Though I don't relish riding alone - I do love it when I have a task to complete. As I was debating about where to ride - my honey suggested I follow the creek & push out any cows I found back around the mtn. It's a spot we'd pushed cows out from before so I was comfortable with the task. There were nine pair hidden under a cottonwood and once they saw me enter the pasture and head towards them - they moved out. Almost like little kids that knew they weren't supposed to be hanging out on this side of the mtn. It was pretty easy to push them back to the dirt tank - along the way I picked up a Charolais bull and another pair. Then I went back up the side of another hill to push down some cows so I could get an accurate count. So, I was upto 14 pair that had wondered back into this part of the pasture (there isn't much water in the dirt tank) so we're keeping a count. I rode up another hill and was headed back to the house - virtually making a big loop around this this mtn. There are many canyons on the sides of these hills and I've been up & down hundreds of them - some easier to cross than others.
I headed down a rather steep one and Dudley my trusty steed didn't think twice about it. As I got to the bottom and began heading up the other side - all of the sudden Dudley was on all fours thrashing about obviously entangled in some wire. I quickly jumped off - I was close to the ground one would say practically on it - Dudley continued to struggle, thrash - it was incredibly scary to see him struggling and thrashing about - he managed to get up, moved a few feet and then as he kept struggling - the wire took him back down to the ground - his legs looked contorted. By this time, I am truly scared for my horse and I'm thinking, how in the heck am I going to get to my fence pliers in my saddlebag to cut the wire if he doesn't calm down.
He managed to get up again - this time he made it about four feet and the wire took him back down to the ground for a third time. The contortion continued - his legs were going in every direction. I am thinking what if he breaks a leg. He finally gets up - stands there holding his leg in the most peculiar position. We are both breathing hard and Dudley's nostrils are coated in dirt.
I walked the four miles back to the house. And thankfully Dudley was ok. He is such a great horse!!
