Nimbus65
24th Jun 2008, 09:05 AM
Just to give you a mental picture, I'll describe where we live (it'll make sense in a minute). Our driveway lets out into a narrow lane (one car width) w/ just three other houses. If you turn right and go a very short distance (about 300 yards or so), you come to a five-bar gate that forms one of three entrances to Horn's Farm - a large livery yard. If you turn left and go about 700-800 yards, our lane empties onto a road . . . turning right here takes you to our stables and yet another entrance to Horn's Farm (and a residential area), turning left takes you (after a few twists and turns) to a fairly busy two-lane road which eventually ends up at the third entrance to Horn's Farm. Horses stabled at Horn's Farm routinely travel up and down our lane on their way to Bramshill Forest (which is where we also hack), and the girls often go over to the livery yard on summer evenings to help with some of the ponies.
Now that the scene is set, what happened this morning will make a little more sense.
You know how you hear a sound when you're sleeping and incorporate it into your dreams? Well, I was dreaming about riding through the streets of London, and then the dogs started barking and I woke up and realized I could hear horse's hooves outside. Nothing unusual in that - I sleep with the windows open and can often hear the horses passing in the lane. Then I realized these horses weren't passing (i.e., they weren't travelling towards and then away from the house), but they appeared to be IN the driveway and I thought it might be KJ on her horse (Oz) who likes to "dance" at the end of our drive. Worrying that the dogs might be upsetting Oz, I stuck my head out of the window and saw a large, black horse-y bottom disappearing round the back of George's car! I threw some clothes on and headed downstairs and out into the drive just in time to see a horse disappear up the lane towards the gate to Horn's Farm. Following, it I found two of them . . . Barney the pony (who we know and is a right little monkey), and a lovely black cob-y boy. Barney had a head collar on, but Lovely Cob Boy did not. Looking over the gate, I could see an empty paddock and figured I'd just put them both in there together and let the livery yard know later. But the gate to the farm was padlocked shut. I grabbed my phone and realized it was 5.00 a.m.! No'one up/no'one at the yard (which is guarded by the rather fierce Arnie). I was worried that they would head out towards the road so was keen to confine them/keep them in one place, but w/out a headcollar or lead ropes that was difficult. Too early to "borrow" a couple from our stables (all locked up and alarms on). Pinged KJ to see if she was up. No luck. Called the police who told me they would only intervene if the horses ended up in the road/caused an accident (gee, thanks). Called our emergency vet service (just to see if they had some head collars, etc.) who said they couldn't help b/c the horses weren't mine. Grr. I managed to lure them into our front garden (Lovely Cob Boy oves polos) and close the gate while we had a think about what to do. All we needed to do was keep them contained until the livery yard opened and someone could come and get them. They were fine for a while nosing around the garden, peering over the hedge into next door's garden, sniffing the cars, munching away, but then Barney started getting feisty and when they began chasing each other round the front garden, I became worried about the cars (and their safety) and we decided to let them out and just make sure they stayed near the farm gate – both horses were happy to oblige as they were very keen to go back to bed/have something to eat. Meanwhile, George went on a mission to see if any of the other gates/entrances were open yet or he could raise the owners somehow. He finally found someone, who came and unlocked the gate so we could put them both away. The girls thought it was highly entertaining . . . larking about with Barney and Lovely Cob Boy in our lane early in the morning in their jammies. Geo kept me supplied with cups of tea, and Lovely Cob Boy had great fun trying to undo the laces on my boots.
When I was a little girl I always dreamed that I'd wake up one morning and find a pony on the front lawn . . . never dreamed my wish would come true!
Now that the scene is set, what happened this morning will make a little more sense.
You know how you hear a sound when you're sleeping and incorporate it into your dreams? Well, I was dreaming about riding through the streets of London, and then the dogs started barking and I woke up and realized I could hear horse's hooves outside. Nothing unusual in that - I sleep with the windows open and can often hear the horses passing in the lane. Then I realized these horses weren't passing (i.e., they weren't travelling towards and then away from the house), but they appeared to be IN the driveway and I thought it might be KJ on her horse (Oz) who likes to "dance" at the end of our drive. Worrying that the dogs might be upsetting Oz, I stuck my head out of the window and saw a large, black horse-y bottom disappearing round the back of George's car! I threw some clothes on and headed downstairs and out into the drive just in time to see a horse disappear up the lane towards the gate to Horn's Farm. Following, it I found two of them . . . Barney the pony (who we know and is a right little monkey), and a lovely black cob-y boy. Barney had a head collar on, but Lovely Cob Boy did not. Looking over the gate, I could see an empty paddock and figured I'd just put them both in there together and let the livery yard know later. But the gate to the farm was padlocked shut. I grabbed my phone and realized it was 5.00 a.m.! No'one up/no'one at the yard (which is guarded by the rather fierce Arnie). I was worried that they would head out towards the road so was keen to confine them/keep them in one place, but w/out a headcollar or lead ropes that was difficult. Too early to "borrow" a couple from our stables (all locked up and alarms on). Pinged KJ to see if she was up. No luck. Called the police who told me they would only intervene if the horses ended up in the road/caused an accident (gee, thanks). Called our emergency vet service (just to see if they had some head collars, etc.) who said they couldn't help b/c the horses weren't mine. Grr. I managed to lure them into our front garden (Lovely Cob Boy oves polos) and close the gate while we had a think about what to do. All we needed to do was keep them contained until the livery yard opened and someone could come and get them. They were fine for a while nosing around the garden, peering over the hedge into next door's garden, sniffing the cars, munching away, but then Barney started getting feisty and when they began chasing each other round the front garden, I became worried about the cars (and their safety) and we decided to let them out and just make sure they stayed near the farm gate – both horses were happy to oblige as they were very keen to go back to bed/have something to eat. Meanwhile, George went on a mission to see if any of the other gates/entrances were open yet or he could raise the owners somehow. He finally found someone, who came and unlocked the gate so we could put them both away. The girls thought it was highly entertaining . . . larking about with Barney and Lovely Cob Boy in our lane early in the morning in their jammies. Geo kept me supplied with cups of tea, and Lovely Cob Boy had great fun trying to undo the laces on my boots.
When I was a little girl I always dreamed that I'd wake up one morning and find a pony on the front lawn . . . never dreamed my wish would come true!