Last night, I had just laid down and, in fact, had fallen asleep. Then, I heard, from down in the stairwell, the dreaded words, uttered by Pete, which were, “Alys, the horses are out.” At least these were the words I was told I heard.

“I’m coming,” I said. I got my clothes on and put on my running shoes and tied my laces and headed out the door. Pete was down by the gate, two ropes and two halters in hand. He told me to grab another rope and halter.

Three mares

I did as I was told. I asked, when I met him on the road, how come we weren’t first checking the property. He said that the gate was open, and the horses had gone down the road. Now, I didn’t even have time to tell him that, no, I did not leave the gate open. The gate was closed, but I hadn’t fastened the chain to the shorter of the two gates.

Stupid me, I had taught Tyra and Raudi to open the gate. Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

I followed Pete who, after turning left, began following the horses’ tracks. This wasn’t rocket science. The horses are shod, so the tracks were visible. I followed behind Pete, who was moving really fast.

Losing animals and hunting them down – always I think the worst. Like the time we lost Shadow when she jumped out the car window right before dog obedience class. I wasn’t worried about humans hurting our horses because right now most of the places are vacated. I was instead worried that the mares might wander far off and that it might be days before we again found them. Losing an animal, it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. It’s a combination of apprehension, worry, and uncertainty.

We passed the two abandoned properties, and finally came to our neighbor Judy’s place.

And there they were, all three mares, together, at the edge of her lawn. There was a clear grassy area which abutted bushes. The three seemed at first surprised to see us, then became expectant. I suspect that although they were enjoying grazing that they felt like something was amiss. And something was. They had not gotten off our property by their own volition in over 10 years, if that.

Pete put halters on Raudi and Tyra, and I put one on Hrimmi. Hrimmi and I followed Pete, Raudi, and Tyra down the road. There was on the mare’s part, no move to get free.

I couldn’t help but think, what beautiful horses because the low-lying sun made their chestnut coats look like bright copper pennies. I also got this sense that they went home willingly because home is familiar to them.

We put the three in their enclosure and they milled around a bit. It was as if they were saying, “hey, wait a minute. Can’t we at least have lawn time?”

After checking in on the other animals, I went back upstairs and again fell asleep.

Next: 179. 7/2/24: To Bed Early