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One of the ponies at the barn, Mickey, is a legend of sorts when it comes to escaping.
Mickey is old. Heck, he's frickin ancient. While his exact birthdate isn't known, sometime this year he's going to turn 46. He's been at the barn since he was 6 or 7, so he's had a lot of time to learn how to escape.
One of his tricks which nobody ever has been able to figure out was like something out of a magic act. On some occasions in the past, especially between classes on days when things were rushed, someone would put Mickey into his standing stall without removing his bridle. They'd just put him in there and put the halter on over the bridle. This would only be for a few minutes while other horses were being tacked up and gotten ready for the next class. It's not ideal, but not it got the next class going faster. Once the next class was going, somdone would come back, take off the halter, remove Mickey's bridle and put his halter back on.
Sometimes, though, they'd come back to a little surprise. Mickey would be in the stall with the halter on, but his bridle would be off, laying on the floor in front of him with the reins still over his neck. Somehow, he'd manage to remove his own bridle (with the throat latch still buckled) without getting out of his halter. Four or five people at the barn, Don included, have sworn that they encountered this and that nobody had removed the bridle. Even if someone had taken it off, they wouldn't have left it on the stall floor with the reins still over Mickey's neck. Mickey stopped doing this before I ever came to the barn, so it's not something I've seen myself.
I have seen Mickey get out of his halter before. That can happen with any horse if someone puts it on too loosely, but Mickey very much had a knack for getting out of them. As he got older, he didn't really seem to get out of his halter for any reason other than to show that he could do it. There has been more than one occasion when some of us would be sitting in front of the barn, talking, and Mickey would amble out and just stand there waiting to be noticed. Just saying "Mickey" would have him casually turn and amble back into his stall and stand there waiting to have his still-fastened halter put back on. You could almost hear him thinking "You know I can get out any time I want."
Mickey also loved to undo the halter of Miss Ellie in the stall next to his through the bars, back when she was still alive. In that case, at least, he unbuckled it to get it off of her.
Now that Mickey is in a box stall, there's no more chance for him to get loose. He can't reach the latch on the stall door to undo it. I think we all figured his Great Escape days were over.
But then yesterday, while turning the last trail ride's horses out, we had the pasture gate open. I was standing just inside, encouraging some of the horses to go in further rather than roll in front of the gate whe Mickey came quick walking up along the fence by the gate. He got to the gate and made a right turn as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a pony to be allowed to head on out to roam whenever he wanted.
Fortunately, I was able to step over and block him. Now normally, I'd expect Mickey to be easygoing about it and head back into the pasture with an "I coulda gotten by if I wanted to" demeanor, but instead, he tried to go around me, even shouldering into me a little. I got him turned though and we closed the gate.
I dunno why he wanted to leave the pasture. Maybe he got a little confused and thought it was Monday and it was time to go back into his stall. Heck, with the heat, maybe he wanted to get back to his stall with its fan. I dunno. In any event, I'm almost glad he did it. It shows that even at his advanced age, he's still got a bit of pony attitude in him.
Mickey is old. Heck, he's frickin ancient. While his exact birthdate isn't known, sometime this year he's going to turn 46. He's been at the barn since he was 6 or 7, so he's had a lot of time to learn how to escape.
One of his tricks which nobody ever has been able to figure out was like something out of a magic act. On some occasions in the past, especially between classes on days when things were rushed, someone would put Mickey into his standing stall without removing his bridle. They'd just put him in there and put the halter on over the bridle. This would only be for a few minutes while other horses were being tacked up and gotten ready for the next class. It's not ideal, but not it got the next class going faster. Once the next class was going, somdone would come back, take off the halter, remove Mickey's bridle and put his halter back on.
Sometimes, though, they'd come back to a little surprise. Mickey would be in the stall with the halter on, but his bridle would be off, laying on the floor in front of him with the reins still over his neck. Somehow, he'd manage to remove his own bridle (with the throat latch still buckled) without getting out of his halter. Four or five people at the barn, Don included, have sworn that they encountered this and that nobody had removed the bridle. Even if someone had taken it off, they wouldn't have left it on the stall floor with the reins still over Mickey's neck. Mickey stopped doing this before I ever came to the barn, so it's not something I've seen myself.
I have seen Mickey get out of his halter before. That can happen with any horse if someone puts it on too loosely, but Mickey very much had a knack for getting out of them. As he got older, he didn't really seem to get out of his halter for any reason other than to show that he could do it. There has been more than one occasion when some of us would be sitting in front of the barn, talking, and Mickey would amble out and just stand there waiting to be noticed. Just saying "Mickey" would have him casually turn and amble back into his stall and stand there waiting to have his still-fastened halter put back on. You could almost hear him thinking "You know I can get out any time I want."
Mickey also loved to undo the halter of Miss Ellie in the stall next to his through the bars, back when she was still alive. In that case, at least, he unbuckled it to get it off of her.
Now that Mickey is in a box stall, there's no more chance for him to get loose. He can't reach the latch on the stall door to undo it. I think we all figured his Great Escape days were over.
But then yesterday, while turning the last trail ride's horses out, we had the pasture gate open. I was standing just inside, encouraging some of the horses to go in further rather than roll in front of the gate whe Mickey came quick walking up along the fence by the gate. He got to the gate and made a right turn as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a pony to be allowed to head on out to roam whenever he wanted.
Fortunately, I was able to step over and block him. Now normally, I'd expect Mickey to be easygoing about it and head back into the pasture with an "I coulda gotten by if I wanted to" demeanor, but instead, he tried to go around me, even shouldering into me a little. I got him turned though and we closed the gate.
I dunno why he wanted to leave the pasture. Maybe he got a little confused and thought it was Monday and it was time to go back into his stall. Heck, with the heat, maybe he wanted to get back to his stall with its fan. I dunno. In any event, I'm almost glad he did it. It shows that even at his advanced age, he's still got a bit of pony attitude in him.