Hubby to the Rescue!

When my husband came home on Tuesday night, he had quite the story to share.  And it was actually an equine story.  

A little background ... My husband is very supportive of my horsey love affair, but he is pretty much a non-participating member of team Keep my Horses Healthy.  He has been to a few endurance rides and one or two shows, he helps with truck or trailer maintenance if the job is above my strength level, and he indulges my love of all things equine by slowing down while traveling to point out a pony I might have missed. But really, that's about the limit of his participation in my horse life.  So when he walked in the door with a horse story, it had to be a blog post.

The Central Valley of California is home to some of the world's richest farmland, and agriculture is a major industry where we live.  My husband works for one of these companies as the Plant Controller.  This means that he drives out into a pretty rural location to get to work.  While on his drive, he spotted a vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road that had it's hazards going.  He slowed down and noticed a loose horse some distance in front of the parked vehicle.

My husband has enough equine experience to know that a loose horse on the road is a tragedy in the making. This particular pony was heading toward HIghway 46 which is a major east/west artery to the California coast. It's heavily trafficked and would be a death sentence for a loose horse.

My husband told me the story rather quickly, so I know I am not going to get all of the details right, but essentially what happened was this:  He saw a young girl of about twelve years old following along behind with a rope in her hand.  He picked her up and tried to get her closer to the horse.  The horse, of course, felt chased by their attempts to come up behind him and began to gallop farther down the road.   My husband left the girl to follow while he found an alternate road which led him around the horse.  He was hoping he could get in front of it and drive it back to the girl.

My husband, and several other good samaritans, tried this strategy several times, but each time the horse was able to dart around and continue toward the highway.  My husband even parked in the middle of the road and got out with arms spread wide to block the horse's advance.  No luck.  

Eventually, they neared town and the horse darted into an alley (it's a small town).  My husband quickly drove several blocks to block the alley exit and get in front of the horse.  Several other drivers blocked other exits. Finally, the horse was corralled and he stood quietly as the young girl walked up to him with her lead rope. According to the girl, the horse had unlatched the gate, walked down their driveway to a small road, and then continued out onto the road with traffic.  The girl had walked after him hoping to catch him right away.

My husband wanted to offer the girl a ride back home, but the safest way for her to get the horse back home was to just lead him down the side of the road.  Since it was only about three miles, my husband knew it was a fairly easy walk.  Some kids on 4-wheelers were heading their way so adult help was not far behind.  As the good samaritan drivers began to pull away, the girl thanked everyone profusely.  My husband was glad to see that their help was appreciated.  In all, the little escapade took about about 45 minutes.  

Good job, honey!  You saved the day.

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