Whew!

It has been exciting again. Wednesday, the round pen was finished. That is, other then the gates being figured out, built and installed. But done enough for me to be patting myself on the back pretty hard. Thursday, Pip escaped the pasture where she and Chloe were kept. A medium sized dead elm came down in the wind and hit the fence. It didn't take down the fence it just shorted it out. I thought I had gotten the tree pushed up and wedged into another tree. No such luck. It shifted and fell back out. When I walked out Pip was standing in deep grass on the hill outside of the pasture.

I called to her. "Pip what are you DOING over there?" She said she was eating grass and would I prefer it if she ate grass standing next to me. She stood there with that expectant look on her face, waiting for my reply. So I hollered back, "Well, hang on. I have to go get some stuff and I'll be right back." She gave me the horse equivalent of okey-dokey, so I started back up to the house.

I went in and grabbed a halter and lead rope, my carrot stick, my phone and a carrot. I went back out and got her attention and waited for her to come to me. I broke off a piece of the carrot and headed to the new pasture... the one with the round pen and no gates. We stopped here and there. Sometimes I would just go ahead of her and then wait for her to catch up, which would earn her another piece of carrot... always a reward, never a bribe. She went into the new arrangement like a champ. We walked through the round pen and into the pasture. I stayed with her a bit then headed back for Chloe.

My phone rang. It was the insurance agent with a quote. I apologized that I would have to call her back, then headed on to Chloe. I almost made it there and the phone rang again. It was a horsey friend that I was to meet up with during the mustang auction. We were catching up on things as I headed back to the old pasture. I got to Chloe and was getting ready to go through the gate when I heard the sound of thundering hooves. Pip apparently was in need of company. Considering being alone and galloping tend to get a horses anxiety level up. I decided to just keep talking with my friend and to let everybody get relaxed. Pip got to graze and get scratches. There were a couple of times when she had to come to me and put her head close, then she went back to her grass.

When I was down to one bar on my battery, I figured it was time to get busy. Said my good byes to Jackie and went in to Chloe. She haltered right up and got some scratches for her good behavior. Then we took off at a less then speedy mosey. I led Chloe and Pip followed. The name of the game was to keep calm. We once again arrived at the round pen. Chloe went into a pasture and Pip, not wanting to make my life any easier went into the other pasture.... the one I didn't want her in. Oh well, good enough. I grabbed my wire cutters and started to pull wire off the spool and string them across the opening. Tied the ends in and flagged them with cloth to make them visible. Put the lead rope across too.

Then the phone rang and Pip wanted to be put into the other pasture with Chloe..... of course.

Louie