If I thought I had a wild time last weekend having my horse leave me in the Shawnee, that was nothing compared to the adrenaline of this weekend. Well, maybe not nothing, but I am being dramatic here.
I went to the back pasture to feed on Saturday. Since the pasture is sky high, those horses get Born to Win served up 3-4 times a week, and I had not been out there since early last week, other than to check the auto waterer.
About 10 minutes into it, I see that Playmate is missing. Immediately I panic, since she is 26 years old and I guess it is not unreasonable for her to lay down and die. I am quite confident that is the only thing that would keep her from coming to dinner.
I called Barry and asked when he last eyeballed her---this was pointless I realize as he probably does not know when he last eyeballed anything except Bikey and a cold beer. As expected, he did not know. He also had a discernible lack of concern and made the brilliant suggestion that I look in the woods at the back of the property.
Off I went to investigate- my heart in my throat--I was Gatoring through the woods --every stump or pile of brush scaring me into thinking it is her. Finally I see her--on all four feet, looking like she is at a friggin tea party.
The only problem with this picture is that the fence is on the wrong side of her--I am staring and staring and trying to confirm that she is in fact on the OTHER side of the fence. She is staring back, surely wondering what I am looking at so intently.
"Self", I say to myself, "Self", I say--"what the hell?" What is up with that? The relief at having found her is settling in and I am getting shaky, which makes it hard to undo the TWO gates between me and her. I get to the second one and she is standing there waiting to be haltered and led back in to her pasture, which I do. Then I started bawling.
Probably you are thinking I am overreacting just a hair, but this is no ordinary fence line--it is the line between our property and the railroad tracks. In fact, I think the RR owns it.
I then must investigate this matter, since she obviously did not go out a gate--I must have looked ridiculous Gatoring over downed trees and brush and God knows what other living and non-living things, in an attempt to find the problem. Ultimately, I did-- a 20 foot section of fence that is just GONE.
Back I go to the front of the farm to load up fix-fencing materials, and Barry and get it fixed. Amazing how easy that is to do--once you know there is a reason to do it---
We continued our investigation for a while, and found some internal fence lines that were gone as well, and fixed them. In so doing, we found that we have had some trespassers of a questionable nature--methmakers would be my guess- near the cattle pass, as it is not blocked by a gate or other debris that had been put there for that purpose.
The pass is a tunnel under the railroad tracks to another section of the property--which we do not own, but have use of. It usually has standing water in there as the creek runs into that, but now it is dry, so it was easy to investigate. For me that is, Barry is a big weiner who thinks snakes are hiding out for him all the time and would not go in there .
I went to the back pasture to feed on Saturday. Since the pasture is sky high, those horses get Born to Win served up 3-4 times a week, and I had not been out there since early last week, other than to check the auto waterer.
About 10 minutes into it, I see that Playmate is missing. Immediately I panic, since she is 26 years old and I guess it is not unreasonable for her to lay down and die. I am quite confident that is the only thing that would keep her from coming to dinner.
I called Barry and asked when he last eyeballed her---this was pointless I realize as he probably does not know when he last eyeballed anything except Bikey and a cold beer. As expected, he did not know. He also had a discernible lack of concern and made the brilliant suggestion that I look in the woods at the back of the property.
Off I went to investigate- my heart in my throat--I was Gatoring through the woods --every stump or pile of brush scaring me into thinking it is her. Finally I see her--on all four feet, looking like she is at a friggin tea party.
The only problem with this picture is that the fence is on the wrong side of her--I am staring and staring and trying to confirm that she is in fact on the OTHER side of the fence. She is staring back, surely wondering what I am looking at so intently.
"Self", I say to myself, "Self", I say--"what the hell?" What is up with that? The relief at having found her is settling in and I am getting shaky, which makes it hard to undo the TWO gates between me and her. I get to the second one and she is standing there waiting to be haltered and led back in to her pasture, which I do. Then I started bawling.
Probably you are thinking I am overreacting just a hair, but this is no ordinary fence line--it is the line between our property and the railroad tracks. In fact, I think the RR owns it.
I then must investigate this matter, since she obviously did not go out a gate--I must have looked ridiculous Gatoring over downed trees and brush and God knows what other living and non-living things, in an attempt to find the problem. Ultimately, I did-- a 20 foot section of fence that is just GONE.
Back I go to the front of the farm to load up fix-fencing materials, and Barry and get it fixed. Amazing how easy that is to do--once you know there is a reason to do it---
We continued our investigation for a while, and found some internal fence lines that were gone as well, and fixed them. In so doing, we found that we have had some trespassers of a questionable nature--methmakers would be my guess- near the cattle pass, as it is not blocked by a gate or other debris that had been put there for that purpose.
The pass is a tunnel under the railroad tracks to another section of the property--which we do not own, but have use of. It usually has standing water in there as the creek runs into that, but now it is dry, so it was easy to investigate. For me that is, Barry is a big weiner who thinks snakes are hiding out for him all the time and would not go in there .
The first pic of the tunnel is taken from our side of it. The second pic is where it opens into the neighboring property--that gate slides and swings so they can push through and get out on that side. Pretty interesting invention really. The other pic is just one of the creekbeds running through the woods
I investigated deep into the pass and found fresh horse manure in there, so tweakers are not the only ones that have found it--the horses have too. I cannot imaging making a horse go in there, let alone one doing it on their own.
You learn something every day around here---whether it is something you want to know is another question, but it is interesting for sure!
Disaster averted
I investigated deep into the pass and found fresh horse manure in there, so tweakers are not the only ones that have found it--the horses have too. I cannot imaging making a horse go in there, let alone one doing it on their own.
You learn something every day around here---whether it is something you want to know is another question, but it is interesting for sure!
Disaster averted
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3 comments:
That is just so cool looking - I'm with BS - no snakes for me. And I also cannot believe a horse would go thru there on their own..
It is crazy---all of that land to roam on, and they find one wierd thing and take advantage of it.
I am going to put up more pics of it later
That is a cool tunnel, I would of had lots of fun in there as a kid. Glad she was alright in the end and tell BS that if the horse went in it must be okay...
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