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| JAIL BREAK |
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| One dark night…around 10pm…I was getting ready to give our horse their last feeding for the day. I had left Okie’s stall door open so he could wander into the aisle to visit with the others on this rainy day. For extra safety, we have installed brackets that hold boards across the front and back door opening of the barn which were in place when I left the barn around 6pm. Now looking at the barn I felt twinges of discomfort…where were the boards??? I called to my husband “John, we might have a lose horse” while I hoped that Okie had only ventured out to graze and thus would be found on the lawn. Nevertheless I wondered how the boards came down, Okie would usually not be that daring. When I walked over to the barn I realized that one of the other stall doors was open as well. Oh no, that meant we are not just missing one but two horses. |
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| Recently we added a fourth horse member to our herd…Star, a sweet little Arab gelding. He has been around the block a time or two, has seen the good and the bad of life and has now finally found his place for good. |
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| Within a couple of days he had made himself a name by taking down the boards that run across the front and back door opening of the barn. As mentioned, the boards are jammed into metal bracket which until then had withstood all trials of removal by our other horses. Not so with Star, his paddock happens to abut the back of the barn. And let me promise you, he takes the two boards down so fast in order to hit the hay bale stored in the aisle, you can barely say ‘whoa’. |
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| Standing it the barn I realized, Okie had played with the stall latch, which he is known to do, and freed Star. Star in return had taken the boards down in order to allow both of them to take a stroll through the neighborhood. |
| What a bad idea, especially late at night! |
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| Well, I filled a bucket with grain to start the search, my husband had already checked the other side of the property in hopes that they were “just out grazing’, to no avail. |
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| Suddenly we saw a police car heading down the road…the flashing lights were aiming toward our property…oh no… |
| The police men barely made it into the drive way when we saw a couple of cars coming from the left…sidelined by…two horses. |
| There they were, galloping down the street, heading home. I started to call out for them and once Okie hit the opening of our driveway he made a barrel racing right turn on to the property. Star not far behind. |
| They toyed around for a couple more moments in the back yard until I could get a hold of Star to lead him back into the barn. Okie quickly followed his field trip buddy and my husband promptly slid the barn doors shut. |
| PHEW! The friendly police men and we took a long breath of relief. |
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| “Grateful” is too small a word for what I felt. They were well, no damage done. Once the police left we hung out a while with the boys. Everybody had calmed down and seemed relieved to be back in the barn. Well, almost everybody. While Okie appeared to be glad to see his other herd mates and especially his mom, Star seemed to say “what a great night it was. How about same time next week?” Sorry Star, I will be more mindful…from now on those boards will be locked in tight. |
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