Monday, January 4, 2010

It's 7am. Do You Know Where Your Horses Are?

The phone was ringing all morning with the school's recorded message of "We are on a 2 hour delay" due to the snow and frigid temperatures, so when I did my nekkid dash from the shower to the kitchen to answer it once more, I figured it was just a repeat.

But it was my neighbor across the street telling me she was pretty sure my horses were in her back yard.

All I could think was How in the hecks did they get across the 45 mph state route so full of tractor trailers there are signs posted about their obnoxious jake braking.

Truly, the stretch of road in front of our property is dicey on a clear and sunny day, let alone in the dark and snow.

Then I thought, No way. Mark left the gate unlocked? He neeeever leaves the gate unlocked and Sam (and to a lesser degree, yours truly) is the usual culprit and there is a big stink about it. Understandably a big stink when you're talking about animals getting smashed on the road or causing dangerous traffic accidents.
So all that's going through my mind as I wake the sleeping grizzly in my bed and try to find clothes to throw on and a hat to cover my wet head. Ah, the 15 degree weather is refreshing right out of the shower!

Run to the barn for halters and head across the street for my little runaways.

I think they were very, very glad to see us and came right to us. They must've had quite a scary adventure and seemed lost. Mommy, you found us!

When we put them back in the pasture we found that the gate had not been left open. Phew!
But somehow Admiral had either run through the gate or slid into the gate, because the gate hook was torn from the post and the gate was dented with horse hair stuck in it. I couldn't find a scratch on either horse and they seemed none the worse for wear thankfully. It's kind of a mystery what happened though. Weird.

I'm very glad it was a happy ending. Horses alive and well. No ten car pile up in front of the house. None of the cows had the ambition to sneak out. Sam was not in terrible trouble, though he was unpleasantly roused from his 2 hour delay sleeping in after a late night skiing with The Older Boys. (Kind of a milestone event overshadowed by the escape; Sam took a trip sans parents to the mountains to ski with fellows in their 15's and one almost 20 year old. Pretty rad for a guy not quite 13 I thought.)
How's your Monday so far?

10 comments:

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

How darn cold is it there? We are at the daughter's in Oklahoma where's it's 20, but at home it is -1. Suppose to get colder by weekend at home. We will go back in a day or two.

Glad the horses and you all are safe.

Did you have pork to warm you up for breakfast? LOL

Have a great week!
PT and the retired BT

We have having pepper bacon.

Sara said...

Glad the horses are okay! Monday's do not rock. Grab a cup of coffee and hope the rest of your day is better.

Kara said...

Scary! I'm glad it worked out okay!!!

Michele R said...

I was picturing some horrible pile up like in The Horse Whisperer! Cuz i freak and worry like that. So glad it was no more drama than it was.
It was 17 degrees here in GA...and sunny and no precip. School starts up tomorrow. Can i tell you how mad the boys are that there is no snow here. May be a development for Fri....

Becky said...

Whew, I am dreamin' wishin' hopin' prayin' for a snow day here in Hotlanta. It's cold enough, like Michele said.

Glad you got your fugitives back!

Veronica said...

Yipes, glad the horses are okay. I keep seeing all these blogs and Facebook posts about snow; hard to believe here in sunny, 52-degree San Francisco!

Dave said...

Wow, that's a dramatic morning. Could one of the horses have slipped on the snow and hit the gate open?

It's cold enough here in DC. And windy too.

honeypiehorse said...

See, this sort of thing doesn't happen to most of us. You're like, Laura Ingalls. If she had blogged.

Annette said...

OMG, Sara! That is the scariest thing in the world. In my opinion, anyway. I've been there, done that, and it still makes me break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. So glad it turned out well.

Bad Admiral!!!

Sara said...

Thanks ya'll! Those two knuckleheads don't know what drama they caused or what danger they narrowly avoided. Stinkers!

PT- pepper bacon? you're torturing me! yum!

Sara- I had 2 cups for good measure. ;)

Thanks, Kara, for the well wishes.

I've got plenty of of snow to share with all you Georgians. Ship those kids up to Hickory for skiing and sled riding! Wouldn't that be awesome!?

Veronica- you San Franciscans and your perfect weather all the time! Just think of all the booger freezing and sweating you're missing tho-ha!

Dave- we were stumped because the new snow covered up all the clues, but that seems like a good probability. I'm just thinking, if he hit the gate hard enough to dent it, he ought to be sore! I know I would be! But they're pretty tough I guess.

HPH- I actually can't quite believe it happens to me either. Like when I'm standing alongside the 'highway' in my pajamas and boots rescuing my horse and she poops in the neighbors driveway & I have to send Sam for a shovel and deep down I'm just kind of happy because I get to see my horse before work. CrAAzy Lady!

Annette, I know you can fully appreciate the danger of that situation! Good thing they are as mellow around traffic as they are. Again I say, Stinkers!