TexasMadness
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Crazy weekend on the farm!
I guess it was Halloween or the full moon. I don't know, things just went nuts. Lots of silly little stuff (injured chicken, kittens got fixed, caretakers cat in heat and stray male cat VERY interested, etc), but the events of Sunday were pretty interesting.
First, Sunday was awkward because the livestock didn't get the memo about the time change. I couldn't remember which clocks were changed or not. But I muddled through the morning.
While working in the garden I heard the dirt bike that is SO annoying nearby. It's the loudest racket you've ever heard! I stood up to see if I could spot who it was as they drove by. As soon as he rounded the corner, the horses in the neighbor's pasture spooked and came galloping towards our place. Doc stopped short but Red jumped the 5 strand barbed wire! Holy moly, the horse was in our pasture. We are completely fenced but our driveway gate was open. The horse was frantic and running around so I figured he was going to find the gate quickly as he was right next to it. I ran down there and got it closed as he was heading toward it!
Ok, so now I have the neighbor's horse in our pasture. The neighbor owns the land next door but lives in the city. So I go to call him to let him know. Oops, lost his number! Ok, I can handle this. I pet and give treats to the horses over the fence all the time. There's a gate between our pastures so I can just lure him through. I get some carrots to help with the act. Red seems perfectly calm now and is busy munching on our tall pasture while Doc is looking enviously on from his eaten down side of the fence. I slowly walk up to Red talking to him and he seems completely unphased by my approach. I hold the carrot out, he sniffs it...then spazzes out. Flares his nostrils, puts his ears down, starts stamping and even looks like he is going to rear up. Whoa. That's when I noticed the big gash on his knee (I discovered hair and flesh later on a t-post - ouch!). So he's hurt, spooked and uncomfortable with me being nearby. I'm outta my league.
Another neighbor is good friends with the owner so I asked them if they could call him. He's not home, so they came over to get Red back home! Took a lot of treats, a lot of sweet talk and a halter but they managed. Took probably an hour. During this, I'm told that Red was abused by his previous owner and is super skittish to begin with. Poor guy. They head home and we get back to work.
Uh uh, not 10 minutes later, the dirt bike is back! The horses go thundering around again...this time it's Doc that goes over the fence! Neighbors are back and Doc is easy to get home, with only a minor puncture wound from the barbed wire. The neighbors call the kids' guardians (lives with his aunt and uncle) and tells them this HAS to stop. The kid spooked their horse and he got injured - had to have surgery this week on his leg. They think the kid does it on purpose. I couldn't tell, but it's reckless anyway. The kid is 14 and the bike isn't street legal. He shouldn't be doing it! The uncle came over to talk to us to verify that the kid spooked the horses. I told him there was no question the horses were running from the bike. Uncle rolled his eyes and left. The kid was back on the bike that evening.
The owner didn't get the message about the hurt horse until today!  But he came by and fixed Red up. The wound was looking really bad for awhile but after being cleaned and walking around, it looks pretty darn good. We are to call the deputy if we see the kid on the street again. Hopefully he won't hurt any more animals!
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11/3/2009, 5:01 am
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Firlefanz
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Re: Crazy weekend on the farm!
That's just awful!
Especially if that kid was out again with that bike, they should just take it away from him. I know that's tough, but a) it's not legal, b) he is causing damage, and c) he's annoying everyone else.
*sigh* I just hate loud bikes, so maybe I am a bit prejudiced. At any case, the kid should take his bike elsewhere.
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11/3/2009, 4:39 pm
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TexasMadness
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Re: Crazy weekend on the farm!
I hate it too Firle! When he first started riding it this summer, I figured he would get sick of it so we only had to put up with it for awhile. But he's kept it up - I've even heard him in the middle of the night on it! He mainly rides the bike on the private road in front of his house - which he legally can do. That's where the other horses are that the owners are sure he harasses on purpose. The horses next door just came back from being pastured elsewhere during the drought, so they weren't used to the bike at all. I think that's why they spooked so bad. The very first time they heard the noise it was coming right at them!
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11/3/2009, 9:08 pm
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PerpetuallyCurious
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Re: Crazy weekend on the farm!
Hmmmmm..... I think I would take up target practicing out in the open. If a stray bullet should accidentally get the tire on the bike...... oops. Or the engine would be even better.
I must be tired, that's two posts tonight I fear I sound cranky on 
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11/4/2009, 4:59 am
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