Friday, June 4, 2010 - The Great Escape

Well, it didn't surprise me too much when Wednesday afternoon I looked up and saw my horse grazing outside the pasture fence. He managed to wriggle his way through, one step at a time. I brought him back in, knowing full well that wasn't going to be the last time. Sure enough, he escaped again during the night, and the stomping and whinnying of his mother woke me at dawn yesterday. I got him back in, and managed to get back to bed, and later, Hubby and I drove into town to get some supplies, including a new electrical outlet to replace the broken one that the fence would usually be plugged into. Unfortunately, we got back too late to do anything with it, so once again, before the crack of dawn, I heard the same ruckus and had to get up and get him back in. He wasn't going far (he never does), but Mamma couldn't see him because he'd wandered to the other side of the barn, so she was making too much of a fuss to sleep. It was a chilly morning, and by the time I got him in, I was too wide awake to sleep, so I just got on the computer and started working. Thanks to our hostess, who had ordered up a satellite internet service, otherwise keeping up with work would have been impossible, as there is no cell phone signal out here either, which is where I usually get my broadband. Anyway, later in the day, Hubby got busy working on the fence, and after an hour or so, managed to get it fixed. I gently led my gelding to the fence and let him stick his nose on it, and it did give him a little bite (it's a rope-style fence, not metal, so it seems to be a bit gentler.) He's a smart horse, I didn't see him try it again :-).
Met the neighbors for the first time today, they came over to check on their horses. They have a deal with our hostess, they run their 3 horses with her one in a series of pastures on her property, and keep the watered and looked after. Of course, I've been doing most of the watering, but they do come over and check occasionally. Nice folks (as most horse people we've met are), had a nice chat. Told them we'd be traveling next week, asked them to keep an eye on our kids while we're gone, which they readily agreed to do.
It's been incredibly hot here, I never expected 90 degrees at 7000 feet in Colorado in June. The only days it's not incredibly hot are when the winds get up (which is most of the time), but some days are both hot and windy. We've only had one day of precipitation since we've been here, and that was nearly 3 weeks ago when it was so cold we had sleet down here and snow up on the mountain peaks surrounding us. Everything just above us was coated with fresh white, and there's still a bit of that around. The wind does seem to howl constantly here, the kind of wind that would drive a soul mad after awhile. Good thing we're a couple of very sane people!