It Was An Unusual Day For Patrick and Me
Posted: Saturday, January 14, 2012
by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com
I’ve had my share of unusual days throughout my life, believe me. For several days I have been trying to choose one to tell you about, but I can’t seem to get it started. For that reason I have narrowed it down to the day my horse ran away from home.
The irony is that this unusual day for Patrick and me started strictly because I goofed. Yes, it was all my fault to start with.
It all started simply enough.
My son, Mitchell, pokes his head in and says, “Mom, where’s Patrick?”
“What do you mean?” I say, startled.
“His door is open. I went to give him his apple treat and he isn’t in his stall. He’s not in the paddock either. I’ve already looked around everywhere, and he’s just not there. Where is he?”
“He’s in his stall. Stop scaring me like that,” I say, getting upset.
We both hotfoot outside and, sure enough, Patrick is nowhere in sight. I’m
calling him and calling him. It’s unusual for Patrick not to answer; he likes to give a little chuckle. I look inside the stall again as if to reassure myself he’s really not there.I remember a phone call, followed by yet another call – from a neighbor. I originally ignored these calls thinking they were not for me anyway. Must be town business, I had thought. I eventually find out that our neighbor also called all work numbers and anyone she could think of.
But panic is striking me. I’m in my car and on the road like the Roadrunner. Mitchell is hot in pursuit, heading in the opposite direction. I’m driving in the direction of the neighbor’s house whose phone call I’d ignored. Duh. I see no one, nothing unusual. I go beyond their house. Did I see something way into the woods?
I stop, look, listen, and call, “Patrick!” No answer. I’m thinking I hear something.
I’m intent, staring into the woods, scanning. It’s a country road and I’m sitting in the driving lane but fortunately no one approaches from either direction. I stand on top of the running board, look and listen.
Again I hear something. And then –By golly, up ahead, fairly deep into a knobby, knurly overgrown, dense stand of pines I see chestnut. It’s the red sheen of a chestnut horse’s coat and the bright, sharp purple of his horse blanket. “Patrick!”
I drive the car up and to the opposite side of the road over a telephone pole’s span away and park. Across the road I run and try to scramble up the embankment in the direction of the purple horse blanket. By now, the neighbor is here as well and up the road comes Mitchell. I had enough foresight to bring Patrick’s halter and leadrope and, having struggled up the embankment, I’m fighting my way into the woods. Dang, this has been logged and not very well. There is a fine mess of treetops and discarded logs everywhere. It’s all I can do to make a path into this thicket.
I pause. “Patrick!” Way off into the pines I see my horse. Thinking he’ll come to me, I call again. I use my sweetest coaxing voice. “Here boy, lets go home,” I call. Nope, Patrick is having none of it. I’m thinking he’ll be cut and ripped up. This is rough going.
There was nothing to do but to head further in. Patrick was moving again, but he certainly was not coming in my direction.
Here comes the school bus and Mitchell flags it down. Now Shawna is here too,
and Patrick adores her.Shawna drops everything and clambers up the embankment, trying her best to get to me. I give her the lowdown and she heads further in with me.
I bear witness to this. I’ve been struggling through this overgrown mess, calling the horse. Shawna is struggling through the same mess, calling Patrick who now stops, turns, and looks back at her. He retraces his steps and moves a little closer to us. Still she calls Patrick and he moves closer still. Dumbstruck, I watch the interaction between Patrick and Shawna as she coaxes him nearer.
I move over to the side, hand Shawna the halter and rope. She calls, the horse whinnies and out he weaves his way at a trot. He goes directly to her and sticks his head into her arms, then the halter. The whole scene is amazing to see. We just played a live scene right out of the movies!
Inspecting Patrick, he’s just fine. “Hurray. Thank you Lord!”
I watch both Patrick and Shawna as she leads him out through the mess of tangled trees and sharp woodsy spines. Patrick is moving comfortably along with her. We have a bit of a walk to get home, traveling on the road. So Shawna, Patrick and our neighbor start the parade, I follow in my car and then Mitchell. We drop off the neighbor and forge on. As we approach home, Patrick lets out a loud whinny that’s answered by his two little friends.
Home certainly looks great. Home sweet home. Into the stall goes Patrick. I hug Shawna and say, “I’m jealous.” She laughs. She says, “Just like a horse movie, huh.”
So there is my unusual day. The happenings of that afternoon remain with me and I have the same questions now that I had then. Apparently I hadn’t properly latched Patrick’s bottom door, he realized he could open it, and out he came. Well, that’s all fine and good. What I can’t figure out is why he left the property. Why didn’t he stick around with his friends? Why wasn’t he nibbling grass? I’m sure he had the joyful experience of running. Yet why leave the property and go so far away? Unusual indeed!
And that’s an unusual day for us – the day Patrick ran away from home.
The Old Gray Mare writes for www.DressYourHorse.com and her Blog sites.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Hi OGM, thank god this had a happy ending. Why did Patrick leave his friends and venture out?Could it have anything to do with that saying "The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.
Keep well and keep that bolt locked
KacyThanks for reading Kacycarr - I'm so honored to have you visit!
Patrick mystified me several ways that day. Him taking off like that is the most mysterious. He simply adores his friend. In fact, as I've talked about frequently in other articles or posts, he goes bonkers if he is separated from them. He suffers from separation anxiety and I have been unable to lessen the effects. So here he takes off! Cannot explain it, don't understand it, and still wonder why. Worst thing is that he went almost a mile to the point where we found him and he was heading toward the house. The neighbor told me that he was even in the road for a while. I'm lucky we're on a calm road for most of the day. Now the whole area is fenced, and even if he or the others were to get out, they're fenced. I do think that Patrick realizes he's got a great life here. Just what happened that day?
Appreciate the read.I love your pictures and the way you explain the story!Super duper thanks. Great vote of confidence.
I don't understand either why Patrick wanted to run away from his friends. When we had our horses, they would occasionally get out and every time they would be 2 blocks away with some "horse friends" that liked to hang out with! Sometimes, it was vice verse - the friends would come and visit Shy Guy, Zipper and Baby Doll!
Only thing I can think of is that he got to running, may have been spooked and kept on going. The woods where we caught up with him were simply awful. How he didn't get himself torn up and scraped is a stroke of luck and a higher intervention, I think. Needless to say, he was not in character. Obviously he had been out and about for some time. As for me, I was certainly out of the loop until Mitch alerted me. I'd have known much sooner if I'd answered the phone. Amy and several other neighbors were also called. Amy was in MA at the time and called the house when we were already looking for Patrick. Anyway, hadn't thought about writing about this until the "unusual" storyline came up.
Appreciate the read and comment. Hey Fran, there are many horses up for adoption in all states. Interested?
Handsome fellow that Patrick, just like the movies...He's a special boy alright. He's got some interesting and charming ways about him and the lady horses in the movies would find him a love. Thanks for being my staunch supporter!
Hi Heidi.
Maybe he heard another horse calling and went to find it. You never know. And as for why he went to Shawna and not you ... I bet you couldn't manage to get ALL of your anxiety out of your voice. And maybe your body posture was too tense. As you know, horses are VERY perceptive.
I'm so glad it ended well! And Patrick is a very handsome man. His neck is gorgeous.
Hugs,
DianneThanks for reading. Patrick is our special, once-in-a-million horse.
There is another horse but he's on another street. Soon there will be a horse next to our property. I'm having barn envy again. Drats. I love a nice barn almost more than a fancy house. You bet I was anxious and you're most likely right on target about him feeling the anxiety. When it comes to my animals and kids, I have zero tolerance for stress. It's like instant freaking out. Patrick is as perceptive as Chiefy was.
We lucked out that day. He came home none the worse for wear. I'm sure the blanket prevented scrapes and cuts. But then, his legs remained perfect as well. And that's where the real luck came in. It was a mess in those woods. The heavy equipment had left gullies and grooves, trees were down with spikes and all manner of jumbled branches hanging up and around. I had trouble navigating it. He was running through it.
Wish you lived closer. You'd enjoy riding this fellow. He has motion to spare and I could have you ride the Slow Gait and Rack. He's such a gentleman.
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