Dusty headed out to do morning chores Sunday, per usual. Bring the horses in, feed and hay them, let them eat for a bit and then one of us goes out to put them back out an hour or so later.
He barely left the house when my phone rang. Odd. I was snuggled up on the couch with Wyatt watching a cartoon. I looked at the phone and it was Dusty. Even more odd. Answering it granted me with a simple “you need to come out here.” I figured he would have told me if someone was dead or bleeding or something, so I pulled myself out from under Wyatt and ran outside in my pjs and slippers.
I saw this:
That looks ok. Two horses near each other behind a fence. Except there is one glaring problem. Gem is NOT IN HER PASTURE. Pete and Nash are.
So…Pete on the far right is solidly inside the pasture where they have been since moving in. The fence line can be seen BETWEEN Pete and Gem as the row of t posts and tape. Gem is standing in the lane that leads down to the pond and is in between two pastures. It has some tape as a gate of sorts blocking access to the pond lane and that is what Gem is standing behind. Impatiently waiting for her breakfast. Had she been so inclined she could have wandered down to the pond, into the woods and be lost for forever.
Gulp.
We found part of the tape down halfway toward the pond and a pile of Gem poop tattling on her escape route. It is unclear whether she tore it down in her impatience (very possible), if the high winds did it or if a deer (numerous visit the farm) knocked it down. Either way she didn’t look back at the opportunity to try to get to the barn. I fully believe that had the tape not blocked her way, Dusty would have found her in the barn either in her stall or more likely in the hay stall eating. The girl wants to be inside something fierce.
We grabbed the horses and put them in the barn while Dusty got busy repairing the fence. We didn’t string these lines and they are not as taut as we would like, so he spent a few hours tightening everything he could. The next day we had planned to move them to a different pasture anyway since they had eaten all the green stuff out of this one and we have enough room to rotate and not ruin any one pasture.
Miss Mare was on high risk escape watch for the next few days but seems content with the larger space and more green grass. Until she eats that down. Then we might find her on our front porch peeking in.
The Roaming Rider 
Hahahaha. Now you need a bed big enough for a horse and a pony to cuddle with you.
Our horses have gotten out a lot over the years and never run away. Why leave when all your friends are still in one place? Even when the whole herd has escaped (d’oh) they stick around the property. Habits and routines die hard.
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She would so be into that too. Pete was so cute because he was looking at Gem like she was nuts. I could hear him saying “Gem you are going to get in trouble. Gem get back over here. Geeeeeemmmmm”
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One morning I woke up to hooves under my window. They were in my dream too, but suddenly I sit up screaming, “the horses are out!” It was 3 am and it turned out, just my thoroughbred Subi got out (we think he leaned through the wire, slipped, and somehow found himself on the other side of the fence. He was in a panic, tore up some of the neighbor’s yard, but let me catch him. His friends were at the fence line watching, heads moving back and forth… we added more fencing then and there but he stayed glued to his buddies for days after that traumatic incident.
My mini’s gotten out multiple times. He showed no remorse. He got electric fencing for his efforts…
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“He showed no remorse” Hilarious. Gem was just plain pissed off we made her wait an extra hour for breakfast since it was a weekend morning and cold out. Princess mare is getting some attitude.
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One night I was visiting my mom and we we watching a movie when suddenly we heard loud banging noises coming from the front porch. We opened the door and there was her horse standing on the porch looking at the door 😂 He has decided he was hungry (he’s always hungry) and wanted his night check hay early!!!
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That is awesome. I could so see Gem doing that. I am loving all these horse escape stories!
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she likes to up your cardio and heartrate 🙂 HA! Glad she was okay. Hopefully she doesnt make a habit (our donkey in TX Loved to wake us up with braying and being outside the field. Fun times 🙂
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I want a donkey sooo badly. Hubby isn’t for adding more to the herd, but a donkey and a cow are on my list.
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YOU NEED A DONKEY!! I will help enable. I loved my donkey!! You have SO MUCH ROOM.
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First off, I don’t think Gem would ever leave forever and she’s too smart to get herself lost. You guys are just too slow and she needed your adrenaline up so that you’d get her inside faster. Oh Gem…
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Pissy little mare has a thing or two to say to us about her new management schedule, Sheesh.
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hahaha horses do that sometimes. They do not go far. They know breakfast comes in the morning!
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Had that tape been down she would have been in the barn stomping her hooves in annoyance at her late room service delivery.
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Hahaha yes! My mare did that last night! I gave everyone half of their meal and then went to unload the feed I had just purchased from the feed store so I could give them the other half. Well she stomped her hooves at me because I wasn’t doing it fast enough!
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You should secure your feed room and hay stall just in case she does get in!
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Feed room is locked. Hay stall is typically open but I’ll need to remedy thag
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Ha ha! I love it! I know it’s scary, but I kinda love sassy horses that are trouble makers. I had one growing up that needed his door double locked or he would get out every time. I’m so glad she’s ok and smart enough to be waiting for her breakfast!
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She won’t miss a meal ever. Hungry fat mare is hungry
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Ugh Gem! Why do you have to scare Sara and Dusty so bad! Will you guys be putting in a more permanent fencing?
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We want to begin replacing all fencing along the drive and in front with wood board fencing. The rest will be likely changed to recycled rubber fencing. But that is going to take a long time to convert. For now we are using the electric
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Gem is working hard at training her servants. 🙂
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Her room service orders are absurd
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Mares! Sheesh. Shasta will just walk through electric so we plan on never using that for fencing. I might add a line on top to keep them from pushing on the fence, but I don’t trust it for enclosure.
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She has been in electric tape for 7 of the 8 years I’ve had her and no issue. I don’t know if she pulled it down or not but we learned quickly that the charger wasn’t working. Once we got that working she stayed far away
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Shasta will walk through them when they’re on. She’ll squeal so you know she feels it; but she just thinks escape is more important.
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omg what a naughty horse!!! great that you found her escape route tho (for now, until she finds another lol). one of charlie’s field mates kept finding new and interesting ways to get out of his pasture until they finally had to put him in just a small paddock down by the barn.
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I hope she didn’t get a taste of freedom. I couldn’t handle that stress and can’t afford to redo all the fencinf
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OMG, that is so hilarious, terrifying and annoying at the same time. Scarlet escaped his pen the first few times when we first brought him home. He ended up across the street talking with the neighbor’s horses. But man it sucks when they do that. Good thing she was waiting for her breakfast instead of exploring!
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She is too much of a pig to go too far from her feed room
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As annoying as their piggy selves are, I much prefer a food motivated animal. They are very easy to convince to do things.
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