The horse on the wrong side of the fence

A couple of weeks ago one of the horses on our place had an accident. It was quite serious, but funny, too, because we really haven’t figured out exactly how he did what he did. That has lead to numerous scenarios made up in our minds as to how Jackson ended up on the wrong side of the fence with a swollen knee. 

Angie was working and when she pulls two-day shifts I do her chores; two nights and one morning during each shift. That particular day was the second day of her shift and I had done chores about 7:30 a.m., everyone was fine and where they belonged. Rick usually walks by about 10:30 a.m.. on his way to the shop, but that morning I had to run to town, so I dropped him off at the shop and then picked him up on the way home so he didn’t go by that way until after lunch when he headed to the shop. 

He left the house and I started doing the things I needed to get done, then suddenly Rick was back. “That one horse of Angie’s is in the wrong pasture,” he said. 

So off we went to see what was up. Sure enough, Jackson was on the wrong side of the fence, walking quite gingerly on one front leg and looking very sorry for himself. He is normally kind of hard to catch so I was cautious walking up to him, but he apparently knew he needed help because he not only let me catch him, he let me lead him to the corral with only a twine around his neck. 

I got him to the house and called Angie to see if she could get away to check on him or if she wanted me to text the vet and see if she could come. Things were peaceful at the station so Angie and her partner were able to come out and see what was what, she took some pictures and sent them to the vet, which ended with her going after antibiotics for an infection caused by a wire cut and a fall. 

Then came the fun; we tried to figure out what happened. The fence was stretched out and low in one place, so that is where the investigation started. First Rick and I, and then Angie and I, tried to recreate what exactly happened. 

This boy does love to run, and the ground was damp that morning and a little slick, so the closest we can come up with is that he was running and then realized he couldn’t stop on the slick ground, so he decided to jump the ditch, and possibly the fence, too, because they are only like a foot apart. We are thinking that either his front feet hit the ground and slid into the fence causing him to hit it and literally cartwheel over it OR he jumped the ditch, knew he had to also jump the fence, but when he tried to take off, his hind feet slipped taking away all of his height and he caught the fence with his knee and stumbled over the ditch. 

The funny thing is that we could see the sliding hoof prints, we could see the fence squashed, we could see the cut on his knee, but there were no cuts on his hind legs. I have even wondered if he hit that fence with his knee, then somehow turned sideways and actually fell over the fence sideways. 

It really doesn’t matter now, because he is on the mend, the fence is mended, and everyone is now happy. But sometimes it is fun to try to be an investigator. 

Here is an easy little appetizer that I found interesting:

Egg and sardine

Hard cook eggs, cool and remove shells.

Cut in half lengthwise.

Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Place a small, well-drained sardine over each egg half.

Arrange on small lettuce leaf.

Garnish with a bit of lemon.