A Horse in Need
My 2009 has seen its share of ups and downs outside of the time I spend in my Old Town office doing tax work.
Examples? Car vs. deer accident on Hwy 287. We competed in USDAA performance finals once again with canine teammate Rumor. Sudden loss of our 6-month Sheltie puppy to a brain aneurysm… and now less than a week before Christmas, my wife Stacy and I rescued a neighbor’s horse from a reservoir holding pond.
After a few morning chores I happened to glance down in the valley below our residence and noticed a horse in an unusual place for an extended period of time. And sure enough, after a laborious climb down our ridge, a horse was indeed stuck chest-deep in the frigid waters of a small pond. Needless to say, the horse was shivering and happy to see us. Unfortunately the owners of the barren 400-acre parcel live in Wyoming.
Fortunately we brought down with us a couple of lead ropes…but forgot the sledgehammer in our haste. I instantly recalled a number of hikes in the area and darted right for a nearby wood pile. I grabbed a couple of crudely cut 8’ long fencing timbers and returned to the pond. Then we spent considerable time systematically pounding sections of the 4” deep ice in a trail toward shore. Stacy wisely started feeding the horse some grass tuffs and then with some tugs on the tied together lead ropes, the horse leapt out and onto dry surface, albeit awfully wobbly for a lengthy spell.
Amidst all the hustle and deadlines, life sure has a nice way of saying thank you every once in while.
