The property we live on (and rent) has a number of horses agisted ie most of the paddocks have horses, who also pay rent.
Last week, Shirley, one of the horse owners moved the fence so that her herd was able to access (and hence control) some new grass.
This new fence runs along the edge of the section of the property we have access to, and are responsible for.
All well and good.
(An interesting side note is that Shirley is in the fire brigade and often turns up in her “company” car. Her husband is the chief cheese maker at one of the biggest Tasmanian dairies – puts a whole new perspective on being the “big cheese”.)
Anyway, all the horses were very happy on their side of the fence, EXCEPT ONE.
The day after the move we came into our yard to find we had a rather large visitor.
We’re used to the occasional rabbit and pademelon (a small marsupial closely related to wallabies and kangaroos) visits but a horse is a whole different experience.
For a start, the small animals tend to be rather shy and timid so they are generally around only at night.
Mostly, we know they’ve been because we need to do regular yard cleanups of their droppings.
Also, being shy, if they are around, they’ll run away when they see people (or Sancho, our little dog).
Sancho thinks they’d make a great toy and chases them whenever he gets the opportunity.
So far he hasn’t caught one and that’s just fine by us.
However, a horse is a whole different ball game.
For a start we don’t have a halter or reins and so you can’t exactly get her to move if she’s not inclined to do so.
And she’s a LOT BIGGER than us.
Fortunately, she’ll decide she’s had enough and will stand by the gate waiting to be let out.
The really big question though, is how did she get in?
We informed Shirley that this was happening and her response was “that must be Mildred, the witch”.
Nice to know we have a witch in residence, even if it is in the form of a horse.
We’d checked the fencing and it was all intact with no gaps large enough for a horse to fit through.
After a couple of days with her magically appearing in our orchard, Shirley came and took her away.
Our big challenge now is the question of who cleans up the poo piles?
It’s one thing going out with a plastic bag to pick up after Sancho or our other small visitors.
Again, like the animal itself, its calling card is substantial – I was hoping to include photographic evidence just in case you thought I was making this up, but my phone/camera is being completely uncooperative and I can’t get the photo to load.
It hasn’t been raised yet with Shirley as we were hoping she’d offer to get it done.
However, there’s been no indication of that happening.
We have discussed the idea of a chocolate and cheese party.
We’ll provide the chocolate and they’ll bring the cheese.
I’m thinking they may owe us a very large cheese.
I’ll have to brush up my negotiation skills.
And as to the question of how the horse got into our yard – well that will just have to remain one of life’s little mysteries.