Excitement In Yamhill

And what of my day previous, you may ask? i might tell you. Yesterday, Wren decided to make a break for it. What is it? It would be about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away past the hilly portion of the hay field. It would be another horse farm, in even deeper, darker, Yamhill. It would be unexpected.

Who is Wren you say? Why Wren is a horse that lives here.

After setting up the irrigation, i had to take a call from my employer back in the 808 state. The next thing i know... M calls and states that the neighbor down the road has observed our horse running up the hill, on a public road. Hooray! Hooray! Isn't it interesting that i don't notice a ton of animal leaving our driveway? Isn't it?

First mistake, muck boots instead of sneakers. Second mistake, running in them.

i could not see any evidence of him east or west of the property,so taking the wife's advice, i went to the neighbors. She was apparently aware of his movements through Yamhill. Lead rope in hand, i knocked on the door. "He went up the hill on Yamhill road... he's either on the horse farm on the left.. or the horse farm on the right.." Right. North. Got it.

Cross highway 240, pass the god knows what kind of trees grove, crest the hill- did i mention that his is at a running pace, with muck boots? Can you feel the blisters?

There he was, on the left, standing in a giant field, next to a fence. Hanging out with other horses. While i'm catching my breath, a couple of concerns come to mind:

Concern #1: Am i going to get shot at while crossing someones property holding a lead rope? That is, don't i look like i'm going to steal *your* horse?

Concern #2: The sheriff. You would think that someone else noticed a horse running up and down public roads sans rider, right?

Concern #3: Will the punk ass bastard horse let me catch him and lead him back to our little farm without incident?

My concerns were unfounded. Horse caught without incident. No visit from Law Enforcement, no mayhem.

I envision the barbershop/general store conversation to go something like this:

"I hear a horse got away from the XXXXXXX farm"
"You don't say.."
"Yep, those folks from Hawaii"
"You don't say.."
"They say, the horse made it up past the hill on Yamhill Road"
"You don't say.."
"Cloudy today.."

Welcome to farm life folks. We're past the looking glass, people...