The following is copy-pasted from my journal here because I feel some of you animal lovers out there might get a good laugh out of the chaos. ^-^ I'm sure you have your own crazy horse barn/other pet stories, as well.
So I finally headed to the barn today, having missed my chances last week with a combination of cleaning a fish tank to remove medication she'd been on and being too windy for recently-sick me to go (insert frustrated swearing here). My mom had gone there the day before, so I was expecting a quick, happy visit of letting my horse out, cleaning the basic parts of his stall, bringing him back in, and grooming/treat-feeding. Hahahahaha.
I get there, say hello to the horse (who gives his wonderful, "I'm happy to see you" set of nickers). I get him outside and put him in his usual paddock. It's not really always a paddock, more a path between two paddocks to the ones below, but it's fully fenced in. Our horse likes it because it's right next to the mare and two fillies he likes (they're all in a paddock together).
After I put him in, I notice that he immediately heads down to trio of older mares, who live in one of the lower paddocks. This is unusual. He normally doesn't care a whole lot about them. He gets down there and sticks his nose down to the face of one of the mares, who's eating hay. She puts her ears back and waves her head angrily as he backs away. I notice that it seems there's...really no fencing between them. Not good. One of the other mares looks a little unhappy, too, and my suspicions are confirmed as I duck under the fence and head down there. The older mares have the small walkway paddock, too. They don't know my horse and are not too happy about sharing their space with him. I manage to get him out of the group (his halter is on this whole time - no lead rope at all), bring him up to the front, open the electric fence, circle him around so I can close it again, bring him to the gate next to the pathway paddock, open the chain locking it, and get him in. I watch him do his fun little rolling and trotting around routine before heading back to the barn.
I say hello to all the horses, then head out the opposite side to get the wheelbarrow. My brother's standing there (messing with some old equipment he's being allowed to bring him and mess with), and he tells me that he thinks our horse is out. I look over about 1/2 an acre away, past a cell phone tower, and there's a chestnut grazing in the barn owner's brother's field (he hates horses, by the way). Pretty instantly, I can tell it's Pistol. He's prone to getting under the fence (learned it from a pasturemate). The fence is off (probably partially for us letting our horse out, but I get afraid to turn it back on when I don't know if something's happened to it). I've brought Marbles, his partner in crime, in before, but never him. I didn't know how he was going to act, but I couldn't just leave him out there. I fetch a lead rope and head out.
After walking within a few feet of him half a dozen times, only to have him walk away, I finally herd him into a spot where he's between the fence, the poo pile form cleaning stalls, a chainlink fence, and me. I manage to swing the lead rope around his neck and bring him back up to his paddock. He doesn't seem to take it all very seriously, trying to graze the whole way back. Not too bad. I get him back in his paddock and go clean the stall.
The stall itself was ridiculous. It was just cleaned 24 hours ago, but the entire middle was - how do I say it tactfully? - soiled. Completely. I filled the wheelbarrow up like it'd been days since the stall had a cleaning, then dump it outside and hear more wonderful news from my brother "He's out again."
Greeeeat.
I ask him to fetch me a lead rope and halter. I take them and head down to the horse. He's a little farther out in the field, so it takes a bit more work (not a whole lot, though) to get him again. I get the lead rope, then put on the halter. It's too small. I can't buckle it. I try to bring him back with it, and we get maybe seven feet before Pistol shakes it off. Back to using the lead rope. Pistol's a little pushier this time, turning every once in a while to stare at my face as if to say, "Who are you, and why do you keep doing this to me?!" I'm not going to put him back in his normal place, now, considering he keeps getting out of it, and my horse is taking up the paddock that is usually for the horses that keep trying to escape. I think I'll put him in the paddock next to my horse. I get to the gate, and Pistol half-spooks at some black tarp item sitting nearby. Our horse is NOT happy to see me walking around another gelding. He comes to the gate and starts pawing at the mud, something he never does. The combination of everything makes Pistol back up, out of my grasp and lead rope. He turns and takes off down the stallion section of the barn, sending every male there into a flip-out in their stalls. Whinnies come from everywhere. Pistol turns right and stops right in the doorway between the two aisles, saying hello to one of the fillies (remember those ones I said our horse likes?) who came into their indoor stall/shelter to see what all the commotion's about. My brother's laughing at the ridiculousness of it from the far aisle entrance, and I head over there after a moment to see if I can get Pistol from that side. I get there, and I can't see him. I ask my brother where he is and he answers. "He's in a stall. I'm not sure which one." Only one horse's stall is open. Guess whose?
As I begin to come up the aisle, Pistol heads out of the stall and begins heading my way, first at a walk, then a slow trot. I tell my brohter to get out of the way and, unwilling to let the gelding continue his rampage, I put my hand up (looking a bit like a cheesy movie) and give a loud, "Huuuuu!" (many of us horsefolks use that instead of "whoa"). Totoally confused, Pistol stops, and I have him again. After a bit of chaos, we fine a halfway decent halter, and I get him into the paddocl.
Pistol's not too happy about being away from his herd, let alone not being able to see them well anymore. He goes into a panic, galloping back and forth and screaming his head off. To make it worse, the barn's still a bit chaotic and is whinnying back. To try to calm Pistol down, I give him some hay. He chomps on it for about five minutes before starting up again, soon ducking his head somehow under the fence and trotting under it (still can't figure it out 100% how he did that). He canters around the barn. I find him over by his normal paddock, sniffing his buddies.
At this point, I've had it. "You want back in, okay. Just don't get out anymore." As if he can understand me. I get him in the paddock, shout at my brother to turn the electric on (if there's a problem, we'll deal with it when it happens, at this point), and give everyone outside a little hay to distract them. It works, thankfully. I bring my horse in, who thankfully forgives me for messing with another gelding, and groom him off, getting crawled over by one of the friendlier barn cats the whole time (good thing our horse loves him). I feed treats, et cetera, and we leave.
Looooong day. I'm tired. x_X
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