Had a little scare this morning but

[MBennettp]

I got a call early this morning from my nephew and all he said was "You're black horse is out and I can't catch it". I told him I would be right there and threw on some clothes and raced to the farm.

I can hear my gelding as soon as I pull in the driveway and he is running the fence and whinnying like crazy. I run down to the fence and here stand my two fillies in their pen looking toward my nephew's house.

(One of the fillies is the one he said was out). The gelding is going nuts running the fence and looking toward my nephew's house too.

I checked to make sure they were secure then started walking. I never did find the horse that was out but there were an awful lot of pony tracks in his yard and driveway. I looked for over an hour and never did see a pony. I guess tomorrow I will try to find out who around there has a pony.

My nephew told me later that he couldn't get near enough to it to catch it and he thought that it was kind of strange that Maggie wouldn't come to him. It was still dark when he tried to catch it and he thought she was just scared. He has no idea who else has a pony but he chased it out of the road and down into our back pasture.

I checked the back pasture too but as of tonight, there are no extra horses on the farm.

I really need to know who owns it so if it happens again, I can take it home if I can find it and catch it and also let them know that we have some too so if ours ever get out, they will know where they belong.

Anyway, that is a heck of a way to wake up! I did the 3 miles to the farm in record time. I know I looked like I had just gotten up, I just threw my insulated coveralls on over my pj's put on some shoes, shoved my hair up under a cap and went.

Mary

 

[KrisP]

Ohh, been there before! At the old farm I had someone come pulling in telling me one of mine was down and around the corner, grabbed a halter, lead and bucket of grain and went running a country mile, ends up it wasn't mine, but did help catch her and get her home.

Even more fun was the call at 3AM one night, the WHOLE HERD of girls was in the neighbors yard in the back! Someone opened the gate and they were out having a party! Even funnier was that a Sheriffs deputy had pulled down there by the gate and ended up getting his car stuck, so we got the girls in, then "assisted the deputy with backup"by pushing him out, lol, then walked home through the pasture. I went to clean up the neighbors yard the next day and realized from the amount of manure in the yard that they'd been out MORE than one night, coming home during the day to snooze and go back out and party at night! Silly girls!

Horses, never a dull moment! Glad it wasn't one of yours but hope you find out who the mystery pony is!

krisp

 

[tuffsmom]

LoL, aah yes, escapees! Big Man escaped not too long ago, still don't know exactly for sure how. Luckily, you can see him from our road, and everyone who drives by slows down and points at the "little pony" in the yard, sometimes stopping to ask about him if we're outside. One of our neighbors informed us that there was a bay pony in their yard, waaaay down the road, and sure enough, there he was.

I like the additude they get when they know they're not supposed to be out, and know that I'm panicked. The whole snort-n-blow, tail in the air, high steppin, "I'm free, try to catch me" attitude! Little stinkers!!!

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[js1arab]

We live right on a highway so anytime anyone sees a horse loose they assume it's ours. But a few years ago, someone came up the drive and said they saw a horse running down a side road with it's bridle on. I asked if they'd seen a rider. No-they hadn't even checked. I loaded up some grain and a halter ASAP and took my oldest son (10 at the time) so he could drive the truck if need be and off we went. Well...it was a halter luckily, not a bridle. I was terrified I was going to find a rider with a head injury. Secondly, this was a BIG quarter horse mare. I did get her caught amazingly, but she knew very little about being handled. I walked to all the close neighbors with my son following behind in the truck. No one was home. Had to walk over a mile with a half -crazed quarter horse bouncing on top of me, shying at everything. Finally got to someone who was home. We called a few people and no one had ever seen her so another guy came by and we had to try to convince this mare to get in a trailer _yeah that was fun. Actually it wouldn't have been bad if the guy hadn't decided to take her from me and immediately try to pull her in the trailer. Like that was really going to work. Anyway, finally got her in and brought her home to one of my stalls. Since I could keep her away from mine and since I thought it was only for a couple hours I thought it would be ok. Well a few more phone calls turned up that she came from a pasture down the road. Another neighbors cows had gotten into the horse pasture and when they chased the cows out the horse came too. These people are famous for thier cows getting into our crops in the fall. Well they didn't bother to tell anyone and the horse owners live in town and last anyone knew they had went on vacation, but hadn't left instructions with anyone on any kind of care or what to do in an emergency. Yes they had pasture and a creek to drink from so they were cared for food wise, but it annoyed me that one of them could have been really hurt and no one would have been able to have treated them. Anyway. Over a week later they came home to find my messages on their machine. They never even called home to check with anyone on how the horses were. And you know the best part....the guys a doctor!!! Guess that how smart all that college makes ya.

 

[wildoak]

We've had some escapees over the years - and some near heart attacks lol - but the best story still was a number of years ago when my husband found a loose horse in the yard about 6 one morning. We had our big horses at the time, and our neighbor had 2 big ones as well. He managed to catch and halter this horse and led her to the neighbor's front door. As he rang the bell, he noticed both of their horses in their pen.....neighbor opened the door, they discussed the situation (neither horse guys) and the neighbor said hey, I think that's your horse. :bgrin They had 2 geldings, this was the only bay mare around, and one we had owned for probably 5-6 years at that time! It was sure good for a laugh.

:new_rofl:

Jan

 

[Sandee]

I've been part of several loose horse hunts while working girl scout camp with my sis but the story that really freaked me was from the owner of the barn I used to board at. She and her husband owned several of the horses at the barn but one in particular was "his". It was a big old quarter horse that was used for police work. This horse had a habit of finding the smallest holes in the fence and using them to get to the neighbor's garden.

The husband was in the hospital for surgery and was pretty doped up on drugs when all of a sudden he sits up and yells to his wife that "Old Red is out and I've got to get him." Of course they all just thought he was halucinating and quieted him down and promised to go check. When the wife went home, darn if she didn't discover that horse was out of the fence and over at the neighbors who were keeping him until she could retrieve him.

True story - little creepy.

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[hhpminis]

Glad it was not your horse but wish you had found it, that means it is probably still lurking somewhere.

We have a mule at the end of our road that escapes on a regular basis, he is 30 something, no one knows how old but he is at least 33. He is very cloudy eyed and I think quite deaf or at least pretends to be. His name is Zeke. I and my husband are the only ones in the neighborhood that can catch Zeke and he always comes to our place to visit the little guys. Just hangs out by the fence and munches on grass and spits out the wads. He has no teeth but enjoys the flavor. I keep a very large halter in the barn just for Zeke.

:

 

[Beccy]

Yep we've been there done that also. We too are on a main road and have been called and told we had ponies on the road. (before our miniature days) A quick check revealed they were not ours, but we managed to catch them and having no idea where they came from, started walking towards our place with the intention of calling the police once we got home to tell them where the owner could collect them, but the owner was also driving the road looking for them, having arrived home from work to find a broken fence, and was very thankful that someone had caught them and gotten them off the road.

Have also driven home from work late at night and seen what I thought was two deer on the side of the highway, only to realise it was two ponies. Herded them off the road and back to the driveway of their farm. (I knew where they lived, I could see them in their paddock from the road each time I drove by) the owner was so relieved, as he had no idea which way they had gone. Must be a horrible feeling for the owner till the horse is found safe and sound.

Glad your horses are ok, and hope this one gets home alright.