Monday, May 6, 2013

Squeeze one, squeeze two

I've always found it interesting the trouble other horses get into. But my horses seemed rather incident free, all things considered. Other than the time Smokey got his foot stuck in the feed bag in the trailer (served him right for pawing, not that he stopped), our horses have stayed pretty content in stalls and pastures.

Until now. Our new stable has several chutes for doing lord knows what to cattle. Well, the other day I looked up to see a very large white horse squeezing through the rusted red door of the chute like toothpaste coming out of a tube. He poked his head out , looking at me with that expression that said "Whoa! Check it out! Did you know there was a door here?"


Picture a large, white horse coming out of this door...

Of course I had the gate to the street wide open, so I squealed in a panic and asked Sierra to try to get him back inside while I ran and shut the gate.

We found some twine and snugged up the little side gate to the chute on his run, locking it down.

Then this morning I went to let them out and Lily had gotten herself into the other chute and couldn't back herself back into her run. And first I didn't understand why she was stuck, until I realized she couldn't turn around or back up. Really? Horses really won't back up on their own? Lord knows how long she was stuck there, poor thing, feeling trapped by her own curiosity.

Girl, I know how you feel.

It took a minute, but working together we got her back in her run, where she went back to her remaining hay. I locked down her gate too.

See that far chute? That's where she was stuck...

Poor girl. Hopefully this is the last of the squeeze plays around here...