Jailbreak

Usually cattle are the ones that get out. Horses seem to be better behaved.  Thursday night after 9 pm I discovered the filly, Shufflebeads, in the front yard and not in the pasture where the other three horses were located.  She was in an excited state and wanted to be with the other horses but did not know how to accomplish this.

My first order of business was to close the front gate so she couldn't get out on the road.  That was harder than expected as Shufflebeads wasn't sure whether to follow me or remain near the other horses.  Once she decided to stay near the other horses I went and closed the gate.  Then I went back to the corral and opened that gate.

When I walked back to get Shufflebeads she came running at full gallop towards me and the gate.  Just as she was about to go through the gate she spotted the other horses running in the pasture towards the corral and she turned in the back yard to run towards them, even though my wood pile and a fence was in the way.  I ran around and herded her into the corral and closed the gate just as the other horses ran around the loafing shed and into the corral.

*Whew!* 

I don't know how Shufflebeads got out of the pasture.  Maybe she jumped the fence?  Then why didn't she jump back over the fence into the pasture?  She may have gotten through the fence into the garden area and then through that gate to the yard.  The gate freely opens from the garden area to the yard, but not the other way around.  I'll check tomorrow when the grass is dry for signs she came through this way.  It rained earlier and the grass was still wet after I got Shufflebeads back into the corral.

We had strong winds before the rain as a cold front moved through and perhaps the "excitement" from the storm was the reason Shufflebeads got out.