If your horse escaped from the paddock?

Enfys

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By whatever means, and this is a general question (I don't care whether you have barbed wire or the latest in plastic railings etc) where would it go?

Would it just find the best grass and hang around there?

Would it go and visit with other horses on the place?

Or...would it ignore 40 acres of grazing, 15 other horses, including a stallion and field buddy, and go for a solitary walk along country roads?:mad:

I love my neighbourhood, when this happens the grapevine gets going and not only was my missing horse located 'visting' with some TWH's 5 miles away another lost horse was identified too.
 
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mine wouldn't escape... he probably wouldn't even notice that there was a way to! Tom would only escape if Ron wasn't there, and he'd head for the nearest person or the feed shed.

The only time our horses (and not current ones) have escaped they stood and ate the verge at the end of the drive, apart from Guinness who managed to get himself the wrong side of a neighbours garden gate. We still have no idea how a 4shod dales cob managed to get across wet manicured lawns without a trace!
 
Kelly has escaped from the field and the stable AND from me when we were out riding (she ditched me first :p) and where did she go?
Not another field.
Not grass.
Not the arenas.
Not even the barn where all the feed is!
But..
the muck heap.

Just stood there in amongst all the muck. Is my horse backwards or not?!?! :p:o
 
Beauty would do exactly what she did yesterday, trot/canter ( the first time I have ever seen her) away up some random road then wait for me, until I look at her with my :mad: face and point at her stable where she will then quietly walk back to let herself in then stand there looking sorry :p
 
One of mine would be so pleased with itself at escaping, that it would whinny loudly, and canter round til it found me to show me.
One would tiptoe to the nearest grass and eat until I collected it (it wouldn't run away).
The third would run round like a headless chicken, alternately picking fights with random other horses, high blowing and grass snatching.
S :D
 
None of mine have ever escaped and hopefully never will!! Once we were going 2 a show and my brother went and opened the top gates which lead onto the main road and my boy was being a pain to load and he managed 2 get away from me and someone had left the yard gate open so he went trotting out of yard heading for main road (gates open) :eek: i shouted his name as loud as i could crying my eyes out thinking he is gonna get killed he stopped looked at gates and then camE trotting back to me :) I was so relieved and very proud of him for coming back to me :D Ever since that we never open top gates now untill he on box. :D

Enfys - Im guessing your horse escaped and then ignored " 40 acres of grazing, 15 other horses, including a stallion and field buddy, and go for a solitary walk along country roads" ??

Or am i completely wrong?? Just guessing from "mad" face at end of sentence!! x
 
No :p shes mine :p Some days she is just really random, like wednesday she decided she was going to school herself at 39! Left me standing at the field gate holding a headcollar and she went of into the menage (sp) doing some very nice circles :D
 
Bloke the Brat danced around the farmers field and pond, headed off to the A46 and then came back.

Panj - the stallion (!) went to visit the girlies over the road! Luckily they have new solid fencing AND the owner has sympathy for us and our fencing situ (at the time).

He was very polite coming back in a headcollar, thankfully! :D
 
Meg would cause the other livestock chaos no doubt while she whizzes around the large field before settling to eat the grass. When we parted company out riding a few years ago she galloped home down the road and waited outside her stable for someone to 'help' her.
 
I lost mine three years ago.

Bit of a hoo-har at the gate with the shetland and it allowed Oliver, Tweenie (RIP Beanie) and P to get through the gate. You'd think they'd have run straight to the stable block, but nope, they ran up the road and through the village. It was pitch black, depth of winter, and they were finally cornered over 3 miles and three villages away!

I've never been so scared in my life. I was convinced they'd have caused an accident and hurt someone, as well as themselves.

There was a catch area erected in the field the very next day.
 
When my sister's horse got out, he ignored a massive open field full of ungrazed pasture, ignored a field of mares, ignored the stable block with it's bowls of feed outside the doors... And went and stood by himself in the arena.

When my horse got out, the arthritic, lazy, fat and stiff old boy went for a jaunt on a golf course. Angry golfers are scary people!
 
I have a "mountain goat"! She has always ignored elec fencing, but earlier this year she escaped from the field three times in a week! She went up the road to a gelding she had taken a fancy to! She was having a raging season at the time (which she'd never had before & hasnt had since) and even persuaded our very gelded gelding to mount her! We couldn't figure out how on earth she was getting out, she was actually climbing the hedges! Farmer was summonded to post & rail every available climbing point & *touch wood* she's stayed put since :)
 
Mine got out a few years back - I blame the little shetland amongst them who I swear was the Devil and led them into trouble. They worked their way through the woods, along a bendy country road and were finally found in a field in a village some 3-4 miles away. The whole herd stayed together for the journey
 
Or...would it ignore 40 acres of grazing, 15 other horses, including a stallion and field buddy, and go for a solitary walk along country roads?

Small and annoying coloured cobjob would be in this category. The grass is ALWAYS greener elsewhere - 10miles away most likely.

The other gets out then gets so paniced at his own stupidity that he tries to break back in, destroying the fence and himself in the process. Idiot animal.
 
Honey .. would get about 1 hoof out and stop to eat :D

Mysti, well galloping around, jumping all the fencing running in and out of open stables and then sleeping because shes worn herself out (typical toddler behaviour ;))
 
My shetlands got out last winter. We traced their hoofprints in the snow all around our garden (a couple of acres) and then found them on the front lawn munching the flowers! They had been on a right little adventure.

Had a scare a few weeks ago when we got a call from someone in our village saying one of my horses was out and galloping down the main road :eek: totally panicked, ran out to see all mine happily munching the field, it was the farmers horse that had escaped and luckily we managed to catch it ok, no harm done! Nice to think that the village keeps an eye out for you though!!
 
One would go to what he considered the best grazing within approximately 100 yards - having already sussed out where that is months ago :D

One (a stallion) would go off and herd the cows (unfortunately not anywhere useful, but drive them around and across several fields where they were not supposed to be). :rolleyes:

The other would be standing the right side of the broken fence/broken elec fence/wide open gateway, sweating and prancing, screaming his head off at the others because he would love to join them but wouldn't want to get in trouble :D

ETA: Just remembered, the third pony was once found having escaped, between (perfectly intact) 6ft high horse netting and a ditch. Its still a complete mystery how he got there, but judging by his charachter and the fact that he point blank refused to cross the ditch, back up or move forwards, I assume it was by accident! :eek:
 
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Our horses were let out of their field in Jo'burg by some naughty boys playing pranks one night. They wandered down the road, occasionally eating from the verges, until they found a nice field that a neighbour had been resting, went in, ate their full and promptly both went to sleep!
Fortunately, one of the guys who worked for my dad was ex-army and he tracked them, like a proper bush tracker, down the road. He showed us where they'd stopped, where they'd been trotting etc, just from their hoof prints on the dirt road. Apart from the worry of where they were going to be found, it was fascinating watching him work!
 
my 1st pony somehow climbed oput of his stable..never known how as he was tiny compared to the door, wandered along a main road into an estate and was trampling on different peoples lawns breaking fences in the process. non of which thought it would be an idea to ring the livery yard down the road to see if he had escaped!! I was surprised thought he would have just gone to nearest field!!
 
My big fella would go to his stable... only goes out if you make him and the pony would go to the grassiest spot he could find and give himself colic or laminitis.

They would have to go thru 3 fields (all owned my my parents) to get off our property so I'm reasonably sure they'll not manage that.
 
My old horse escaped from his field onto the side track. Came down the track, opened the main gate to the yard and then walked up the step into the tack room where we were cleaning tack. He looked so proud of himself.
 
my nutter was out in the snow and saw a nice lushpatch of grass in the garden so barged the gate down and went for a nice romp around the garden leaving hoof holes everywhere luckily my brother saw and my mum fetched him and put him back with extra hay :P
another time we were at a show parked in a huge crop field full of lush grass and the devil decided he would shoot out the trailer and dart off for a nice munch n the grass!!!
 
I put my old boy in the field behind (what I thought was) secure electric fencing and had just popped out the gate, leaving it open coz I thought he was fine where he was, and went back to the yard across the road and starting doing feeds etc.

When I went up to the field to get him in, he met me coming down the road, festooned with reams of electric fencing wire plus plastic poles trailing behind him! He'd obviously heard me doing feeds and thought he'd come down and help himself.
 
One would buck around and generally be very pleased for herself and then eat, the other would just eat!!! Fortunatly the yard has extra gates so even if they go field hopping, there is more to at least keep them on the yard.
 
I've an escape artiste.

NOTHING will keep him in the field. If he can't get under it, he'll squeeze through it or jump over it.

I've witnessed him cross a small brook in order to escape, dodging barbed wire (which was on the other side of the brook... he'd got through electric tape to get INTO the brook) post and rail fencing and a hedge.

He currently has no tail (see hedge) and it's just widely accepted on the yard that he has free roam of the yard, as barr tethering or stabling him there's nothing that will keep him in.

He doesn't go far, just to be with the other horses (leaving his companion alone I might add) and the yard's completely safe with metal gates he can't get under or over. So he gets left to it.

He's approx 7hh......
 
Escape? Goodness no, that would involve effort! Besides, there are cows on one side (she is scared of cows so wouldn't go in there) and lots of grass on all other sides so if she did actually shift her fat arse into gear, she would just end up munching!
 
Stig would probably bugger off exploring and stealing the flower heads off the neighbouring gardens.
Ollie is a "tim tim nice but dim" so wouldnt know how to escape.
The ginger ninja would probably find the nearest road to play on, along with sassy.
The mini's do walk under the fences occasionally, but they never go further than the main gate to eat the nicer grass.
 
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