this is sparta!

This happened to me the other day. . . 

Spartaaaa!!!

Except that it wasn't down a well and it was a horse. But the horse's name IS King Leonidas.

Our horses at the barn love to be together in one big group. Even though they are separated into two groups, they often stand together over the gate just to be close. That poor gate. . .

Not at the gate here, but the fence is separating them.

When some horses are separated, there can be some running and calling back and forth. And when some horses are returned to the pasture, there is often nickers and greetings. They are a close bunch. The four drafts, two minis, Haflinger and Paint, odd bunch that they may be, have formed a funny little herd together. 

It usually isn't a problem (unless you are trying to ride your horse away from a trailer with the others tied to it) and it is kind of cute how they all know and recognize each other. For the most part, the horses have manners and don't get pushy. 

This does not happen at the pasture gates

Except for King Leonidas. Maybe because he is the new horse in the group or maybe he is just a jerk face, but he has horsey anxiety. And he really likes Shyloh. 

Grazing muzzles are hot

We had all the horses except Isaac and Notch in the far back pasture to graze. Shy had all her gear on to keep her from stuffing her face and getting founder super sexy. After a couple hours, we wanted to bring the horses back to the front pastures. I had a slush in one hand, Meatball, and Shyloh on leads in the other. Kyle had Reba. Jaime was at the gate. That left Dexter, Clutch, and Leo in the pasture. 

How Shy feels in her grazing muzzle

As we were walking out, I handed Meatball to Jaime and worked on convincing Shy to leave (she grew roots and did not want to leave). As I got her walking and we were almost out of the gate, I was body slammed! What the. . .

I was slammed again and fell to the ground. I dropped Shy's lead rope and my slush (seriously the worst part) as I put my hands over my head to protect it from hooves. My foot was crushed and a hoof got my hip. When I felt safe I got up to see what the hell just happened. 

Leo had blown past Kyle and ran into me, half jumping me. In the process of my fall, Jaime hoovered over me to protect me from the Paint. I assessed my damage: sore foot, but I could walk, sore hip, and sore neck from landing on a rock. I was fine.

Jaime, jumping in to save me!

Now the hard part. . .catching two hard to catch horses. Shy and Leo were on the lose and they were having themselves a good time. They ran through Jaime and Kyle's field (which was just planted that day), they ran through a field behind us. Then they stopped. Both took a poop, then ran off bucking. What fun! They made it to the neighbor's fields. Me and Kyle were trying to catch them through all of this. Then they came back, but they were not ready to be caught yet. 

Shy was the main runner, Leo was just following. Leo stopped for some grass and I caught him and handed him to Kyle. Shy was still not ready to end her fun. Back into the neighbor's field she went. We played ring around the rosey. I was not happy. Eventually I got her and she knew she was in trouble. Her saving grace was that she did not take part in the trampling. Just the aftermath. 

Taking caught horses back, , ,they knew they were in trouble!

Still sore a few days later. My neck is the worst, I must have stiffed up when I fell and pulled the muscles. My foot only hurts when I walk, because it is right where my toes meet the foot, the bendy part. The knee and hip are just bruised but okay. 

How I will be getting horses out of the pasture from now on. . .

I think we will need to employ a different method of getting horses out of the pasture. It usually is easy, tell the horses to stay back and they do. Leo must not have gotten that memo.