What the Hell am I going to do?

[Ravenwood]

When I got to the stables this morning - my mare was standing in the yard looking very miserable and her stable rug was soaked through. I have absolutely no idea how I left her stable door open last night - never have I done this before and infact the last thing I always do before turning the lights off is check their kickover bolts have been flicked over.

But , and this is the worst bit!

, It looks like she spent the whole night on YO's front lawn! The whole lawn is cut up with extremely deep prints from my stupid, big footed, elephant mare!

I have spent two hours stamping in the prints with my heels (my legs will be agony tomorrow!) the whole lawn looks a complete mess and the owners are due back any day now. I have rung their gardener in panic asking what to do!

The builders turned up next door and laughed their heads off, offering me a radio so I could stamp to music!

The lovely haylage man arrived and drove right across the verge backing into the yard leaving great big tyre tracks!

What the hell am I going to do

Anyone got a one way ticket to Siberia?

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Opps, it will recover (eventually), box of chocs, might sweeten your YO!!!

ETA - Alternatively, tell her the circus have been to town, and all their animals escaped!!!

 

[LCobby]

Give their gardener a bottle of something nice and warming and he can roll and aerate it .
A days sun after rolling wil perk it up.

 

[Demolition_Derby]

This happened at my old yard but it was the YOs wife's horse and she knew how much her husband loved his garden so she decided to fill the hoof prints with what she thought was soil. A few weeks later some very colourful and pretty flowers appeared in hoof print shapes all around his lawn

!!!! Not much help, i know but I thought I advis you what NOT to do!

 

[sallypops]

oh dear. at my old yard we had an escapee horse who spent his time in the YO's garden till someone found him lol!!! i'm sure they won't mind as long as u explain what happened, second the chocs lol!!!

 

[pinkcatkin]

Our horses got out two years ago onto neighbour's lawn and did passage around the greenhouse about ninety times before we could catch them. It was our worst nightmare come true as the neighbours were elderly and rather bad tempered about us and our horses!

The people were out at the time and we were running round like headless chickens laughing but terrified. In the end, all we could do was admit what had happened and got my friend's dad who is greenkeeper to repair the damage, which was considerable. Funny thing was, the old couple didn't seem to mind at all!!

You'll just have to come clean and do what is necessary. Poor you!

 

[PaddyMonty]

Could you not blame one of the yard owners horses?

 

[Maesfen]

Tell them the deer got in and couldn't get out!

Just keep stamping away, if it rains it will soon settle down especially if you can sweet talk the gardener into rolling it for you.

You'd better buy two bottles of wine tonight, one for your aching muscles!

 

[Ravenwood]

LOL - I thought about telling them that it was their horse but I am a useless liar!

 

[trundle]

Let all the other horses out and deny all knowledge !

 

[Ravenwood]

[ QUOTE ]
Let all the other horses out and deny all knowledge !

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL - that won't work either - I am the only livery and in sole charge of the yard!!

 

[Kate260881]

[ QUOTE ]
This happened at my old yard but it was the YOs wife's horse and she knew how much her husband loved his garden so she decided to fill the hoof prints with what she thought was soil. A few weeks later some very colourful and pretty flowers appeared in hoof print shapes all around his lawn

!!!! Not much help, i know but I thought I advis you what NOT to do!

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG, this had me giggling for about 5 minutes. Hilarious. Its the kind of blonde thing I'd end up doing!

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

Let their horse out there just before they arrive?

 

[PaddyMonty]

[ QUOTE ]

LOL - that won't work either - I am the only livery and in sole charge of the yard!!

[/ QUOTE ]

On that basis you are well and truely STUFFED

 

[trundle]

Er, yes, then you are stuffed. UNLESS you lie through your teeth and say that there are gypsies nearby and probably one of their horses got loose in the night.

A lot of grovelling and a box of chocolates might be your only hope of survival....

 

[Ravenwood]

Oh well - I am going to phone the owners, in a minute, when I've had another coffee and hung out the washing, I might even paint the ceiling in the bedroom - then I'll phone the owners (probably!)

 

[Luce1504]

my escape artist mare, once let herself out of her stable and spent a good few hours on my parents front lawn, which you may think isn't too bad with it being our own lawn BUT it is my mums pride and joy and she is terrified of horses and would rather we didn't have them so I was in the dog house for a fair few days but, she did eventually calm down.

Spring is definitely on its way and the grass will soon be growing strong so aslong as you roll/stamp the hoof prints out in a few weeks you wouldn't have known anything had happened.

So I would go for the honest approach- get some chocs/flowers/wine and maybe buy a sorry card and send it off your horse

thats what I did and it seemed to help my mum realise that it was the horse that did the damage and i didn't intentionally let her stomp all over the lawn!and be prepared to maybe be in the dog house for a day or 2 but am sure u will be forgiven!

 

[Shilasdair]

Perhaps you need to double check security before you leave the yard? You were very lucky that your horse isn't ill or injured, never mind the lawn.
S

 

[Sooty]

[ QUOTE ]
Could you not blame one of the yard owners horses?

[/ QUOTE ]

This was my first reaction! However, since it is not feasible: how fast is your horse? If you set out now you could be a nice long way away when they get back!

 

[Haniki]

It could have been worse - we had a herd of cows over MIL's lawn once! (Our herd of cows.....). I blamed MIL for not having a cattle grid!

 

[Ravenwood]

[ QUOTE ]
It could have been worse - we had a herd of cows over MIL's lawn once! (Our herd of cows.....). I blamed MIL for not having a cattle grid!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL - quite right too!

 

[jumpthemoon]

Here's a tip for fixing the lawn....use a sharp pronged fork, stick it into the ground under the hoof print and lift the soil back up again. you should then be able to pat down the bits that are still sticking up so it's all level....

....my horse did this to a neighbours lawn once, it was like a bowling green (before she galloped round it in a tizz...

) Good luck for when they come back.....!

 

[Theresa_F]

Last year my two rather large lads decided to take a visit to the most expensive house in the village and avoid their paddocks and go onto their prize lawn. A 16.3 clydesdale has rather large feet. Thankfully mine don't wear shoes and had only walked around eating like mad.

I offered huge apologies and payment to put the lawn right. Luckily for me their grandson adores Cairo and was so very happy to see his favorite horse in his garden having a munch that they didn't mind too much.

I gave their gardener a box of chocs and bottle of wine, put up electric fencing so avoid further breakouts and Ziggy has had numerous rides on Cairo and is now his official tiny sharer.

The lawn does soon recover at this time of year - offer to pay for the gardener to put it right - should not be that expensive - bit of soil and rolling should do it.

Hobbles for the mare?

 

[Ravenwood]

Thank you - I shall go back this afternoon and assess it again with a clearer head!

 

[kizzywiz]

Instead of stamping the divots down, sorry but you need to get a garden fork & lift them, then gently press down with your foot so that the area is level, if you stamp them down, when the ground dries out it will be really bumpy, & if they cut it with a cylinder mower it will damage the blades, not to mention cutting slices off the lawn. Once you have lifted the divots, a roller over the top will help, but not if the ground is too wet, or you will end up with sunken trenches, any bare patches once you have done all the above could be seeded. Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, can you tell my hubby is a groundsman, & I used to be a grounds er "person"!! If its any consolation we spent a whole day repairing the bowling green type lawn at my yard after Kizzy had a hooley round it & through the roses, how embarassing!! Good luck.

 

[brighteyes]

Sorry, but I laughed my head off at this! I'd order an acre of Astroturf and pretend nothing happened.......