Sparkles
Well-Known Member
Well....after a *lovely 3 hour hack in the sunshine on the Hairy horse with a friend and her horse, went back back via the barn to give them a bath before taking them back to the field, all the horses sorted for the night, everything done for the day - no dramas. *All that's left, is a casual, slow mile walk back to their field down the road.....
What could happen possibly.....
Get as far as 100m down from the barn, when said friends horse spooked, spun and tripped. Friend flies off, promptly lands on butt resulting in her horse taking off across the field in direction of his field. Said horse jumps into the next field, and carries on going down through a tractor track in the crop about 20metres from the road [main by road - national speed limit type with lots of bends and moronic drivers. No fencing. You can imagine my thoughts.]
So off I *go after him on Hairy, yelling at friend to go to the road and try and warn any cars going by that there's a loose horse.
So, we *jumped into the next field after him and followed the set-aside catching up and staying parallel to him to try and stop him going out on the road for the mile....
Luckily, it worked and he just carried on straight down the track still and eventually at the end of that field, there's a property which cuts a square out of the field in the top right corner that we were heading to, which then leads to the fenceline bordering one of our fields, with a drive and gateway fenced in. So he'd stopped by the fence line just at the edge of where the driveway started, so I thought if I could just get him to go in there, then I could just keep him cornered in there till I could ring someone to come out and help catch him up [said horse is also a nightmare to catch to make things even more easier....] Which nearly worked fine...I got up to him and went to grab his reins leaning off Hairy - just at which same point the horses in the field came bombing up to fenceline and then promptly all went silly and galloped flat out back down the bottom end of their field - which is about *30 acres at least and borders the motorway. Taking friends horse with them along down the fenceline the other side. Heading straight towards the motorway. Said horse, also jumps...as I well knew.
So he was there, with the other horses on the otherside of him, going flat out down the field heading straight to where the fence was eventually. Luckily...I then remembered the crop field we were in, stretched down further than the horse's field did...so he'd only gone about 20m or so further along when he realised the other horses weren't with him and were back up the field a bit, so he stopped, called for them, heard where they were and went back slightly further up. I was again, on Hairy, *cantering back up the field nearer them to try and herd him back up to the top of the field again. Friends horse couldn't have given two hoots about me and Hairy, he was wired and clinging onto to the herd in the field who were careering about. So I decided to try and get them back up to the top of their field again instead - went over to the fenceline slightly further up and called them all. [Luckily, they all have a 'feedtime' call....so shouted them for that and put Hairy in sight of them.]
Which, thank god, worked like a treat! Called again, at which point one of the horses finally caught on and called to Hairy and started trotting up our way, bringing the others with him. So I called again and just turned Hairy *and cantered back up the fenceline back to the top gate. All the horses followed his lead and all ran straight to the top corner, bringing friends loose horse with him along the fenceline also.
At which point, friend had also appeared, with a lovely lady who had driven by and seen my horse-less friend and the horse running down the field. So they'd just come into help try and catch him - when we'd appeared coming over the brow of the hill lol. All I remember saying was dive to the side and don't let him go back down that way and that he should run straight up behind me and into the gateway and once he was on there, block him in.
Thanking god, it worked perfectly. He ran straight in behind Hairy and I managed to fly off and grab the little gits reins and he was FINALLY caught. After well over 30 odd minutes of running about.
Friend is all fine, just a little bruised....escapee of a horse is also no worse for wear - though was extremely tired after his adrenaline rush had gone!
Hairy is also fine. I don't know what we'd do without Hairy! He's the most dependable horse on the planet. He got rather a lot of carrots!!!
So all is well. [When it so nearly couldn't have been!]
* I was also riding typically bareback on Hairy also. My legs are not worth knowing right now. I am not looking forward to waking up tomorrow.
How eventful as your days been?!
What could happen possibly.....
Get as far as 100m down from the barn, when said friends horse spooked, spun and tripped. Friend flies off, promptly lands on butt resulting in her horse taking off across the field in direction of his field. Said horse jumps into the next field, and carries on going down through a tractor track in the crop about 20metres from the road [main by road - national speed limit type with lots of bends and moronic drivers. No fencing. You can imagine my thoughts.]
So off I *go after him on Hairy, yelling at friend to go to the road and try and warn any cars going by that there's a loose horse.
So, we *jumped into the next field after him and followed the set-aside catching up and staying parallel to him to try and stop him going out on the road for the mile....
Luckily, it worked and he just carried on straight down the track still and eventually at the end of that field, there's a property which cuts a square out of the field in the top right corner that we were heading to, which then leads to the fenceline bordering one of our fields, with a drive and gateway fenced in. So he'd stopped by the fence line just at the edge of where the driveway started, so I thought if I could just get him to go in there, then I could just keep him cornered in there till I could ring someone to come out and help catch him up [said horse is also a nightmare to catch to make things even more easier....] Which nearly worked fine...I got up to him and went to grab his reins leaning off Hairy - just at which same point the horses in the field came bombing up to fenceline and then promptly all went silly and galloped flat out back down the bottom end of their field - which is about *30 acres at least and borders the motorway. Taking friends horse with them along down the fenceline the other side. Heading straight towards the motorway. Said horse, also jumps...as I well knew.
So he was there, with the other horses on the otherside of him, going flat out down the field heading straight to where the fence was eventually. Luckily...I then remembered the crop field we were in, stretched down further than the horse's field did...so he'd only gone about 20m or so further along when he realised the other horses weren't with him and were back up the field a bit, so he stopped, called for them, heard where they were and went back slightly further up. I was again, on Hairy, *cantering back up the field nearer them to try and herd him back up to the top of the field again. Friends horse couldn't have given two hoots about me and Hairy, he was wired and clinging onto to the herd in the field who were careering about. So I decided to try and get them back up to the top of their field again instead - went over to the fenceline slightly further up and called them all. [Luckily, they all have a 'feedtime' call....so shouted them for that and put Hairy in sight of them.]
Which, thank god, worked like a treat! Called again, at which point one of the horses finally caught on and called to Hairy and started trotting up our way, bringing the others with him. So I called again and just turned Hairy *and cantered back up the fenceline back to the top gate. All the horses followed his lead and all ran straight to the top corner, bringing friends loose horse with him along the fenceline also.
At which point, friend had also appeared, with a lovely lady who had driven by and seen my horse-less friend and the horse running down the field. So they'd just come into help try and catch him - when we'd appeared coming over the brow of the hill lol. All I remember saying was dive to the side and don't let him go back down that way and that he should run straight up behind me and into the gateway and once he was on there, block him in.
Thanking god, it worked perfectly. He ran straight in behind Hairy and I managed to fly off and grab the little gits reins and he was FINALLY caught. After well over 30 odd minutes of running about.
Friend is all fine, just a little bruised....escapee of a horse is also no worse for wear - though was extremely tired after his adrenaline rush had gone!
Hairy is also fine. I don't know what we'd do without Hairy! He's the most dependable horse on the planet. He got rather a lot of carrots!!!
So all is well. [When it so nearly couldn't have been!]
* I was also riding typically bareback on Hairy also. My legs are not worth knowing right now. I am not looking forward to waking up tomorrow.
How eventful as your days been?!
