It never fails that when I am MOST pressed for time, that’s when calamity befalls me. Yesterday was no exception.
No matter how hard I try, I always seem to be running behind. Yesterday was church day, and I’ve learned that it’s best to feed the animals FIRST before taking a shower — or you’re freshly styled hair will be completely wind-blown!
I had exactly 40 minutes to get all the animals fed before jumping into the shower for 10 minutes, getting ready and leaving for church. But temps were down into the early teens, and water tanks would need to be busted open. Nevertheless, I made my rounds to all the animals, coming once again to the horse pasture. Since the last incident, I have been VERY careful about going into the pasture with the side by side.
I put their grain out, then made the quick decision to cut the ties on the first hay bale before entering. This would allow me to throw hay off quickly once I got into the pasture, and might save me from being mobbed again.
Unfortunately, as soon as I drove in, hay began falling off the bale, landing right near the gate. I stopped to ick it up and put it back into the side by side, but apparently more fell off. By the time I’d made my rounds tossing all the hay out at the fence corners, the horses were standing in a tight group eating the fallen hay . . . right near the gate!
I knew I didn’t have time to wait for them to move, so I tried ushering them off down the path. They refused to go anywhere.
I shrugged my shoulders and opened the gate, keeping a close eye on them. No one was paying me any attention. Good. I quickly jumped back into the side by side and went zooming out the gate . . .
. . . only to have the little mare Dezzie and Tango the gelding follow me out before I could jump out to shut the gate!
The naughty duo romped about behind the barn, playing in all the fresh snow. What many people don’t realize, is that horses are like kids — they love to play in fresh snow, and make designs with their footprints.
Since the snow was at least 12 inches deep, and I was struggling to walk through it, I ran to the barn and grabbed my snow shoes and a lead rope, and set-out.
There’s no way you can catch a large, four-legged animal in deep snow. They are too fast and nimble. As I came up on the two, they scampered further away. I was cursing up a storm. Now I wouldn’t have time for a shower. If I couldn’t get a shower then we weren’t going to church!
I tried calling the horses, but they again went running-off. So I simply stood and waited. I knew they were hungry, and their pasture was full of fresh hay. After they got tired of romping and stood still, I slowly walked-up to them and threw the lead rope around Tango’s neck, then walked them back to the pasture gate. Dezzie ran off again while Tango was sentenced back to his pasture.
I caught Dezzie while she was busy munching on a pile of hay she could just manage to reach under the fence.
Both horses were returned safely, and I managed to have just enough time to grab a quick shower before church!