A phone call that no horse owner wants to get

[bexandspooky]

OMG my heart is still pounding now!!

Got to work early at 7.30 this morning as I knew I had a busy day and just wanted to get on with it.

At 9am my mobile rings and it is a friend of mine with a tone in her voice that makes your blood run cold and I just knew something was wrong.

"I have just had a phone call" she says, " your horses are our and are currently tearing up the lawn of the school" (1/2 mile down the road from the field).

So cue me leaping off my chair, running past my manager shouting 'horse emergency - back asap!!' and driving my car the 12 miles home like I was taking part in the next Grand Prix, only to get another phone call when I was all of about 1 mile from betting to the field.

'They are not your horses, yours are grazing in their field quite happily'



I checked them though and they were just fine - and the school managed to corrall the other two until their owners could make it.

I think I needed oxygen after that panic!!

 

[Nailed]

not really the worst in the scheme of things...

'your horse has colic/laminitis/lymphangitis/broken leg/gapping wounds are much worse

/

 

[TS_]

[ QUOTE ]
not really the worst in the scheme of things...

'your horse has colic/laminitis/lymphangitis/broken leg/gapping wounds are much worse

/

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know about that, I personally think your horses are out on the roads where they can potentially kill themselves or inocent people is just as bad as any of those!

Glad your horses are ok.

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
not really the worst in the scheme of things...

'your horse has colic/laminitis/lymphangitis/broken leg/gapping wounds are much worse

/

[/ QUOTE ]

For god sake!

Its still pretty orful to hear your horses have got out of the field and are half a mile down the road! God knows what could have happened to them on their journey!!!

OP - Glad it wasnt you horses

 

[dobbin27]

Poor You!!!

My neighbours did exactly the same to me about two weeks ago!!!

I got a call to say my horses were charging about in a nearby smallholding feasting on all the yummy vegetables!!

Left my assistant nearly in tears dealing with a whole world of problems as I legged it out of the office, and called neighbours back when I got half way back to ask them to go and tempt them with a bucket if they were near the road, to be told that only my 'little white pony' was there now, and the others had gone back into the field. I don't have anything even vaguely resembling a little white pony.

It was the first time they had noticed the NF youngsters a few houses away, they were, as were mine still safely in their field just enjoying being young and the spring grass!!!

Scared the Cr@p out of me though!!!!!!

 

[Kenzo]

Thankfully no harm done, a shock you'd have rather of done without though never the less.

 

[bexandspooky]

[ QUOTE ]
not really the worst in the scheme of things...

'your horse has colic/laminitis/lymphangitis/broken leg/gapping wounds are much worse

/

[/ QUOTE ]

I specifically didn't put 'The' or 'The worst' for that very reason. There are many phonecalls that a horse owner wouldn't want to hear - for me at the time this was one of them.

With the close proximity of the main road, heavy traffic, children at the school, what route through various fences, hedges and gates they would have had to used to get out and one pony being very prone to laminitis and the schools lawns being very lush, then most of the options that you just listed were a very real possibility by the time that I got there.

Many thanks for your kind words and concern though.

 

[LankyDoodle]

[ QUOTE ]
OMG my heart is still pounding now!!

Got to work early at 7.30 this morning as I knew I had a busy day and just wanted to get on with it.

At 9am my mobile rings and it is a friend of mine with a tone in her voice that makes your blood run cold and I just knew something was wrong.

"I have just had a phone call" she says, " your horses are our and are currently tearing up the lawn of the school" (1/2 mile down the road from the field).

So cue me leaping off my chair, running past my manager shouting 'horse emergency - back asap!!' and driving my car the 12 miles home like I was taking part in the next Grand Prix, only to get another phone call when I was all of about 1 mile from betting to the field.

'They are not your horses, yours are grazing in their field quite happily'



I checked them though and they were just fine - and the school managed to corrall the other two until their owners could make it.

I think I needed oxygen after that panic!!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL! That made me chuckle. I can imagine your panic, though.

 

[BBH]

I have had two horrid phone calls, the first just like yours to say my horses had escaped and were on the road but no they weren't and secondly the worst phonecall of my life.

Are you driving ?
Yes
Can you please pull over ?
I'm so sorry to tell you your horse has died ???

 

[Cyberchick]

Ooh I know how you feel. I had a phone call once to say the hunt had gone past and I didnt realise they were in the area that day and he used to go hunting with them occasionally so my horse decided to jump out and join them.
Cue legging it away from work, finding out someone had managed to shove him in a stable not far away and me going to pick up my tack so I could ride him home.

Glad they were all safe and well

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
Many thanks for your kind words and concern though.

[/ QUOTE ]

hehehe

 

[bexandspooky]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Many thanks for your kind words and concern though.

[/ QUOTE ]

hehehe

[/ QUOTE ]

Some people, eh!!

 

[f_s_]

Glad your horse are ok, and the school has sorted the others out!!!

Any phone call involving the horses in our household makes me fly into action!!!

I had a phone call saying mine were galloping up the public footpath!!!!!!

Rushed to get them, and discovered that the big mare was just looking for a way back into the paddock!!!

Thank god, there was no one on the footpath, I dread to think how you would feel if you were having a quiet walk and suddenly 1/2 tonne of horse comes galloping towards them, followed by the other members of the herd!!!

 

[bexandspooky]

[ QUOTE ]
I have had two horrid phone calls, the first just like yours to say my horses had escaped and were on the road but no they weren't and secondly the worst phonecall of my life.

Are you driving ?
Yes
Can you please pull over ?
I'm so sorry to tell you your horse has died ???

[/ QUOTE ]

I am really sorry to hear that LHS>

 

[Lippyx]

I think any call that states your horses isn't happily grazing and is where you left them last is a BAD call!!!!

I got one with my last horse after leaving her only 1 hr after mucking out saying she was laying down on the concrete and wouldn't get up!! That was enough for me to feel sick!! turned out she was too hot in her rug, and needed a relaxing lay down!!!!

 

[BBH]

Yes it was 2 days after his eighth birthday. Totally shocking and so sudden. Bl@@dy aneurysm.

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes it was 2 days after his eighth birthday. Totally shocking and so sudden. Bl@@dy aneurysm.

[/ QUOTE ]

God that made my blood run cold!

You poor thing!

 

[Nailed]

17 days ago ted was pts
waiting for a phone call and kniwing your going to have to make the hardest dicision of your life..

dont judge me.. who are you to judge me, do you know me
, i gave my oppinion.. in the scheme of things that was not a horrendous phone call. trust me.

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
17 days ago ted was pts
waiting for a phone call and kniwing your going to have to make the hardest dicision of your life..

dont judge me.. who are you to judge me, do you know me
, i gave my oppinion.. in the scheme of things that was not a horrendous phone call. trust me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im sorry to hear that but i wasnt judging anyone!!! I too gave my opinion which in this case meant i didnt agree with yours! Like it has already been said in other post's, any call reagrding you beloved horse is worrying!!!!

 

[ladyt25]

Ooh, never nice - my worst one was when my mum had gone riding on my horse I got a call and it showed from her mobile, I answered it and it although i spoke to my mum first i was then passed to a paramedic!!!

I heard the words "accident" and "Horse" and the worst images came into my head. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, mum had 'decanted' from the horse but he'd just gone back home. It was the Ambulance that flew round the bend, sirens blazing that had startled him and caused him to run!

Another one I had was telling me my mum's horse was dead on the road. I saw the stationary traffic on the main road from the end of our drive and panic set it. It wasn't my mum's horse although sadly there had been a horse killed but the terror that goes through you when you get 'those calls' is just awful!

Glad yours turned out to be all ok though!

 

[yethersgill]

No, not a nice phone call!
Glad they were okay.

 

[bexandspooky]

[ QUOTE ]
17 days ago ted was pts
waiting for a phone call and kniwing your going to have to make the hardest dicision of your life..

dont judge me.. who are you to judge me, do you know me
, i gave my oppinion.. in the scheme of things that was not a horrendous phone call. trust me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am sorry you have recently lost your horse. I too have had to make that decision and it is never nice.

That however does not make it any less worrying for myself or anyone else to hear that their horses are loose and cannot be caught. For them to have got out they could have sustained any number of injuries, for them to have travelled the 1/2 mile down a busy road they could also have sustained injuries.

What turned out to be a harmless and quite comical situation, could also have been a tragic and dangerous one.

I was not judging you in anyway, perhaps you should give other people the same courtesy. I wish you the best getting over the sad and recent loss of your horse.

 

[Madasmaz]

Personally I think I would need a very large VERY strong G&T, followed by a long nap.

 

[Patches]

I've been there.....

Last winter Oliver, Tweenie and Patches got out on to the road when it was dark. Frantically searching for them, the phone call to say they'd been located was somewhat of a relief.

Had they found their way in to any of the neighbouring open fields? Nooo......they had covered 4 miles in ten minutes trotting/cantering up through three villages! How they or any motorists weren't killed is beyond me.

It's a horrible, horrible feeling and whilst a happy ending means it wasn't as horrible as a phone call to say your horse needs surgery for colic, has broken it's leg, blah blah, it's still as gut wrenching until you know they're safe. After all, being loose on the roads IS life threatening in more ways than one.

 

[bailey14]

I agree with Nailed!!! I have twice been rung in the morning, once to tell me my horse was in trouble and the vet was on his way and could I get to yard ASAP (horse had in fact died of a heart attack) and another call at work on my first day at a new job, by the vet at the hospital my horse had been at for three weeks, telling me the sad news that my beloved horses joint had reopened and he was ringing for permission (actually not permission as permission was not needed and it was more of a courtesy call) to have him PTS. I have also been rang at work on another occassion (this time in the afternoon) to say my horse had hurt his leg, it was urgent, could I get to the yard, vet on way. I drove like a bat out of hell only to arrive minutes before the vet that had a shorter drive than me, to find my horse with a castrophic fatal compound fracture of his tibia. So to find myself getting a phone call about my horse grazing on a school lawn would have actually been music to my ears. x

 

[Hippona]

I dont really think OP wanted everyone to start a competition for whose phone-call/outcome was the worst...

....any phone-call is stressful, even if things turn out ok in the end, but you dont know that at the time.

I think we've all had a call at one point or another to tell us our horses were not as or where we left them....usually things turn out ok....other time sadly the news really is the worst it could be and to those people.....my heartfelt sympathies.

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
So to find myself getting a phone call about my horse grazing on a school lawn would have actually been music to my ears. x

[/ QUOTE ]

So you wouldnt be worried in the slightest that you horse had broken out of its field, travelled half a mile up a busy road with lots of cars, pedestrians and god knows what other dangers and was now grazing in a school field with a load of kids around who could quite innocently approach one of the horses, have them spook and hurt the child or its self???

 

[BeckyD]

But I think the title "a phone call that no horse owner wants to get" is a truthful one, whatever your history or prior experiences. A heck of a lot of us have had some awful phone calls, but that doesn't mean that we have the monopoly on awful phone calls. It's not a competition. The reverse of the OP's title would mean that we all want to hear that our horses have escaped, are in danger, causing a danger, and could be in worse trouble if not sorted out right away.

Now call me odd, a bunny-hugger or whatever you like, but that's not the sort of phonecall I would like to receive. And I find it quite odd that you would like to receive that sort of phone call.

Each to their own I suppose.

And I'm sorry for your various losses, as I am sorry for all of us who have lost those dear to us.

 

[BBH]

I think applecart meant that because she has had phone calls resulting in the deaths of her horses to have a phone call saying he was alive and on a green would be nicer. Ie anythings better than a call to say your horse had died.

I maybe wrong but thats how I read her note.

 

[bailey14]

Don't be silly I wasn't saying that, but in comparison to what calls I have had (along with a lot of other people in case I am being judged as being too competetive) its not quite in the same league.