Update November 3rd 2011

I’ve been busy!

I hauled my travel trailer down 2 weeks ago this past Saturday.  What a job!  Thankfully I had help getting it ready for the road. Neighbor and friend, Jim, came over and assisted with removing the “skirting” that kept the wind out from under the trailer, and the hitching up.

After I got it set up at the farm it was time to go to work on creating an enclosure for the horses.  Since the farm has been let go for quite a while, it was a job to clear a line for the electric fence.  I bought a brand new weed eater, but the weeds proved too tall for it to be effective.  Yes, it cut them, but they ended up twisted around the shaft.  In the end I used old fashioned hedge clippers.  Talk about a workout!  But it worked.

The longer I worked the more I realized how large the task was.  Lowering my sights I settled on a 150 x 150 (or so) area for the first horses.  The day after I finished it, I went and got Huey and Bettina.  My two oldest and hopefully wisest horses.  I felt they would be the ones who would do best all by themselves, while I enlarged the enclosure.

The second day they were here, I enlarged the enclosure to about twice the original size.  It was getting late, but I was so close to finishing that I kept on.  At the end, as I was moving the posts (with tape attached), there was about a 20-30 foot gap that was open.  I was in the process of closing it when Huey walked right by me, and out!  At first I didn’t think much of it.  He and Bettina were just a few feet away.  I closed the gap in less than minutes, but when I turned around the horses were gone.  Vanished in the dark.

To make a long story short, I notified the Sheriff’s office that they were loose. The following day I notified the local radio station and the vet’s office.  On the fifth day the vet’s office called and told me he had spotted the horses on his trail cam.  I went to his place and searched for a couple hours with no results.  Driving out I stopped at the house on the corner and asked the woman who answered the door if she had seen 2 horses.  She had!  And her husband had gotten them into a corral!  So there they were.

In the meantime, I had hauled Lucy and Chance to the farm, who were very happy to see Huey and Bettina.

The final step was to enlarge the enclosure to several acres, which were mostly fenced but had gaps.  I spent an entire day on that project and got it completed just at dark.  The following day I took down the line of electric fence that had divided the small area from the larger one.  I watched Huey watch me as I pulled up the posts.  He kept his eyes on me – and the growing gap – but made absolutely no move to pass through it.  In fact, it was a couple hours before any of the horses ventured over to the newly opened area – and then they did not go far.  I can only wonder what it was that Huey told them!  Maybe he and Bettina didn’t have such a great time after all.

All the horses are now at the farm and I am starting to feel more settled.  Thank goodness.