Blue says, "WHHHYYYY????"
I arrived at the barn a little later than planned and it was getting warm (by warm I mean freaking hot) already. But I figured since we were just walking it would be fine. I was into the barn and see a horse disappearing into the hay room. It was the resident escape artist. I put him back in his stall and realize Stinker's stall is open. I promptly think great he has learned to open his stall or the other one let him out. Then I realize I don't see him in the barn. I double check the hay room and he wasn't there. The front of the barn was closed and the back has the bar up. It's a solid three feet and I don't think Stinker can jump it with his weak hind end. I am trying not to panic and call the barn owner/manager
Our conversation goes something like this.
Hi, do you know who fed this morning? I can't find stinker and Wyatt was out too
He isn't in his stall?
Nope. And the front of the barn was closed and the bar is up at the back.
*silence* my anxiety is rising
Well let me get my shoes on I think LR fed this morning.
I hang up the phone and proceed to call LR and leave an awkward voice mail in which I'm pretty sure my voice kept going higher through out the entire thing.
I decide to go check out back since that is the most logical place. Sure enough I find Stinker looking perky as heck and hanging with the horses from next door that crawl through the fence. I halter him and lead him up to the barn. His girlfriend follows and he takes offense and squeals and kicks. He catches her up high on the inside of her front leg. It promptly starts bleeding and dripping down her leg.
I start swearing, get Stinker in his stall and go back out to check on her. It isn't a bad cut but it's bleeding everywhere. So I text LR and BO to let them know I found Stinker. Decide I need to do something with the leg. I don't even know if this mare is halter broke. I do know she isn't used by her owner. I decided to give it a shot. I hose her leg and get the cut to clot and put some ointment on it.
I have gotten a text from LR saying she couldn't get Stinker in this morning and just left him out. I'm rather pissed about this because he needs to be fed since I'm trying to get weight back on him. So I fix up another breakfast for him (Wyatt ate his other one). I manage to get my bitchiness under control before LR gets back. Overall I understand that my horse can be a pain. His nickname is Stinker, so I get it. But at the same time I pay full board and help out around the barn. I don't ask for a discount, but I do expect my horse to be taken care of and that includes bringing him in the morning even when he is being an idiot. To me it is unacceptable to leave a horse that needs his breakfast out just because he is running around. Maybe I am being unfair but I feel like it is bull that she couldn't approach my horse. If you are racing around on the golf cart yes he will run like an idiot. But on foot he is always approachable. Rant over.
BO says he will fix the fence and I say I will help. While he bush hogs I decide I'm going on this trail ride. I get Blue tacked up no problem, get Stinker, and get on. Make it down the driveway to go to the back pasture where all the trails are. And the gate is closed. Fanfreakingtastic now I have to juggle Stinker who has become quite wound up, but I have to figure out a way to get back on...
I muddle my way through the process and finally get both horses pointed in the correct direction. Well Stinker walks about twice as fast as Blue and is throwing his shoulder into Blue causing us to have some drifting problems. I decide it will be easier to get onto a narrow path where Stinker will be forced to stay back.
Major flaw with this plan. Stinker quickly becomes bored and starts trying to nip Blue in the flank. Blue deserves a medal because he squeals and waves a foot. He never struck out at my idiot. Second flaw is there are spiders and webs every where! Big spiders and strong webs.
Normally I carry a whip and use it to clear the webs but I didn't bring it. I'm so busy juggling my idiot and attempting to steer that I can't even duck half of the webs. It's late enough in the morning that the light and lack of dew make them hard to see. I spend most of the ride catching webs with my face and praying that I don't get a spider on me. Mostly I'm able to steer Blue to where the spiders are on the other side of the trail.
The final spider count was two on Stinkers face and one on me. There may have been more but that is all I knocked off. Blue was done with me and trying to turn around (it was a loop otherwise I would have agreed with him). I was done with everything and Stinker just wanted to go. On the way back the horses that live in that pasture decided to come check us out. One walked up behind Stinker. He squealed and kicked. It left a print but I didn't see blood. I'm going to have to do something about this kicking but I don't know what.
We ended up trotting and some canter (not asked for but I couldn't get my shit together enough to break it so I just rolled with it) back to the gate. We made it out of the pasture and back to the barn.
Stinker says, "Who me??"
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