Horses - Part II

Everything I wrote in the previous blog today is horse manure. The horses ate peacefully for most of the day. We checked on our new horse, Stealth, frequently. I was startled when my doorbell rang, which it almost never does, to find our new neighbor from across the street. We hadn't met yet, and at that moment, I didn't know who he was.
"D'ya have a white pony," he drawled. Instantly, I mobilized, as I knew he'd only ask if Stealth had escaped. I ran outside, no shoes. Where was he?

The man had caught him across the street and brought him safely home. Big sigh of relief.
We walked him to the pasture, myself still in stocking feet, thinking that he just didn't see the wire fence and ran through it. That it was laying on the ground broken confirmed my suspicion, but not why he ran through it.

That was answered quickly when Stealth trotted through the pasture toward the other two horses. Bay bared his teeth, head lowered and ears back. He chased Stealth to the fence. This made no sense to me as earlier in the day Bay had driven Jorgen off and enjoyed Stealth's company. Clearly, I've missed some drama sometime today. I had no time to ponder this though as Stealth jumped the wire this time, clearing it. (We didn't know he could jump, either.) He ran down the road, stopping right at the crest of a hill, and stopping my heart. I'm too old to run after a horse with no shoes.

I got him to run back the other way and into our yard where he stopped and casually ate grass. See, he seemed to imply, everything's cool - I'm eating grass! A small car pulled into our driveway, and three bajo (I'm learning Spanish) Mexican men emerged. One moved forward carefully, speaking quietly in Spanish. I was in the meantime fixing the fence as our other two horses were threatening to leave the pasture as well. The man stealthily moved up to the pony, touched his back and grabbed his halter. I was very grateful.

Stealth was a bit worked up, and so to the barn with him. Tomorrow, we will divide the pasture in two, putting Stealth and Jorgen together, and Bay where he can see but not touch. Huh! The lessons I learn from horses.

I also had the opportunity to meet our new neighbor, though I still don't know his name as he went home before I knew who he was, and I met some of the Mexican workers from a horse farm down the road. Interesting day.