The Red Pickup

And The Lost Mare

Yesterday, in between the intermittent rain showers, a red pickup truck pulled into my driveway.

I went out to the back door to meet a distraught man who was out looking for his lost horse. Shades of the "hurricane quest" to find my lost herd flooded my mind as he asked me if I'd seen his mare. He'd been told by the stable owner that I had horses and perhaps his horse had made her way to my property.

There'd been no sign of a ruckus in my pasture, but we went out to check anyhow. The Boys were contentedly grazing on the little nibbles of grass in the center of the field, so it was pretty clear there was no mare anywhere in the area.

Turns out the guy had been keeping his horses on the cross street to mine at his house where he did not have enough land to to it legally. I'd seen him out grazing a really well kept bay horse on his lawn several times and knew at least part of the story of his horsekeeping, but only told him I'd seen him so I had a good idea where his house was.

Since then he'd been reported by a disgruntled neighbor, fined and forced to move his horses to the boarding farm across the woods from me. (If I understood him correctly he is setting up a new little horse farm over in another Township where horsekeeping is welcomed.)  Apparently, there was some roofing work going on at the boarding barn and thrown roofing shingles had spooked both his horses and sent them flying trough an electric fence to the wilds of the State Park and farm fields across the road.

Somehow he'd found the gelding way over in the area of his house on the cross street, but his mare was no where to be seen. The horses had traveled several miles to get that far, and I suspected that the mare would be somewhere around there as well since she had lived at his house for a while as well. "Horse GPS" would have allowed both of them to find "home," even if it was illegal.

I suggested he search in that direction. And I told him I'd give him some contact numbers for animal communicators who might be able to help. By now, he told me the mare had been missing for over 24 hours and he'd spent many of those hours searching for her.

The State Park is very undeveloped with few trails through it, lots of swampland, and a great deal of think underbrush and briers. My fear, as always, was that the mare had gotten bogged down somewhere or hung up on something by her nylon halter. (Hate those things.)

The guy did call the communicators, but I don't think he ever really got a consult.  While I don't have the full story yet, I did call him in the evening to get a report.

Thankfully, he'd found his horse. If I understood him correctly, he'd found someone to track her. She was happily settled in an apple orchard on the other side of the sandpit lake across from where I live. As they say, "That's a fer piece," away from where she started--an other couple miles or so.

He said her legs were swollen, but otherwise she seemed OK. I certainly hope so. My worry would be potential colic from apples and probably a ton of grass. The boarding stable where he was keeping her has minimal if any pasture, so the horses there would not at all be used to such rich fodder. And, of course those apples....

I guess the mare thought she'd ended up in paradise. *lol*

Thank heavens she is safely back.