Too Much Excitement

Oh yeah, today was fun.

Starting yesterday, and for the rest of the week, trees are being cut down in the farm's big pasture, so the horses are turned out in several smaller paddocks instead.

Yesterday, there were no real problems. I turned Spirit out first, thinking I would put him in the back pasture since it *is* the biggest of the three and I know he likes running around. To get to this paddock, you have to walk through the other two, as its gate opens into the second one. I'd attempt making a "drawing" of it on here, but I don't think it would come out too well. :p Anyway, I walked him into the pasture and took his halter off, expecting him to trot away a few steps like he normally does. Nope-- this time he trotted past me, back through the gate and into the second pasture. Well, no big deal. I threw him a flake of hay to make sure he'd stay there and then went to get the other horses. They went into their respective turn-outs without any problems.

Oh, but today.

I thought I had it all figured out. Since Spirit showed a preference for the middle pasture, I decided I'd just put him in there and a different horse in the third one. And I did, I put the Mustang in there easily enough. I went back to the barn for Spirit, ground-tied him, fly-sprayed him and then led him to the pasture. I didn't bother closing the main gate because, at least when I turn them out in the big pasture, I never do. Once they realize they're outside, they don't even give the barn a second look. So I didn't close the first gate, and took Spirit's halter off in the second one, thinking he'd just trot to the other end of the turn-out like he usually does.

Instead, he ran straight out the main gate.

If he'd let me walk up to him, put the halter back on his head and bring him back to the paddock, there would be no problems. But, seeing as he started trotting through their backyard when he saw me just walking in his direction, I had a feeling it wasn't going to be that simple.

Sharon had told me before that when she brings the horses in for the night, she only actually leads the older horse, Jerrold, in and the other two just follow along behind and automatically walk into the correct stalls. So I figured that maybe if I could get him to go into the barn, perhaps he would go into his stall and, again, that would increase my chances of being able to get the halter back on him. I didn't want him wandering around in the backyard, not only cuz I didn't want him getting hurt or ruining something, but because I also feared he might try running past the house and down their driveway. The *last* thing I wanted was him to be near the road. O_o;;

Anyway, I tried "herding" him with my body language towards the barn, and it worked-- except instead of heading into his stall, he ran straight through the front entrance, through the main aisle, and out the back entrance into the grassy area between the back of the barn and the main pasture. Not what I had been hoping for, but this was better than before. The big pasture's gate was shut, and I closed the back door of the barn so there was nowhere else he could run. I tried getting the halter on him a few more times, but he would have none of it. I didn't want to give up, but I didnt' want to annoy him either, which would *not* improve my chances. I decided to let the last horse out, try catching Spirit again, and if worse came to worse, I'd call Sharon and tell her what was up.

Jerrold is the old, cranky horse, but he's usually very well behaved. I brought him to *his* pasture, but again, I left the gate open cuz normally this is not a problem. So imagine my dismay when he, too, went running past me and into the back yard! Bloody hell! v_v Luckily, he wasn't hard to catch and this time I *closed* the gate before I let him go, so everything was well. But there was still the matter of Spirit. I tried catching him one last time, and almost managed to get the halter on, but not quite. So I called Sharon and was like "Yeah, I think I need your help cuz Spirit's not letting me catch him."

So she and her daughter both came out of the house just in case this was going to have to be a group effort. She wasn't upset, I guess this he used to escape from his paddock frequently and sometimes she'd just have him stay in exactly the area where I currently had him grazing. Nevertheless, Sharon walked right up to him, slid the halter on, and led him back to the second pasture. Oh well, she *is* his owner.

So tomorrow, assuming it's not raining heavily like I've heard it's supposed to, I've got to plan how I'm going to do this. I might try putting Spirit in the third pasture again, maybe putting a flake of hay in there first to pique his interest, and DEFINITELY shutting the gate behind us before I let him go. I'm also going to shut the first gate too, so even if he jumps the fence between the second and third ones, he'll still be confined (unless he jumps the main fence too, but I don't want to think about that right now, haha). Auragon and Jerrold probably won't give me any problems, but I'll have hay ready and gates shut for them too, just in case.

Otherwise, turning the horses out in the smaller paddocks take about twice as long as turning them out in the big pasture since I have to clean and fill all three waterbuckets *and* take out the manure from the day before. Yesterday I managed to leave the barn on time though, and today I was just a few minutes later than usual and probably would have been *early* if it hadn't been for the small fiasco. So hopefully once the horses start going into the main pasture again, I'll be able to finish my usual chores in under two hours.

As I always say, there are two places you're guaranteed to hear me swear more than anywhere else-- in my car and at the barn. And today this certainly held true, hehe.