RockRiverTiff
Well-Known Member
So I'm feeling a little saner after I was forced to take a nap, but I still feel totally disoriented and sick about what happened this morning. I'd just finished a long night of mare watching, so when the phone rang at around 6 I was NOT in the mood to talk. I ignored it, but when it rang again I knew something was wrong. Grandma asked me if I was still at the farm (I had just gone home to grab breakfast) and said they needed me down the road at the highway because there were minis on the road. There was also a full-sized horse, and it had been hit, and by coincidence the person that hit it knew us and called before the sheriff even got there. I was out the door in a couple minutes. Halfway to the farm I got another call saying the sheriff wanted me to bring halters and leads and feed and that the owner hadn't come forward yet. They gave me a description of the horses, and even though I knew they weren't ours the very first thing I did when I got to the farm was go racing through all the barns to make sure everyone was there.
The first thing I saw when I got up to the highway was the big mare. She was badly hurt, down in the ditch, but the sheriff must've been intimidated by her or something because he didn't get close enough to finish her with one shot. He shot her four times. I hope I never have to see something like that again. I don't want to be on the wrong side of the sheriff, but I am strongly considering writing a letter to their office suggesting that they teach the sheriff and deputies how to properly dispatch animals. I jumped out with a bucket full of pellets and two halters/leads, and was approached by the local horse trader. Someone must have called her too, and while she said the horses weren't hers and she hadn't brought anything to help catch them she was ready to take them when/if we did. Of course.
Then the sheriff called me over and said they had found the owner, he was coming, and they wouldn't need my help after all. The minis had run off into a field and were nowhere in sight. I got back in the truck just as the owner was pulling up in his. No trailer, no obvious way to get the minis home. He got out without any halters or leads, took a look at the mare, shook his head, and then went to talk to the sheriff. The sheriff waved us off, so we left, but all day I've been wondering if they caught the minis. The first thing I did was go staggering around the farm checking all the perimeter fences...again. I do this every day, but today I just can't shake the paranoia, so I've got a bunch of grumpy minis penned up in their barns. Please please please check your fences - I don't think I'll ever shake the image of that poor mare.
The first thing I saw when I got up to the highway was the big mare. She was badly hurt, down in the ditch, but the sheriff must've been intimidated by her or something because he didn't get close enough to finish her with one shot. He shot her four times. I hope I never have to see something like that again. I don't want to be on the wrong side of the sheriff, but I am strongly considering writing a letter to their office suggesting that they teach the sheriff and deputies how to properly dispatch animals. I jumped out with a bucket full of pellets and two halters/leads, and was approached by the local horse trader. Someone must have called her too, and while she said the horses weren't hers and she hadn't brought anything to help catch them she was ready to take them when/if we did. Of course.
Then the sheriff called me over and said they had found the owner, he was coming, and they wouldn't need my help after all. The minis had run off into a field and were nowhere in sight. I got back in the truck just as the owner was pulling up in his. No trailer, no obvious way to get the minis home. He got out without any halters or leads, took a look at the mare, shook his head, and then went to talk to the sheriff. The sheriff waved us off, so we left, but all day I've been wondering if they caught the minis. The first thing I did was go staggering around the farm checking all the perimeter fences...again. I do this every day, but today I just can't shake the paranoia, so I've got a bunch of grumpy minis penned up in their barns. Please please please check your fences - I don't think I'll ever shake the image of that poor mare.