Dorothy was told to follow the Yellow Brick Road, but do our horses know about that?
We went trail riding last Saturday and that question came up very quickly when my friend, and my horse that she was leasing, parted company after getting tangled up in a vine. (To be discussed in another post.) She, in slow motion, hit the ground and the mare decided that the boogeyman who grabbed her was not done with her yet, and that she should “get out of dodge.” For those of you who were born after the age of Westerns on TV, it meant it was a good idea to get out of town before the bullets started flying. Well I wasn’t sure she knew her way home so Zoey and I stood there calling her, waiting for her to turn around and come back to us. Zoey and Friday are usually inseparable. Well according to Friday, the boogeyman can have you both for dinner, I’m not getting involved.
Well at that point all these things come flooding through your mind. Has she been out here enough times to know where the turn is for home, or is she going to run straight to the main road? We were about three miles from home and there was only a small path that would lead her to where she needed to go. Then there were gaps in fence lines that she needed to find also. Would she find those paths? What vines, stickers, and other trappy situations would she get herself involved in. She was running way too fast to really consider her footing. So we started the long walk home, praying that she would be safe.
Once we got to the first narrow path turn, we started playing the old Western tracking practices. She’s barefoot, but has a good size hoof. There were tracks, now, which way were they going. Yes we saw our hoof prints coming out, and we thought we saw some going back. She must have slowed down because they weren’t deep cut. Now a stretch of lime rock road with grass on both sides. Couldn’t tell anything because she’d stay on the grass being barefoot. There were two choices of roads to choose from. I sent my friend up one and I went to the furthest one, the same one that we came down. The next narrow path through the fence came up, too turned up to tell. Since I was on my horse I could cover more ground quickly. So I cantered over the grassy stretch of the private road until I came to the hill where it turned to sand, and that’s where I found my answers. Yup she came this way, and according to the depth of the hoof prints, she was flying. She had found the turns and her way home. Yay!!!
She was waiting in the shade by the gate at home and gave us look like “What took you so long?” The bridle was broke, but other than a tiny scratch, she looked fine. Off to find my girlfriend.
Do you know if your horse can find the Yellow Brick Road home or back to your trailer? I’ve seen many people looking for their horses in the parks and forests in the area. Once again I advocate leather instead of nylon. Leather will break. Many horses who were lost were found with their nylon reins caught on trees, wire fences, and such. If they weren’t found, how long could they have stayed there, trapped.
It’s the flight instinct that makes them run. Some will come back to the group, but some will keep running in fear. Do you know what your horse will do? Next time you go out, give your horse his head on the way home and see if he/she really knows where home is. It may surprise you, but it’s a good thing to know in case the question ever comes up.
They are amazing creatures, but just like people, some have a better sense of direction than others. My husband on the other hand…. we won’t go there.