Heidi
02-12-2008, 05:04 AM
11pm. Night-time. House mostly dark, husband in bed and I'm on the computer before doing my nightly chores and heading to bed myself.
Knocking at the front door.
Hm? Turn on lights as I walk to the door, turn on the porch-light and peek out the window while calling 'who is it?' and the person replies: "There is a horse going down the road, is it yours?"
*heart falls to feet*
I wrenched the door open, thanked him profusely (he is the boyfriend of neighbor's daughter) and told him I'd grab a flashlight and halter/rope. Kicked off my slippers and slipped on the nearby crocs shoes. He pointed which direction she was in, yes she was in the road and was up by the house beyond the trees but before the bend in the road, about a 1/4 mile. He said he couldn't give me a ride because his passenger seat was full, but he'd let me take his car up the street and leave it there for him to walk up to...
I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I just hiked up there, double-time. In my pajamas.
Q was behind Miss Geneva's home (elderly lady) and her husky dog (penned) was barking at my horse and Q was giving the dog the hairy eyeball. When I came around the corner of the house, she spooked at me suddenly appearing and ran. I ran back to the front of the house to find she had run into the 3 acre field next to Miss G's and her neighbor's house, instead of to the road.
I called "Q!" and she galloped up to me, sliding to a stop. I had taken husband's super-powerful flashlight (3 million candle power or something from Bass Pro Shop) and shone it on me so she could see me. She stopped right in front of me, but I made the mistake of stepping towards her right away and she spun around, kicking at me (missed), and took off again around the field.
She stopped in the other neighbor's driveway, under a street-light that illuminated their driveway. I walked up to her, shining the light on me and talking to her. I stood about 6' away from her because her butt was pointing at me and I didn't want to get between her and a large bush to approach her head in case she kicked again. She was blowing air through her nostrils very fast/abruptly in an 'alarm' sound and she was all 'buffed-up' and ready for flight.
So acted like I didn't care.
I stood with my weight on one leg, looked away and sighed loudly. I took a step away and put my back to her, sighing again. I took another step away then turned to look at her, holding a hand out, called her name and she walked up to me and put her nose right in the halter with a big sigh.
Right then, the neighbor-girl whose boy friend had seen her, pulled up in her car with her brother and asked if I was okay and needed any help taking her home or putting her away. I knew I'd shut her in her large stall for the night and fix fence in the daylight so I didn't need their help, but I thanked them profusely for coming to get me. I want to do something nice for them. Maybe I'll make them up a gift basket full of valentine stuff.
Leading Q home, four cars passed us at different times and she began to get a little worked up with their approach so I waved the powerful flashlight at the drivers and when I heard their engine's rev down, I shined the light on us so they could see the horse. We were walking at the side of the road, but it was nice to have them slow down when they passed. One car even pulled next to us and asked if we needed help.
So nice to know everyone is helpful after 11pm!
I called 911 to let them know if anyone had called about a loose horse on our road, that I had caught and safely contained her. No one had called it in. I guess it was a good thing there was very little traffic, but even better that someone recognized she was out and knew which house to stop at.
Q is safely in her stall. Plenty of hay still in there from earlier today, an extra feeding of a scoop of pellets and a bucket of fresh water. I checked her fence and it appears the hot-wire is broken and she pushed a section of fence down with her neck to reach new-grass on the other side. She has no wire cuts or scrapes so I can only conclude that she jumped the section where it was lowest at 3.5'. A deer may have jumped through the properties and spooked her into jumping, but I'll probably never really know why she went over.
Just a good excuse to make the fencing stronger and check my hot-wire function more often. Even if it means I get a little 'shocked' to test it myself.
Knocking at the front door.
Hm? Turn on lights as I walk to the door, turn on the porch-light and peek out the window while calling 'who is it?' and the person replies: "There is a horse going down the road, is it yours?"
*heart falls to feet*
I wrenched the door open, thanked him profusely (he is the boyfriend of neighbor's daughter) and told him I'd grab a flashlight and halter/rope. Kicked off my slippers and slipped on the nearby crocs shoes. He pointed which direction she was in, yes she was in the road and was up by the house beyond the trees but before the bend in the road, about a 1/4 mile. He said he couldn't give me a ride because his passenger seat was full, but he'd let me take his car up the street and leave it there for him to walk up to...
I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I just hiked up there, double-time. In my pajamas.
Q was behind Miss Geneva's home (elderly lady) and her husky dog (penned) was barking at my horse and Q was giving the dog the hairy eyeball. When I came around the corner of the house, she spooked at me suddenly appearing and ran. I ran back to the front of the house to find she had run into the 3 acre field next to Miss G's and her neighbor's house, instead of to the road.
I called "Q!" and she galloped up to me, sliding to a stop. I had taken husband's super-powerful flashlight (3 million candle power or something from Bass Pro Shop) and shone it on me so she could see me. She stopped right in front of me, but I made the mistake of stepping towards her right away and she spun around, kicking at me (missed), and took off again around the field.
She stopped in the other neighbor's driveway, under a street-light that illuminated their driveway. I walked up to her, shining the light on me and talking to her. I stood about 6' away from her because her butt was pointing at me and I didn't want to get between her and a large bush to approach her head in case she kicked again. She was blowing air through her nostrils very fast/abruptly in an 'alarm' sound and she was all 'buffed-up' and ready for flight.
So acted like I didn't care.
I stood with my weight on one leg, looked away and sighed loudly. I took a step away and put my back to her, sighing again. I took another step away then turned to look at her, holding a hand out, called her name and she walked up to me and put her nose right in the halter with a big sigh.
Right then, the neighbor-girl whose boy friend had seen her, pulled up in her car with her brother and asked if I was okay and needed any help taking her home or putting her away. I knew I'd shut her in her large stall for the night and fix fence in the daylight so I didn't need their help, but I thanked them profusely for coming to get me. I want to do something nice for them. Maybe I'll make them up a gift basket full of valentine stuff.
Leading Q home, four cars passed us at different times and she began to get a little worked up with their approach so I waved the powerful flashlight at the drivers and when I heard their engine's rev down, I shined the light on us so they could see the horse. We were walking at the side of the road, but it was nice to have them slow down when they passed. One car even pulled next to us and asked if we needed help.
So nice to know everyone is helpful after 11pm!
I called 911 to let them know if anyone had called about a loose horse on our road, that I had caught and safely contained her. No one had called it in. I guess it was a good thing there was very little traffic, but even better that someone recognized she was out and knew which house to stop at.
Q is safely in her stall. Plenty of hay still in there from earlier today, an extra feeding of a scoop of pellets and a bucket of fresh water. I checked her fence and it appears the hot-wire is broken and she pushed a section of fence down with her neck to reach new-grass on the other side. She has no wire cuts or scrapes so I can only conclude that she jumped the section where it was lowest at 3.5'. A deer may have jumped through the properties and spooked her into jumping, but I'll probably never really know why she went over.
Just a good excuse to make the fencing stronger and check my hot-wire function more often. Even if it means I get a little 'shocked' to test it myself.