I woke up this morning on my first day off of a very long weekend. Looked out my window to check the horses, all seemed fine. Went potty, looked again. Something was just off with how Fergus was standing. No, that can't be right. Maybe, but probably not. I really hope not. Sh@! I think he is hung up in the fence. Ironically, our Horse Safe No Climb fence I may add.
I ran down the hall, dodging dogs in need of a potty break, grabbed a jacket and slipped on shoes just enough to have my toes in, and started speed walking down the driveway. Dallas the Rescue Pony was at the gate, and unlike other mornings, he was relaxed, greeted me for a pet, didn't have the "quick let's go cook oatmeal" energy or challenge my definition of personal space. I know I anthropomorphize a lot, but I feel like he was relieved to see me. I told him I had to get to Fergus and he didn't follow me, which has never happened. He just stood patiently at the gate.
I could only see Fergus from the butt view, and the position of his blanket confirmed we had a problem. He was standing quietly, facing the fenceline. I talked to him as I approached, and my heart sank when I saw that both chest clips of his blanket were hooked to the wire of the fence, and the wire was stretched out. There wasn't a lot of give, so I was going to have to pull on the fence to get some slack. I spoke calmly to my boy, choosing to believe that all our years together would prevent the visions that had started to creep into my head...the ones that included awful injuries to me and/or him. As the wire moved, his eyes got a little wide, but his ears stayed on me as I talked to him. Dallas stayed far away, just watching. I got Fergus loose, and had to convince him he was free. He let out a big sigh, and followed me to his stall...as did Dallas. I took the blanket off immediately. And I hugged the crap out of both horses for being so insanely smart.
I have only blanketed Fergus the last two nights, and each morning he has been itching. My theory is he was scratching on the line posts, pushed his chest well into it for effort, and got himself hooked. We don't have a hot wire, and the horses don't mess with the fence, and hot fences have always made Fergus very jumpy. The posts need to be cut down, but again, the horses have never been unsafe with them, and with the whirlwind that was getting them home to no barn and no fence with 34 day's notice, i have not yet run the polytape at the top, just in case I ever have a critter that does need a hot wire, which needs to happen before I cut the posts.
Needless to say, I don't know that I can blanket the old man anymore unless it is a night that he stays in. Or unless I get those last stages of the fence finished. The line posts (he got stuck nowhere near a corner or gate posts) are auger-dug and human-packed, and due to the fire drill aspect of getting the fence up, were put in with muddy ground, so some of them have more "give" than is ideal, and we are constantly retamping them. So all that to say, if 1550+ pound Fergus hadn't been sensible, things could have gone really bad really fast.
EXTRA thankful for this fuzzy face this morning. And for my spunky Pony knowing when to reel it in. Phew. Time to exhale. Although I will be checking on them all day to make sure there aren't any delayed tummy-related stress symptoms popping up later. By the looks of the ground, and the single pile of poop, I don't think he was there too long, thank God, and he didn't fight beyond some solid lean backs. He had a great appetite for breakfast, with lots of water added for his typical oatmeal dish. And my pretty stoic, 'no need for emotional displays because you should just know I love you because I deem you worthy to cater to my needs and I allow you to stay on my back' boy stretched out his neck and just rested his muzzle against my forehead for a whopping 3 or 4 seconds after I hugged the crap out of him post blanket removal. I told him I was so happy I was able to help him out and thanked him for being so sensible.
So glad for all the time and efforts I put into the non-riding training with him over the years...it really paid off. And talk about confirmation that continuing the same approach with Dallas is worth it!
.
that said, here at home, if I have any warning about cold rains, they will stay in their stalls regardless of access to good run-in's....cold rain is the devil for me.