The Great Horse Escape

Okay, okay, so maybe it wasn't so great, but it really wasn't what I wanted to walk out to this morning. I had gotten the table scrap's for the chickens and headed out the door and I couldn't help but notice the round hoof prints in the mud next to the car.  Damn!  Then I heard the clunk of a garbage can.  I walked around the corner of the house, and there, next to the greenhouse, was Pip.  The alfalfa pellet can tipped over and her slowly munching contentedly.

I suppose this is a good time to put in a good word for Parelli foundation training because when she saw me she did  not take off at a run, or do anything to make catching her difficult.  I went ahead and fed the chickens and she waited for me.  I called her and she followed.  No rope.  No halter.  I was trying to figure out some way to contain her until I found her escape route, mend the fence, all that crap that I really was not in the mood to do.  I needed ideas.... maybe I could do something with  the half finished round pen.

She followed me around the corner of the fence and I could hear her coming along.  After a couple of hundred feet, I turned around.  No Pip.  I looked in the neighbors field... no Pip.  Looked back towards the greenhouse... wait!  There she is... standing at the gate.  Ears forward and eyes riveted on me.  I thought, well, she is calm and thinking.  She knows the drill, so we will try it her way first.  It was a bit of good luck actually.  The fence had not been sending a charge for awhile and it had been baffling me.  There it was.... the problem.  Somehow the ground wire had gotten clipped onto the bottom fence wire instead of the ground rod.  How the hell had that happened?!!!

I opened the wire gate and waited.  Here was the real test.  It is a very narrow gate and Pip , especially right now, is a wide horse.  I had no halter and no rope to encourage her.  It was quite a squeeze.  I just called her once, then tried to not look at her too much.  She didn't need any more pressure.  She rocked back and forth a couple of times, then focused on the far side of the pasture and came through.

Whew!!!

I fixed the solar charger wires and watched Pip.  True to her nature, she went right to the spot where she had escaped.  She had just taken a drink and so it was a good snap that I heard when her wet lips hit the wire.  Again a bit of luck.  She had just stretched the wire and had not broken it.

I had gotten off lucky.  And Pip had managed to get an extra large breakfast this morning.  I also got a warning.  I have to get that fence finished.  Every day is precious.  Winter is coming and I'm still not ready and today Pip reminded me just how unready I am.  Bugger.

Louie