Yesterday I spent most of my time working in the yard and garden. I planted herbs, planted some hanging baskets, hauled tree limbs into a pile, and scrubbed horse troughs. Needless to say, I ended up using muscles that I had not used since last fall, and when I woke up this morning, I was a little sore. No problem...I would just do the bare essentials today and I'd be fine tomorrow. The only unusual thing was a farrier appointment at 3:30.
My morning was fine. About 1:00, the meter reader came by. About 1:18, I went outside because something just didn't seem right. When the meter reader backed up to turn around and leave, he managed to wipe out one section of the electric fence. Did he let me know? Of course not. Were the horses patiently waiting for me to fix the fence while they chewed their grass? (I can dream, can't I?)
Haley, always the perfectly behaved horse, was eating grass near the front door of the house. I was able to walk up to her, put my hand on her mane, and walk her easily to the paddock where I could lock her in while grabbing the other two beasts. But they are no where to be seen. There were hoof prints leading down our long dirt driveway to the main dirt road. I ran back to the tack room, grabbed a halter,discovered the other halters were missing, grabbed two lead ropes and a bucket with a scoop of grain inside. Now off to do some tracking.
Where our driveway meets the main dirt road is a small grassy area (about 75 x 75) and both Thunder and Sunshine were eating in that area. I thought that I would get Thunder with the food, halter him, and Sunshine would follow. Right. Thunder ate all of the food and bolted as I tried to halter him. Did he bolt back toward the house? No, he decided to take off down the main dirt road with Sunshine hot on his heels. As they rounded a curve in the dirt road, both horses and an approaching minivan slammed on brakes. Horses turned around and headed back to the grassy area. The man in the van (whom I'd never seen before) jumped out of his van to help. We chased the horses around the grassy area for a while and watched them dart back out to the dirt road and race down the road in the other direction (toward the paved road).
I jumped in the man's minivan and we followed the hoof prints to a grassy pasture area near the end of the dirt road and just before the paved road. We chased them around this pasture for a bit and then decided to go get more food from my tack room. This poor man took me back to the house where I grabbed more grain in the bucket, and we returned to the other pasture again. We chased them around the pasture for a bit more until Thunder decided the sound of grain shaking in the bucket was better than the grass. As he put his head down for food and I slipped the lead rope around his neck, he turns on dime and takes off, but Sunshine had to come and get a bit of grain. She allowed me to quickly halter her. Thunder could not stand seeing Sunshine eating grain, so he came closer to the food and I managed to throw a lead line around his neck.
Thanking the man profusely, I send him on his way as he was on his way back to work after lunch when the horses encountered his minivan. I started the long walk back to the stable, leading two very unhappy horses. Believe me, I was unhappier than the horses were. By the time I got them back to the stable and safely put away, it was almost 2:45, I was out of breath, filthy dirty and sweaty, and wondered if I were having a heat stroke.
I made it into the house and actually had time to catch my breath and drink and drink and drink, and when I glanced at the clock, it was almost 3:20. Time to go halter the three horses for the farrier. Haley walked up to me immediately to be haltered. (Perfect horse). She was so sweaty after charging around the paddock while I was out "playing" with the other two horses, I began grooming her. After about 30 minutes of brushing her coat, the farrier arrived. He took Haley from me, and she behaved perfectly. She was as quiet and still as she could be.
Thunder was haltered and I handed him off to the farrier and returned Haley to the paddock. Did Thunder stand quietly and still? No. He spent his time winding himself around a tree while having his hooves done and being a very difficult horse. Thunder even managed to get a quick kick in at the farrier. Finally, the farrier handed me Thunder and I handed him a haltered Sunshine. Did Sunshine stand quietly and still? No, far from it. She spent her time rearing every time the farrier tried to lift a foot. After about ten minutes of that, we had to use a chain in her mouth to keep her quiet. She settled down and spent the rest of the time messing with the chain while I held her and he managed to do her feet.
So much for taking it easy today! It is 9:19 right now, and I am finally going to get into a nice hot bathtub because I know the muscles will be even sorer tomorrow. I know I will sleep well tonight. Plans often have a way of changing when we least expect it.
I was complaining yesterday about the heat (at 3 pm, it was 98.6 outside with a "real feel"of 107) and how much I hated summer, but the horses were really the ones suffering. After their morning breakfast, I turned the three beasties out into the pasture and kept a careful eye on their water supply all day. Now these horses are reasonably spoiled. When they are turned out to pasture, they still have access to their paddock and to their individual stalls. They have plenty of water. 
