I have a secret.

I can't tell yet, but it's a very very good thing. I am so excited. It will be such a great thing when it's done. Hoo-ray! I can't wait.................

My little pony...not.

I do not own a pony, yet when I drove up to my "private" pasture yesterday, lo and behold. It's a miracle. Either Susie, or Baxter has given birth to a fully grown pony! Wow! There she stood by my water tank. Neither of my horses were in sight, just this little appy pony.

Ok, here comes trouble on 8 legs. Baxter and Susie had been in the barn and Susie heard my truck, so here they come. Baxter sees the pony and trots on... he wants to play with her. Susie on the other hand has a strong desire to corner and kill the poor little thing. This pony actually sort of lives outside my pasture. She is badly foundered, and majorly crippled. She can barely walk on a good day, and now Susie is running at her, trying to pen her in the corner so she can kick the snot out of the poor girl. The pony, whose name is actually Angelica, was frantically looking for a way out. She tried the hot tape and got shocked so she just stood there and shook. I yelled at Susie and she walked off to mean mug from a distance and pout. Baxter left with her.

I tried to coax the pony to come out the gate. No way Jose'. She was terrified that Susie would get her. No way was she moving out of that corner. I had to go shut off the hot tape and find a lead rope. Once I caught her, she was happy to follow me out of the gate into the area where my feed room is. I had to climb back through the fence to get my keys and unlock the outer gate to let her out. She was happy to exit the premises.

I have no idea how she got in my pasture. The fence (such as it is) was all in place, and the hot tape was on. I am just thankful that Susie didn't maim her, and Baxter didn't play her to death. She is a sad little thing. Whoever owns her doesn't seem to care that she runs loose. Of course she is so crippled that running is a figure of speech, and she stays close to my pasture because I throw her a handful of alfalfa when I feed. I wish I could afford to have her feet done, but I can't save them all.... Poor girl.

What would you do?

Ok, here's the situation...

It's 5:30am. It's freaking dark in the country at 5:30am. The main gate is open, so you drive up to the pasture where your horses are boarded. You see the little crippled pony mare who lives outside your pasture. You also see the stallion that lives in the next pasture, when he isn't tearing down the fence to get out and breed random mares, and try to kill your gelding. Then you see something big. And black. And it's coming at your truck! Holy Mother!! Oh, it is a loose horse. You don't recognize it at all. Well.... isn't that special? (church lady) The biggest problem is that the horse is *very* friendly. So friendly in fact that you can't get out of the truck because it is sticking it's vaguely moose-like face in your window. Thank goodness the foundered pony mare thinks you are her property because she actually drives the moose...er horse away.

So you get out, unlock your gate, and hurry through with your feed buckets. Check your horses over for boo-boos and feed them. Go back out the gate and carefully lock it, making sure your fence charger is turned on to the "fry the sucker" position and run to your truck to put the feed buckets back before any of the loose equines can mug you for grain. Use your spotlight to see where the meandering intruder is so you don't get mowed down, and watch him wander around looking lost.

In the mean time, a truck has driven past the pasture and left through the open gate... someone going to work I suppose. Next you see the barn manager coming up from the direction of the house. About 100 yards away he slows down and finally stops because he sees that you are shining your bazillion candle power spot light on something... Oh he says to himself, it's a horse. So he sits there for a few seconds watching the horse. Then what do you suppose he does? What would you do?

Would you:

A: Sit and stare at the horse hoping it's a dream and you will wake up.

B: Get out and see if the horse belongs here and return it to it's pasture, and if it doesn't live here, put it someplace safe so it doesn't get hit by a car or worse.

C: Stop and ask your boarder to catch and put up loose horse because you are late for work.

D: Shrug and drive off, leaving the gate open because you just don't give a shit.

Now hazard a guess at what was actually done. If you selected option D, you were correct. Drive off and leave a loose black horse wandering around in the dark, because you really don't give a shit if it gets out and causes an accident, possibly killing whoever hit it. After all, there is someone there who pays for the privelege of boarding at your top notch facility... they can catch the horse, or close the gate right? It's not your problem, is it?

I really want to beat someone....

I got to the barn today, and something was not right. Susie was *cutting* Baxter. Every time he tried to go to the east side of the pasture, she cut him off and sent him back west. She was as good as any fancy high dollar cutting horse. I couldn't believe she could move like that at 25. I saw a big bunch of flies on Bax, so I figured it was just the flies and got the hay out.

As I was feeding, Susie kept acting all weird. Running at Baxter and ignoring her grub. Not normal. She was not running him off, but herding him. I saw some bot eggs on her, and decided that must be the problem. She hates them and is always freaky when there are any around. I finally had to lock Baxter up for him to get enough peace to eat! She finally ate half her grub after I locked him up.

Then I took the hay out and put it in the feeders. Then I got the fly spray and sprayed Baxter who was grateful. Susie on the other hand was weird. She kept running over to the place where Baxter was locked up. As I was spraying her I looked east, and saw the stallion who lives in the next pasture. I looked again, and he was not in his pasture, but in the stallion lane.

Now I understood why Susie was hysterical. She was trying to protect Baxter! Then I looked closer at Baxter. That damn stallion had gotten him by the throat *again*. He also had several bite marks that I had though Susie did, but now I know the stallion did it.

I called the barn manager (BM - get it??) and of course he wouldn't answer the phone. Left a message. Waited for about 30 minutes and then decided that Susie was way too upset for me to leave the stallion there in hopes that the BM would put him away. I caught him and put him back in his pasture, and Susie relaxed a little. She was still circling Baxter, and any time he even looked that way, she would get between him and block his view of the stallion. She was on high alert, and any noise from that direction had her right at Baxter's head, pushing him away. I checked inside my fence line and there were lots of skid marks where Susie had run between them.

Wrote a note and went to the house. The teenage kid that lives there with his mother said he would give the BM the note. I asked him to have the BM call me. I am not holding my breath. I don't look good in blue....

There is going to be hell to pay if Susie is not right tomorrow. This guy is the most irresponsible person that ever neglected a horse. He keeps these stallions in fencing that won't keep anything in, with mares all over the place. One colt died trying to breed mares over the fence - impaled on a t-post! I have already spent a fortune on fence, tape, chargers, and t-posts trying to keep everyone else's horses *out* of my pasture. To say that I am unhappy is the understatement of the year!

We will see what his solution is, cause if he can't fix the problem I will, and I will take it off my board bill.

Just got a call from the woman who helps out at the barn. Seems that the power is off at the pole, so the stallion who is a fence tester knows that he can just walk through the fence. They moved him up to the house where at least there is a more solid fence to contain him. Supposedly they have the power company coming out tomorrow to fix the problem. In the mean time, the hot tape that blocks off the stallion lane is coming down tomorrow. Usually when he gets out he immediately runs up to the house, but today he was blocked in by hot tape that is run off of my side. Next time he gets out, he can run loose and not be tempted to get into my pasture.

It is not the stallion's fault. He is just doing what stallions do. He lives alone. Nobody pays much attention to him, so he wants to go where he knows his mares are. I feel sorry for him, but I am not going to allow my horses to be hurt.

I have got to find a way to get all the obstacles to moving taken care of. This situation just gets worse and worse.