Today (14/11/06) I was reminded of the unreal Morgan Temperament. Upon checking the horses, one was missing from the herd in the creek paddock. Red Bluff Mesmeric was nowhere to be seen. With my heart a pounding I went to find him, not knowing what to expect, and expecting the worst, you know how your mind runs all those crazy thoughts, with devastating results.
I found him in a pile of wood collected a few years ago when we cleaned up the paddock. Oh man what a dilemma, how to get him out of his predicament. He had obviously been there for quite some time, we had rain overnight too with chilling winds.
All seemed to be in order, he was putting weight on all 4 legs, although the near hind hock is swollen, with a bit of hair and skin missing from the area.
Ross finally arrived with the tractor & chain to move the logs, I also called for the chainsaw, but Ross thought that it would be all too much for Ric to handle.
Ross hooked up to the log on Ric’s offside, and gently, ever so slowly it started to move away from the horse. It creaked and groaned and threatened to fall back at an even worse angle, fairy godmother was watching over us and all went to plan. Not quite enough clearance yet to back him out of his trap, back to the tractor to pull it out further. Now there’s enough room to back out, provided its in a straight line, and then there was the log of about 1 foot high to get over too. I am so thankful that I had done some work with Ric, he is actually quite good in reverse, but under these circumstances, well that will be the test. We backed a few steps at a time, couldn’t afford for him to panic and rear, as that would of spelt doom, broken legs for sure. I asked him to back off the halter, he was reluctant to move his hind legs at first, but he remained calm at all times. My heart was racing, I refused to think of all the possibilities that could of happened, so that they did not happen. My good friend Leslie taught me that trick. Thanks heaps LD. We took a break now and then, I was happy to see him chewing, there was not much tension in him at all, and only when we got to the log did he show signs of hesitation. Ross helped him by lifting his hind leg and placing it on top of the log, he then was feeling with that leg, and placed it over the log. The next hind leg came over without any hassles, he was again feeling his way over it. Then the easy part, the front legs stepped very confidently over the log and we where only a few feet from release.
I led him around, not even a limp, but oh boy was he hungry, so I let him go and it was head down to graze, then a pee, and all was well. He sort of looked at me questioning my concern…………… What a legend is Mesmeric. I am so proud of my boy.
I am so honoured to have such a great, confident, trusting, and cool Morgan in my paddock, am so happy to have chosen this boy as my stud stallion.
I imagine that he got in this predicament by grazing the green shoots in between the logs, and another of his paddock mates has come along and told him to “GET OUT OF THERE”, so he did with the only way forward being to jump or scramble over the log which was then on his near side. Upon reaching the other side he was entrapped by the small branch in front of him and the arrangement of the logs. He then had to wait for the rescue party.
Wished I had got more pics of the extraction, with the tractor hooked up etc, but felt that we already had a miracle that day, so didn’t want to push our luck any further for a few photos.