Can animals conspire together toward the benefit of a common goal?  I think its possible.  We’ve been here all of six weeks and the horses and the deer have formed an alliance I think.

For getting to eat their hay the deer have agreed to run through the fence, freeing the horses so that they can partake of the neighbors generous outdoor hay supply and enjoy new equine social connections.

Since the horse across the street has been whining incessantly since we arrived with our horses giving him answers back occassionally, I think he put the deer up to it.

He secretely whispered into their ear that he had an ample stash of premium hay knowing full well that the deer would gossip to the neighbor horses (that’s us).

It’s a perfect explanation for why over the past 6 weeks the deer have wandered casually and aimlessly all over, around and through dell (the farm) without the slightest bump of a fence.  Morning, day or night the fences have stayed strong.  Then suddenly, the last two nights, the deer have taken to running through our fence, taking it down for stem to stern.

The horses of course bolted.   In the middle of the night during a category 2 snow storm.  After hours of searching and one bloody tumble down an embankment and into a yucca plant (be careful they stick!) we found them tucked safely behind a knoll.  Be still my beating heart.  Not only from the fear of losing our beloved horses but also from the exertion of traipsing uphill and downill at a mile plus in altitude (the air is thin out here!) through the whipping wind and snow and imagining all kinds of tragedies if they wandered out onto the busy near by road.

Aemelie, in her customary fashion whinnied and trotted up to me happy that we had finally joined the party!

Put away, fed and watered behind repaired fence we slept well.  Only to wake up and realize that once again the horses were out and this time they did discover the busy road!  Tell tale hoof prints in the show gave them away.

Does drama on the farm ever cease?

This time our hearty crew found solace in the hay pile of our neighbor and comfort in the fact that all of her horses are comfortable and well fed so surely it was a good place to make camp overnight!

The way I see it, every animal benefitted.  The deer ate our horses hay after they bolted to the neighbors and our horses ate her hay pile because here horse already had hay.  We got a lot of exercise which keeps us healthy.  Funny how nature keeps itself in balance.

Eat,drink and be merry seems to be the theme here.  Although the merry part eludes me, unless you consider that eating a drinking is guiltfree after you’ve trudged several miles through snow in pursuit of horses.  Or that one does feel quite merry when one finds said elusive horses after several hours of panic-stricken, fear laced searching.

Oh well.  The thought can be pondered.  It’s off to fix fence…and come up with a peace offering for the deer.  They’re obviously the ones in charge here.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.