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*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Gate Drama

with 2 comments

While the “parents” are away, the horses will play? In all the years we have had horses, we’ve never seen what happened yesterday while we are up at the lake. The friends staying at our house sent us a question about one of the gates. They didn’t remember it being bent and wondered how it was supposed to be secured. Photos had Cyndie and me massively shocked by what we were seeing.

What in the heck happened!?

The chain was completely gone. Whatever the impact was, it broke the link and sent the chain flying into the tall grass.

Our best guess is that Swings or Light, or possibly both, might have gotten spooked and sprinted toward the gate, forgetting that it was closed. Whatever occurred, it must have been quite a spectacle. Our friends didn’t find any evidence of injury to either horse, so that is good news.

We had been told the farmer who cuts and bales our hay field was hoping to show up within days so we had confined the horses to the paddocks and opened the outer gate by the road to allow the tractor to roll in unobstructed. With that paddock gate blown open, the two horses in that paddock could have made their way to freedom if they had ventured to the far side of the field. Luckily, they didn’t.

Over the phone, we strategized with Pam and John to guide them to materials to temporarily secure the gate and assure them all was fine, even as Cyndie and I marveled over the outrageousness of what we were seeing and the incident we were imagining had happened. We also had them close that gate by the road as an additional precaution. The farmer can open it when he finally arrives.

You just never know when the usual serenity of life with horses might be disrupted by some spectacular incident.

Of course it would occur when we are away.

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Written by johnwhays

June 29, 2024 at 9:28 am

2 Responses

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  1. Hi John: that is a really strange story… to me it looks like a vehicle backed into your gate, given also that none of the horses had any sign of damage… very strange…

    Unknown's avatar

    Anonymous

    June 30, 2024 at 2:52 am

    • I agree, it totally looked like a vehicle impact to me, too. The horses have a pretty tough hide and the gate had no sharp edges. The kinks happen from the bend. We also had the benefit of observing the tracks in the wet ground which clearly prove no machine with wheels was inside the horse’s space.

      johnwhays's avatar

      johnwhays

      June 30, 2024 at 6:16 pm


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