank heavens for Abby's good sense.
Finally, we reached the back field, where all was calm and relatively quiet. Suzette and Joy waited tensely in their paddock for the return of their sisters. Seeing them, Lucy calmed down and walked with Abby and me to the open gate. In a few moments, the truants were restored to their proper place.
I sorted out hay in the dark, slipped through the mud to give everyone her share, then walked back to the barn up front to do the same for the guys. At last, about an hour after I'd planned, I crawled into bed. Sleep was longer in coming, because the geldings were still keyed up, still calling back to their lady friends, asking for a date. Everyone had a late breakfast this morning except me...I haven't managed to find time to eat yet.
So, I encountered one of the Top Ten and we all survived. I'm glad it was midnight, and not 4 pm--the traffic on my little two-lane road is deadly in the afternoon. When we signal the motorcyclists who streak by to slow down, they flip us a bird and keep going.
Nary a vehicle interfered last night as I herded my girls safely back to their crib. That's the best outcome I could hope for. But, oh, what a night!
Cheryl
Showing posts with label Abby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abby. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
My Herd
An introduction to my hooved friends...
We purchased TBone in the fall of 2000. He's a Spotted Saddlehorse, meaning he's got Tennesse Walker genes plus the "spots" that come from Quarterhorses. His official name is "Major Markings," which is true because he's a brown, white and black pony. TBone and my younger daughter learned dressage and eventing together. Now 14 years old, he's too small for her to compete, but we've trained him as a driving horse and hope to do some Combined Driving Events next fall, once he completely recovers from a surgery to deal with his navicular disease.
Abby is 3/4 Thoroughbred, 1/4 Quarterhorse, a combination called an Appendix. She's bay colored and our grande dame at 19. Abby has done eventing and second level dressage, which makes her rather impressive. She's been ours since June of 2003, our school mistress for teaching most of us how to ride and the younger horses how to behave.
Suzette is half Arabian, half Warmblood and all "Princess." She's our dressage prospect, a beautiful mover who loves to perform. She was born the night we had to euthanize my beloved Quarterhorse, Cruiser, so I always figured his spirit had decided to stick around in the new baby, so she's been mine since her birth, 7 years ago on March 14th.
4 year-old Lucy is the first of our American Cream Draft horse herd. We bought her and her younger sister Joy from Iowa--Cream Drafts are the only Draft breed developed in the U.S. With only about 400 in the world, they are an endangered group and our plan is to breed more of them and to publicize the American Cream Draft breed throughout the country. They're great horses--not as big as Shires, Percherons and Clydesdales but strong, beautiful and with lovely temperament. I'm hoping to have Lucy and Joy trained to drive as a pair in the next few months, then use them in parades and maybe as carriage horses for weddings. They look so much like unicorns, I think they would add beauty and romance to anyone's wedding!
I've also got five dogs, but I'll save them for another day.
Cheryl
We purchased TBone in the fall of 2000. He's a Spotted Saddlehorse, meaning he's got Tennesse Walker genes plus the "spots" that come from Quarterhorses. His official name is "Major Markings," which is true because he's a brown, white and black pony. TBone and my younger daughter learned dressage and eventing together. Now 14 years old, he's too small for her to compete, but we've trained him as a driving horse and hope to do some Combined Driving Events next fall, once he completely recovers from a surgery to deal with his navicular disease.
Abby is 3/4 Thoroughbred, 1/4 Quarterhorse, a combination called an Appendix. She's bay colored and our grande dame at 19. Abby has done eventing and second level dressage, which makes her rather impressive. She's been ours since June of 2003, our school mistress for teaching most of us how to ride and the younger horses how to behave.
Suzette is half Arabian, half Warmblood and all "Princess." She's our dressage prospect, a beautiful mover who loves to perform. She was born the night we had to euthanize my beloved Quarterhorse, Cruiser, so I always figured his spirit had decided to stick around in the new baby, so she's been mine since her birth, 7 years ago on March 14th.
4 year-old Lucy is the first of our American Cream Draft horse herd. We bought her and her younger sister Joy from Iowa--Cream Drafts are the only Draft breed developed in the U.S. With only about 400 in the world, they are an endangered group and our plan is to breed more of them and to publicize the American Cream Draft breed throughout the country. They're great horses--not as big as Shires, Percherons and Clydesdales but strong, beautiful and with lovely temperament. I'm hoping to have Lucy and Joy trained to drive as a pair in the next few months, then use them in parades and maybe as carriage horses for weddings. They look so much like unicorns, I think they would add beauty and romance to anyone's wedding!
I've also got five dogs, but I'll save them for another day.
Cheryl
Hoping For the Best
Hello, there. Welcome to HIWTHI. I got the title off of a barn sign a friend gave me. I think it's the absolute truth.
My purpose for this blog is to talk about life with horses. I'll be posting photos of horses, horse art, horse events and horse information. I intend to bring in guest bloggers to give us their angle on the horse universe. And I look forward to comments from horse people everywhere. Please feel free to drop in and tell me what's happening in your horse world!
I conceived a brilliant plan yesterday. I would take TBone and Abby to the back pasture to spend some time together, and bring Lucy up to the front to keep Merlin company. TBone and Abby have been close friends since 2000, and I wanted to make them happy. I thought Lucy could pacify Merlin without making him so reluctant to leave his paddock. He's been quite a bit of trouble recently, refusing to leave TBone if he could possibly get away with it. Since Merlin is a 17 hand Thoroughbred, he's pretty good at getting his way.
But if you want to make a horse laugh, tell it your plans. (I know, they say that about God, too. I see a very intimate connection between them.)
First off, yesterday afternoon was blustery and cold. The wind got up the horses' tails, as they say, and made them silly. Then the neighbor across the street hosted target practice for her grandsons in her side yard. Horses don't like gun shots. (Me, neither.)
Still, TBone and Abby gave little trouble on the walk back, maybe because they were moving away from the guns. Lucy was terrifically glad to see TBone, which is when I realized she's in season. (Something about the huge stream of urine she sprayed as she nuzzled him gave it away.)
Lucy did not like walking toward the gun shots--picture an American Cream Draft Horse dancing on two legs. Once she got to her new paddock, she charged around for a couple of hours, getting sweaty. Since she's busted through that fence in the past and gone trotting down the road, I was nervous, to say the least. Draft horses only stay inside the fence because they don't have a reason to leave. Give them a reason and your big strong fence might as well be paper.
Merlin had been to Aiken, SC to hunt for the weekend and returned about 9:30 pm. He was feeling sulky, though, and didn't give Lucy much attention--a good thing, because if he'd pestered her, there might have been broken boards, if not bones.
As we all settled down for the night, though, I realized the down side of what I'd done. Abby, a 1000 lb Appendix, eats about 18 lbs of hay a day. TBone, the Spotted Saddle Pony, should weigh around 800 lbs and eat 12 lbs of hay. But out in the field with Abby, there's no way to monitor his food. He'd end up eating all of his share and half of hers, getting fat fast. All the hard work I've done in the last three months slimming him down would have gone to waist. (Pun intended.)
So I got up this morning, when it was colder and blusterier, and reversed yesterday's trade with Lucy and TBone. There were no gun shots, at least. Now Lucy's back with the girls, eating as much hay as Abby, if not more. And TBone and Merlin are side by side again, the bachelor buddy geldings. All fence boards remained intact.
And that's the most I can hope for on a day like today.
My purpose for this blog is to talk about life with horses. I'll be posting photos of horses, horse art, horse events and horse information. I intend to bring in guest bloggers to give us their angle on the horse universe. And I look forward to comments from horse people everywhere. Please feel free to drop in and tell me what's happening in your horse world!
I conceived a brilliant plan yesterday. I would take TBone and Abby to the back pasture to spend some time together, and bring Lucy up to the front to keep Merlin company. TBone and Abby have been close friends since 2000, and I wanted to make them happy. I thought Lucy could pacify Merlin without making him so reluctant to leave his paddock. He's been quite a bit of trouble recently, refusing to leave TBone if he could possibly get away with it. Since Merlin is a 17 hand Thoroughbred, he's pretty good at getting his way.
But if you want to make a horse laugh, tell it your plans. (I know, they say that about God, too. I see a very intimate connection between them.)
First off, yesterday afternoon was blustery and cold. The wind got up the horses' tails, as they say, and made them silly. Then the neighbor across the street hosted target practice for her grandsons in her side yard. Horses don't like gun shots. (Me, neither.)
Still, TBone and Abby gave little trouble on the walk back, maybe because they were moving away from the guns. Lucy was terrifically glad to see TBone, which is when I realized she's in season. (Something about the huge stream of urine she sprayed as she nuzzled him gave it away.)
Lucy did not like walking toward the gun shots--picture an American Cream Draft Horse dancing on two legs. Once she got to her new paddock, she charged around for a couple of hours, getting sweaty. Since she's busted through that fence in the past and gone trotting down the road, I was nervous, to say the least. Draft horses only stay inside the fence because they don't have a reason to leave. Give them a reason and your big strong fence might as well be paper.
Merlin had been to Aiken, SC to hunt for the weekend and returned about 9:30 pm. He was feeling sulky, though, and didn't give Lucy much attention--a good thing, because if he'd pestered her, there might have been broken boards, if not bones.
As we all settled down for the night, though, I realized the down side of what I'd done. Abby, a 1000 lb Appendix, eats about 18 lbs of hay a day. TBone, the Spotted Saddle Pony, should weigh around 800 lbs and eat 12 lbs of hay. But out in the field with Abby, there's no way to monitor his food. He'd end up eating all of his share and half of hers, getting fat fast. All the hard work I've done in the last three months slimming him down would have gone to waist. (Pun intended.)
So I got up this morning, when it was colder and blusterier, and reversed yesterday's trade with Lucy and TBone. There were no gun shots, at least. Now Lucy's back with the girls, eating as much hay as Abby, if not more. And TBone and Merlin are side by side again, the bachelor buddy geldings. All fence boards remained intact.
And that's the most I can hope for on a day like today.
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