Fun At The Farm

This post goes out to my fellow barners, Laurie & Shari and to Alyssia the long suffering barn manager. 

We have been feeding the lambs, and the other evening before we ventured up we received a slightly panicked call from Alyssia. It turned out that two of the ponies - Ludwig and Thistle - had broken out of the paddock, and gained access to the barn. Once there, Thistle had managed to open the freezer where the grain is stored and the two of them had a feast. The only problem was, part of what they consumed was lamb grain - great for lambs, not so much for horses, as it could cause serious complications. Alyssia had rung her vet - who promptly put her on hold, no doubt to laugh at her latest in a long line of predicaments - but eventually gave her a list of signs to look out for; laboured breathing, unsteadiness, bloating, and so on. 

She had isolated the two of them in the front paddock, so it would be easy to monitor them. They seemed to be perfectly fine when we checked on them, not so impressed to have a spotlight shined on them, but otherwise OK.

The next day when we arrived for the lunch time feeding, I noticed immediately something was different. Thistle was on the other side of the fence, outside of the paddock. They both seemed healthy, so Rob called Alyssia and suggested we put them back with the herd, and that was when the fun began. 

Imagine if you can, two adults, one teenager and two children, all of which have a fair amount of experience with horses. We are squaring off against two ponies - the first small, and blind in one eye, and the other a Shetland, smaller still and over 25 years old. I can tell you now it wasn't pretty. 

As soon as Rob opened the gate, he was sideswiped by Ludwig who made a beeline for the barn. Sid, unaware of what was happening with the ponies, had already let the lambs out, and they were seconds from being bowled over in the courtyard. I managed to get between Ludwig and the lambs, and he veered into the barn, as Sid launched herself out of his way. 

Rob is yelling at Grady to open the gate to the paddock, but he has no intention of getting off the fence where he climbed as Ludwig barreled past him. Lindsay has gone to the tack room to grab the lunge whip and chases Ludwig back out. I am still hovering protectively between Ludwig and the lambs, hoping that when the end comes it will be quick. 

Rob has recovered by this time and has made his way to the gate. He attempts to open it and push Ludwig through, however the horses on the other side had other ideas and performed a full on assault on the gate.  Rob gives a strangled cry for help, but he is on his own.  By this time Thistle has done a duck and roll under another fence- which explains how he got out in the first place - and has joined in the fray. Lindsay tries to head him off but he takes off like a rocket - as only a fat Shetland pony can do - and heads back for the front paddock. Lindsay follows in hot pursuit, as I holler encouragement from the sidelines still trying to keep the four lambs corralled. Pandemonium doesn't begin to describe it. There is a friggin' herd of 20 plus horses just waiting to break out and we're playing twister with two bloody ponies. 

I'm happy to say we eventually got them back where they belonged. I can't say it was done with any finesse but we got the job done. Lesson learned, never underestimate decrepit old ponies.