Just Another Day On The Farm

The following story is somewhat humorous but it also points to one of the not-so-positive aspects of owning horses. Actually it pertains to any large animal.

Just two weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon, we decided to put our two yearlings into a new pasture. The fences for this pasture were quite sound and we had no reason to think there would be any problems. However, later that night, 10:30 pm to be exact, two young adults drove into our yard to inform us that there were two horses on the road!

Any who has every been around yearling horses knows that their behavior is akin to a couple five year olds who have had too much sugar and caffeine! At any rate my first plan was to catch them although it is a really bad idea to grab onto a horse that is running by you. My left shoulder has been reminding me of this fact for two weeks now! Finally we managed to herd them back to the farm and into the barn without any further incident.

The next step was to investigate where they had broken through. Found that for one reason or another they decided to crash through the strongest part of the fence, knocking down gates connecting two pastures. After they ended up in the second pasture the pushed down a second gate breaking the wires that were holding it up! Amazingly enough, the animals in that pasture had not followed the two yearlings on their late night rampage.

However this story is not over yet! That night we simply tied the gates back up, knowing that it was a temporary measure that would need addressing the next day. When I went back out there to finish the job I found that when the knocked the gate down it had also pushed another gate over, this gate in turn bent an old water hydrant over which was now leaking water! This in turn case another problem as we did not realize our pressure tank was on its last legs. The water that had leaked for 24 hours caused that to fail along with a couple pressure switches!

As a result I took Monday off work, called the well company to come out to replace the pressure tank and water hydrant, and then set out to dig out the water hydrant. This was one of those hydrants that has features on it to prevent it from freezing. This means you are required to dig down six feet to the water line. However, it is not possible to dig a narrow hole that is six feet deep nor would it be possible to work on it even if you could. By the time I was finished the hole was nearly two feet wide, four to five feet long, and six feet deep (on the deep end) but only a foot deep on the narrow end (you essentially dig a couple large steps). That is a lot of dirt! The good news is that the frost is gone, it was quite moist, and we mostly have sand. The bad news is that digging with a strained shoulder muscle is not an enjoyable task!

Now if you are one of those people who would simply be able to shrug events like this as “par for the course” then you are also a true horse lover! A horse lover who is definitely ready to own and board your own horses! If not then you may want to consider boarding!

The Hole

Zoie

"But I know my bone was here some where!"