Don't forget to go visit Mary at CanadaGirl and check out her show and tell

(and all the others.)

It was about 3:00 a.m., Sunday, I was sleeping most soundly when  I awoke to the

sound of my brother’s voice.  “The horses are loose,” is what I wish I never had

to hear.     My oldest son, Matthew, Rachel, and my brother David had already been

 on a horse hunt for about an hour.   All four of our horses had broken out of their

pasture and into our yard, and then traveled to my son and daughter-and-law’s home. 

Their dog was barking and they looked out their window to see what was wrong. 

At first they thought it was very large deer (it’s pitch black outside and they

 were very tired) but then they realized it was the horses roaming their yard. 

Matt threw on a coat and ran outside to try to handle the situation.

It didn’t go well. The horses got spooked and began to run. He tried to catch up

with them, but at course, you can’t do that with horses!  He went and got David

and Rachel.  They all jumped into the pickup truck and started driving through the

 alfala field, and into our neighbor’s property.  Matt and Rachel jumped out to try

to trace their hoof-prints and David came back to the house to get my husband and myself. 

 When I awoke to the sound of, “Your horses are loose,” I was in a state of panic. 

The thought of my horses running through cornfields, crossing country roads into

other pastures, and the thought of not being able to find them was horrifying to me.   

By this time Rachel and Matt had returned to the ranch in a state of discouragement. 

 They could be anywhere at this time.  We jumped into the pick-up truck with them and

 began a new search.  We took the back country roads behind our house where they had

 last been seen headed towards,  watching for their hoof-prints.  We could see where

 they had been running and crossing roads because of the snow that was on the ground. 

How far had they gone?    How would we ever find them in the darkness?

Finally, in the distance, I seen four blanketed horses  -  I told my husband that

I think I’ve spotted them.  We turned our car to shine the lights on them and sure

 enough, it was them.  They had stopped to fraternize with someone else’s horses

that were behind their own fence line.  Rachel and I got out of the truck and began

to slowly (so as to not spook them and cause them to run again) walk across the corn

 field.  We had our four halters and lead ropes on our arms, and one bucket of grain in

which to tempt them with.  They seen us coming and stood there just eyeing us.  Was it

because of the grain that I was making sound effects with,  by picking it up and dropping

 it back into the bucket,  that caused them to begin to start walking towards us?  Or was

 it just because they loved us so much and was happy that we had found them?   I like to

 believe that to be the answer. 

We haltered them and began our trek back home.  It was 25 degrees below freezing when

 we walked home with our horses under the moonlight, treading through the snowy

cornfields, crossing country roads, jumping small creeks, passing through neighbor’s

yards, and listening to all of the neighbor’s horses whiny to ours in the darkness. 

I never knew we had so many horses around us until this journey.  Our fingers and

toes felt numb from the coldness when we finally came to our own property and walked

 across the alfalfa field and returned  them  safely to their coral. 

There are several things that I am very thankful for.  First of all, it is by the grace

 of God that we were able to find our horses under these circumstances.  It was by

His grace and protection that when our horses crossed country roads that they were

not hit by any cars.  It was by His grace that we were able to halter them and lead

them safely back to home.  I love my horses.  I am so thankful to have them back with us. 

.