# Has your horse ever escaped it's pasture or stall? Here's my story!



## Brianna6432 (Jan 25, 2010)

Okay. This happened not even an hour ago. I was inside doing my chores when a car started wildly beeping as it drove by. I looked out my window and saw my horse, Carly, out of her fence and in my front lawn. I quickly put my boots on and ran out into the freezing cold, without a jacket. As soon as I got to her she was eating the grass that's partly covered by snow. I grabbed her halter and tugged. She lifted her head so I tugged some more and started talking to her. Her ears pinned back. Just then my aunt ran to me ( she lives across the street from me - she was the one beeping ). She held my Carly ( because Carly wouldn't budge ) while I ran to the barn and grabbed the lead line with some hay. We managed to get her halfway there but she got mad because my dog, who she hates, came by us. Carly started bucking & she just missed my aunt. I didn't let go of the lead, just sort of ran with her and stayed behind her shoulder like I was lunging her. 
We finally managed to get her back into her stall. It turns out, the wire for the electric fence snapped ( this was in a section where the electric wasn't working ). There's three wires, the middle one in a small section snapped & I hadn't managed to fix it yet. The very bottom wire snapped today and that's how she got out. I'm going to fix that today because she can't come out of her stall until it's fixed.

What are your stories?


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

This was a few years ago. I just had Fras and Vida who were pregnant and a filly that I have since sold. The three of them got out in the middle of the night. I went out to feed in the morning and they were gone. I frantically started looking for them on my 4 wheeler. My husband went the opposite direction in the truck. I found hoof prints in the dirt of the road that I followed for several miles. The tracks ended at a busy highway. 
I turned around and headed home to call the highway patrol. They woke the poor night shift sheriff up and he told me the story of how they had gotten several calls around 1-2am of the horses on the road. He and several sheriffs officers and a state policeman had tried to catch them but lost them when a train came and chased the 3 down the railroad tracks. He gave me the general direction that they were headed so off I went to search again. This was 6-7 hours past the last sighting of them. 
I finally decided I needed a car to continue my search so I came back home and there was a message on the machine about someone having 3 horses in their corral. I called the dispatcher and got directions, then off again to find them. When I got to the place they were, my husband was already there.He had found them without any help from me :lol: Fortunately they were at a cattle ranch that had corrals to hold them while we went home and got the trailer. 
In all I figured they had crossed a busy highway 3 times, been chased by 4 police officers and 1 train, been free to run for at least 12 hours and no one had a scratch.


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## Jake and Dai (Aug 15, 2008)

My ponies have escaped 3 times.

We have mostly 3 strand electric but right next to the barn we have split rail. 

One evening I heard the neighbours dog barking around 9ish but as this dog barks at the wind, I didn't think anything of it. The next morning I went out to the barn and as normal, the ponies were standing patiently waiting for me. As I walked towards them I realized there was no fence line running across the front of them, it was behind them! So I opened the gate and they politely followed me in for their meal. Luckily, they didn't wander far, just back and forth across my back yard and my neighbours back yard leaving deposits all over the place. My neighbour loves animals and also is an avid gardener so he didn't mind the extra fertilizer.

The next time I was at work and my husband, who worked from home, heard my mare whinnying. She's normally not very talkative which even my non-horsey husband realises, so he went out to investigate. And there was Dai behind the fence and Jake in the back yard, again, grazing away. So hubby grabbed his halter and lead rope and led him back in. He thought it was hysterical how Dai 'told' on Jake.

Then another dark, foggy morning, just 2 months back, I walked out to the barn and only saw Dai in their regular spot. I heard movement behind me and then hooves on asphalt and there was Jake standing there looking at me like...where is my breakfast! The funny thing is, he's 17', 1600lbs and only the top rail of the split rail fence was broken in half. So how he got over the 2 and a half foot bottom portion without breaking it, I don't know. I'm not sure he can lift his feet that high!

Suffice it to say, that fence is now very very secure!!!


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

My horses have gotten out a lot!

A few years ago I was getting ready for school and the neighbor called to tell me that my mare was in her yard. I missed school that day because I was chasing my girl all up and down the roads trying to catch her in the rain. It was the middle of winter, too. Luckily she eventually let me catch her.

Another time she got out and was grazing in the yard of an abandoned house. My cousin saw her, as she lives right beside the house, and noticed that some guy in a truck was sitting there watching my girl. She called me, told me that my girl was out and that there was a guy out watching her that she didn't know. While I had to go get my stuff to catch my mare, my cousin went out to watch the guy. It was a good thing she did, too, because before I arrived she went out there as the guy was getting out of his truck with a rope. She talked to him and told him that my girl belonged to me (her cousin) and that I was coming to get her... that guy left really fast. Thank goodness for my cousin.

Another time I was trying to close the gate and my cousins paint Racking Horse mare decided to charge me... She wasn't stopping, so I let the fecne fall and dove for safety. She, and all the othr horses... which, at the time, there were nine, took off full blast down the road. I had to call for help and it took about four hours to finally get them all put up because they kept acting nuts and my friends stallions across the road weren't heping.

A few months ago my cousins pony and my friends Arabian mare got out... I had to go catch them even though there was a lot of people around... I was the only one who could get close to the two horses! Lol...

Just the other week, my mare and my cousins mare got out somehow... We've walked the fence and dunno how they got out. If it had just been my mare, I would have said that she jumped the fence (she's done it before) but my cousins mare can't jump to save her life... lol. They were down at my other cousins house 'teasing' her neighbors two stallions... She called me, completely frantic because my mare and the other mare were tearing up the yard and she was scared to go out and try to catch them with them acting nuts (running, bucking, snorting, rearing). Went down to catch them, they saw my car and took off up the road towards the house. I had to put the fence up inthe yard (where I let my horses out during summer to graze) for about an hour because the two horses were running like idiots... it took an hour for them to calm down enough to catch and put them up.


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

My old gelding used to get out all the time. Whenever I would go out to the barn, there was some story about what he had done to the ranch while he was out. He didn't like to be caught, so most people tended to stay away from him, and let the owner of the property catch him, or the worker, who wasn't afraid of him. I can remember the first time I was told he got out. I had his chain snapped with a bull snap, cause a normal snap was too easy for him to get out of, and he had managed to open the bull snap. We eventually had to put two snaps on his stall, so he'd stop getting out. My Arabian got out the other day. The ranch owner came knocking on my door all frantic that my horse was out, and he didn't know how she had gotten out. I figured that she was running wild around the property or something, but when I got down to the stalls, she was calmly standing in front of her neighbors stall sharing the other horse's dinner. From what I can get out of the ranch owner, i believe that she actually jumped out of her stall, that something scared her enough and that was the only way out. Everyone is amazed that she jumped out of her stall. Makes me wonder if any of them have ever even heard of a horse doing that before. To put it in perspective, she's a 14.1 hand 4yr. purebred arabian mare, and the railing is almost 5' tall. She's kept in a 24' x 24' stall, and it was right in the middle of a rainstorm. She let me walk right up and catch her, even though she normally plays a game of keep away when in her stall. I think she was ready to go home. Not sure how long she'd been out for.


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

My old coach's horse (who was 17.2hh) used to escape his stall all the time. She would go into the barn in the morning apparently and he'd be standing in the middle of the aisle with polos strung everywhere like streamers and all the mares in their stalls going crazy and kicking holes in their doors...
Eventually she just put a lock on the BOTTOM of his stall door so he couldn't reach, lol.


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## RadHenry09 (Mar 22, 2009)

Both my geldings seem to be great escape artists ....
One morning about a year ago I was on my way to work and the road that I travel on takes me right past the hay fields of my horses barn and I can see the side of the barn from the road. I got a strange feeling that something was not right and I happen to look over at the barn and there is my Dun gelding standing out by the fence by himself. So I take a detour and drive up to the barn , walk in and see his stall is opened. I took a rope with me and called his name , he looked at me like "Oh ! Hi Mom, what are you doing here?" And followed me back to his stall, I made sure it was locked ! 
Needless to say I was late for work that morning...


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## HorseOfCourse (Jul 20, 2009)

I have over 10 animas in one pasture and theyve gotten their fair share of getting out. One time that was particularly bad was when I was at the town park for 4-H with just one of my horses and it was her first time there, so we were both nervous and I put the saddle on without much fuss..but then I was tightening it and apparently did it too fast for her liking [she was also in heat..bleh] and she reared up with me bent over next to her tightening it..then broke my trainers lead rope and took off like a lunatic running around the park. I was sooo scared because she doesnt like to be touched or caught by anybody she doesnt know and she was in a park full of people. She interrupted a game of basketball at the other end of the park then came running back where a grouip of people formed a circle around her and My trainer was able to get close enough to her to grab the rope she was dragging...I got chewed out good for that one.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Mine have been out too many times to count. But there was one summer in particular when I was boarding Pistol at this old farm. In it's glory days it was a fancy racing stables with it's very own track but now it's a run down memory. Board was free, I had to provide my own feed and hay but it was 14 acres and what used to be a fancy barn with living quarters. The pasture was really lush green grass but the fence was completely gone in many places along the woodline. Pistol would get out every now and again, it was in a pretty sparse neighborhood, most people had several acres to their names. He would get out and graze in an old mans yard. Each time that old man would call 9-1-1 and report a "herd of horses" in his yard!

I actually had to put a photograph of my horse with all of my contact information on file with the animal control so that they could call me!

A couple of years ago I bought this cute little palomino pony that ran through the electric. It took the entire night to find her. She had gotten herself across the corn field and on the other side of the wet lands. When we finally found her we had to lead her through 4 feet of water to get her home....

I have many more stories... Once a tennessee walking horse I was leasing got out, the electric was down. He wasn't far from the pasture, in the woods. My friend and I were searching and it was just before dusk. We came up on him grazing in a thicket with his butt facing us. I saw him and I geuss my eyes didn't focus right away. I screamed "Bear!" and just about fell over my friend trying to get away. I made it completelly back to the pasture before I thought... maybe that was Mikey....


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## peg4x4 (Jan 10, 2010)

Why don't you train your horses to come when you whistle??? Never. lie .to them. Always have a treat to give them when they come. Any horse I got in was real easy to catch when they left. Came in handy when sombody funny opened the gate late one night. 2 Horses running everywhere! I whistled,they came,I led them home by the forelock. Got home,whistled "call notes" while I gave them their treats.


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## Cowgirl140ty (Jan 7, 2010)

Yes. I have. In september... when I moved to my place. I brought my horses along with a friends. My horses are very respectful of fence cause they had always been kept in hotwire. Well... my friends filly.... ran right through it while I was at work. I come home to find only her 30 yr cracker pony in the pasture. I started searching found where they took the fence down. I tracked them (i live on dirt roads) down the road, through the wood.. well i knew i was heading towards the HWY so I call the police to let them know there were 3 horses loose. I get to the small rd that goes to the hwy. And I see them locked in the cement plant... of course by this time I have called everyone I know and they are looking. lol. Needless to say... I have my electric fence put up that night.


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## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

once when i was out of town i got a call from a guy who boards at my barn saying he went out to put eye meds in his horses eye early in the am & found rhydian [a horse i used to free lease] out in the isle & saw that she had eaten out of my friends grain bucket. she was walking with her head down low & had a huge gut [she was regularly a slim girl]. we think that she ate about half a bag of grain. some how she was just fine. the barn owner turn her out with the other horses & kept an eye on her. i got back in town later that day & walked her about for nearly 2hrs & then rode her the next day. i am thankful that she didnt get really sick ! i still have no clue how she got out of her stall


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

> Once a tennessee walking horse I was leasing got out, the electric was down. He wasn't far from the pasture, in the woods. My friend and I were searching and it was just before dusk. We came up on him grazing in a thicket with his butt facing us. *I saw him and I geuss my eyes didn't focus right away. I screamed "Bear!" and just about fell over my friend trying to get away. I made it completelly back to the pasture before I thought... maybe that was Mikey.... *


__________________

:lol::lol: Horse butt....bear.....horse butt......BEAR!!!!!!!!


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## specialdelivery (Jan 12, 2010)

I've now had my horse for 2 months and he has escaped twice. Bad, I know. the first time he knawed through the rope that tied the gate closed. he walked about 2 kms to where he had seen some other horses, he was safe but scared me to death. This happened about a week after we got him. The second time was 2 weeks ago. I dont know what happened but he tried to jump the fence, and broke throught the top board. The fence is made with 5 2X6 rails along with railroad ties for posts. and its less than a year old. He didnt just snap the top rail in half, he broke a 2 foot section right out of the middle. We got a call, since hes not on our property, that the neighbor caught him but then was spooked by snowmobiles and ran off again, and that he had a HUGE cut on his leg. We got there just as the sun was going down, about 4 minutes after we got the call and there were no signs of him. It was one of the first nice days so there were many snowmobiles out that were scaring him. i happened to have binocilars in my car and happed to see him pacing back and forth in a field 4 kms away. I ran all the way there to get him through deep snow, but caught him right away and settled him down. The cut turned out to be a minor scrape, thank god. But it was about 5 inches long. He was so sweaty, and it was starting to freeze again and we dont have a stable, just a insulated shed that he goes in if he wants. I think it was the sleds that scared him as this was one of the first days that people would have taken them out. now he has 10 sled pass him every day, and i go see him on one since the roads are all snowed in. I have never been so scared in my life.


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## dressagexlee (Dec 15, 2009)

Ugh, Otis. If there is one tiny gap in the fence, he always manages to squeeze his marshmallow butt through it.
In total, he's probably escaped five times in the last three years. Luckily, he's helped us find every space in the fence (they're hidden in the bushes that have grown over the wire portion of the fence), so now it's completely idiot (or smart?) proof!


2009, New Years Day (Odie's Big Day Out), was one particularily annoying yet funny incident.

I had just returned from a sleep-over party at my friends, only to find that Otis had reportedly gone missing at some point in the morning. I was still in my pajamas, and went out to assist with the search team. 
We first searched our fifteen acres, then the neighbour's garden (which he has run through twice, both times while the old lady was planting/harvesting it), and finally ended up at the back driveway, comtemplating searching the rest of the neighbourhood on foot or in the truck.
We noticed the horses at the acreage across the street were running around in their paddock. And guess what we see through the trees on that driveway? Two white ears flicking around. We called, "Odie-pony! Come on home!"
Those two ears shot back in our direction, and Otis comes galloping down the driveway, on to the road, and back to us. Only, he's not stopping.
We had jump out of the way, just in time to watch him blast into the three-foot deep snow, sending a spray of it on us. Otis just bounds away like a bunny, leaving huge circular tracks from his belly in the snow.
The first thing he did was go and pig out on the hay slats. Not a scrape on him, he was just a little hungry.

How he escaped? We found little pony footprints leading from a tiny (barely fifteen centimetres wide!) space between a thick bush trunk and the first fence post on the north end of the pasture. Don't know how he finds these things!


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## Attitude05 (Nov 11, 2009)

my horse likes to kill fences, be they eletric, barbed wire, post and rail, you name it she will crush it.

its a disrespect for fences thing, so yes, my horse has escaped, too many times to explain


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## drafts4ever (Sep 1, 2009)

I have a couple near escapes? Caleigh is normally very respectful of fences and she's only kind of gotten out twice. The first time she got out was about 2 weeks after I got her and even though she was the biggest mare in the mare pasture she was being bullied by this little ***** of a mare. I'm out talking with the barn owner watching Caleigh and Zoey charges her. We're thinking, hmmm that's gutsy and get ready to head in with a hose and lead ropes right when Caleigh turns around kicks at Zoey and plows through the fence right into the gelding pasture! 
The geldings scatter screaming and bucking and throwing fits wondering why this giant mare is running around in their area and along after her come all the other mares. We ended up closing the barn door and opening up the gelding gate and letting everybody in and feeding early. The fence was fixed that night. 

The second happened about 2 months ago? We have grown over trails behind the pastures. The barn owners father was in the process of stringing the new wires for the electric fence along the back and to distract the horses dumped a bucket of apples in the middle of the pasture. He finishes stringing the wires and heads home for lunch (on property). Now fast forward to about 5 pm and I show up to help feed. We open the gelding pasture gate and everyone comes running into their assigned stalls, then we open the mare gate and Tex, Zoey, little zoey, and havanna come in...no Caleigh. It's dark so the barn owner V, her two students and I head out into the pasture calling for her and we find Caleigh standing nice and calm on the other side of the newly strung fence, just staring at us. The bottom 4 lines were broken and the top one with the current running through it was the only thing in her way, she was munching on an apple. We ended up cutting the top line and leading her through. What we think happened was she had an apple, took it away from the other horses and it rolled under the fence, she must have some how crawled under and popped the lower lines over her back. Then she turned around and noticed the top line and thought she was stuck so she just stood there and waited. 

The third wasn't with my horses but I was there. I was going to work with Sissy the Percheron I have in my barn on here. I go to my friends house and we head out to the pasture to find a broken fence and no horses. Mikey Bob and Sissy were gone. So her husband calls animal control, her two songs get their bikes and we head out on foot down the street with halters and lead ropes. We get to the end and no horses so we head the other direction, her husband calls and says they weren't that far and they're being watched at the elementary school next door. 
They had come up the back through the neighboring pasture and through the parking lot into the recess playground where they were just chilling in the middle munching on the grass. A 5th grade art class was sitting outside with drawing pads while the teacher explained shading and structure. Nobody was hurt and the teacher asked if she could come to the fence line during nice weather with her class and draw them again only this time it would be planned.


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