France in Focus

My wife, mate & their boxed horses left early this morning for a 40km coastal randonnée so "great" thought I. "A day of doing nothing much for me & M Mutt".
Yeah right! Just having a leisurely breakfast after a bit of a lie in when the front doorbell rang & a neighbour announced that our Fjord pony was loose on the road.
Luckily he wasn't far from a field gate & with the help of a few motorists who had stopped he was herded back into the field.
On examination my missus hadn't switched on the 'leccy fence, which is not normally necessary when horse & pony are together, but today Eko the pony had decided to go looking for his mate, sensed the fence was 'off' & bulldozed his way through it.
So that was my leisurely morning gone as the next hour was spent with Eko locked in a dry stable & me in the downpour of a shower repairing the broken fence & checking everything was well electrified.
I've still no idea how he got out of the field as it's surrounded by high banks & all gates were shut but that investigation can wait for another day. I'm still warming up after getting well & truly soaked.

Hope your day is going better - a leisurely lunch perhaps?

Oh dear. Good luck for the rest of the day.

Reminds me of the story about the guy who went to the bank to ask for a loan to raise and market his three legged chickens.
The bank manager visited the farm and was amazed to see dozens of the chickens racing at high speed around a field.
"That's fantastic, no problem for the loan, how many have you sold?" he asked.
"None, I can't catch the buggers" was the reply.

Horses can be real buggers with electric fencing - we occasionally had to "remind" ours ... The Merens was a devil and could always sense if it wasn't on or if it was shorting out somewhere.

My nags would not even cross a blue tape that was lying on the ground, however, the mare would jump any e-fence if the others were on the other side without her.

Just found hoof marks showing that after breaking down the (un) 'leccy fence he escaped by climbing up a 4ft high near vertical bank & jumping down the much higher roadside.
Not bad for a 26 year old nag

I'm so glad he didn't come to any harm on the road. Horses always seem to choose Sundays to need the vet urgently for whatever reason.

In the meantime, I'm so envious of your wife on her 40km coastal randonnée. My boy is 34 this year and his days of long distance rides are a thing of the past.

Veem wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:24 pm

In the meantime, I'm so envious of your wife on her 40km coastal randonnée. My boy is 34 this year and his days of long distance rides are a thing of the past.

Turns out it was shortened to about 30 km as the weather in the morning was atrocious.
Pica her Arab lad is an ex. endurance horse who apparently did quite well in his yoof. He's just turned 19 now & spent half the morning lying flat out in the field with his escapee mate.
Mind you, my missus 'ain't no spring chicken so she was a bit reluctant to get up this morning.