The Escape Act

Ever since I started riding when i was 9 years old, I have always had to board my horse at other barns, until just 2 years ago. My parents and I moved onto a 13 acre farm where my 3 horses now live. Monday evening we experienced our first ever horse related "incident". The adventure all started when I got a call at 4 am from the county sheirff.

When I first received the call I thought "oh no, someones in jail". The last thing I expected was to hear "We believe your horses are out on the road". We do live on a very busy road and I was very concerned, because even if they weren't my horses (I wasn't sure if they were ours yet at this point), I wanted to get them off the road because they could easily get hit. I quickly ran outside to the end of the driveway where I could see cop lights about 100 yards down the road. I could see two large outlines of horses running towards me but I still couldn't tell if they were mine or not. Then I saw a short little horse bouncing toward me and I knew it was my Pony, Harry. As soon as I called the horses they came running back into our yard and went into their pasture without hesitation. Now, I'm sure the sheriff was pissed at the sight of this because he had been trying to catch them for about 15 minutes. Lesson of the week for the sheriff: Don't shine a spotlight on loose horses, it only makes them run faster!

Once the horses were in the barn, I checked them all over to make sure they were unharmed. There wasn't even a scratch on any of them! I was amazed they hadnt only avoided being hit by a grain truck but hadnt even tore themselves up on fences. I then found where the "3 amigos" had gotten out. One of them had rubbed against our chain for the gate until it came loose. They then went on their midnight stroll. I can honestly say, I am so grateful that they weren't hurt and that someone called in the loose horses. If we hadn't have found them when the traffic was sparse, it could have been a lot worse.

Although I ended up very lucky when my horses weren't hit, not everyone ends up so lucky. There are 1,000s of livestock killed every year by them escaping from pastures. If you are to come upon loose animals anywhere, Do Not Approach Them unless you are experienced with that type of animal. Also, make sure you call your county patrol officers so that they can come patrol the roads and try to contact the owners!

Note: Two of the escape artists are shown above, Don't they look so innocent?