Riot

I went out this morning to turn the horses out and could hear the neighbor horse Nugget screaming loudly. A few seconds later Spirit went running past the garage followed closely by a grain scoop that almost but not quite hit him on the butt.

I yelled in mock outrage, “You lost my horse!” One of my stall cleaners appeared around the garage and yelled back, “He’s bad!” Since I’ve been on the receiving end of Spirit’s escapes many times I know that is a very true statement. She took off after him and he ran around in a very spritely manner for an old guy. Then her mother appeared leading Prize and declared her to be bad too.

Apparently Nugget was yelling to Prize so she decided to leave the pasture and go see Nugget. They had turned her loose and put one strand up on the gate before Prize decided to just go through it. Spirit decided that was quite a good idea also. Prize got distracted by the grass in the yard and stopped so they just walked up to her and caught her. But Spirit was leading them a merry chase. As they put it while pointing an accusing finger at Nugget (who was still yelling encouragement to Spirit), “That horse is inciting a riot!!!”

I went to fix the gate. Spirit finally allowed them to stand close to him. While trying to put his halter on him she dropped it and he just stood patiently next to her like he would never even think of doing anything bad. We turned both horses out again and they ever so calmly moved off to graze. I said, “I don’t know. Those look like the two most docile, tamest horses I’ve ever seen.” The girl who had been chasing Spirit said, “That’s because they’re worn out from all the running.” The other was muttering too much under her breath to give a full answer.