Escape of the Blond

Lightening: The Blond (one among many other nick names)

Cool title, right? Now for all you blonds out there, this is not about you. This is about my mini horse, Lightening. What does that title have to do with a mini horse? Oh, you'll find out!! So, to begin. On Saturday evening, my mom asked of I could take Snowflakes tray out to the barn and dump it out. Now who is Snowflake, you ask? Snowflake is one of my New Zealand rabbits. I will post more about her later. She is getting old and the really cold weather was really wearing on her. So my parents said that I could bring her in from the barn. She has been living in the basement about a month now. So I said that I would takes out her tray, sure. I go down and get the tray out and tell Rachel to fill up the water she needs and asked her to fill up the five gallon bucket for me. The water heater for the mini horses broke the day before the temperatures plunged below zero. So every morning and evening, I have to carry out hot water, break the ice on the water tub, take out two buckets of cold water (since you can not get five gallons out in one draw), and dump the hot water in. But I don't mind to much. I'll tell you all my chores some other time, how about that? So, back to the story. Rachel said she will fill up the water and I TRIED to get out of the door. But the tray was to wide and since it was full of rabbit droppings I could not tip it, so I had to go out the garage door. I get to the barn, around which goes a fence so the ponies can go straight from the barn to the pasture and vise versa. I slid the tray under the gate, open the gate and go in. Now the gate is ten (or maybe twelve) feet long, so it is heavy and long and does not close well. We are still working on that. So I thought I had gotten the gate closed and went to take the tray in. But, alas, I had made a mistake. The gate was not closed and Lightening, being who he is, had to go check it out. So he pushes and the gate swings open!! I grab him, because if he gets away it is not fun. I also manage to grab Thunder. Storm goes out and finds a little something to munch on. I know he will not go anywhere, so I move to take Thunder and Lightening in. But Lightening twists, steps on my foot and gets away. FREE!! That is what he is thinking as he trots off. I quickly put Thunder in the barn, calling for Rachel. I never remember it taking so long to fill up two gallons of water and a five gallon bucket. I grab a lead rope and am coming out of the barn when Rahel finally decides to show up. She looks at me, the rope, sees Storm and asks "Where are the other two?" "Thunder's in the barn, Lightening's somewhere", I reply. She sets the water down and I tell her to get some horse treats. I rope Storm around the neck and put him in the barn. Next the blond. By the way, for those of you who don't know, Lightening is blond. I put the picture on to inform you of that fact. I come out of the barn and here comes Lightening, trotting down from the yard, tail held high, feet up, having the time of his very short life. I'm telling you, every time he gets out he goes strait down the driveway, right for the road. And, sure enough, that is what he does. But this time he circles the pond and heads back for the barn. I yell at Rachel that I'll get behind him, and we'll try to steer him into the barn. She goes between the barn and the shop, and while she is out of my view, Lightening trips her on some ice and she falls. She's o.k. now, just a little sore. Lightening goes right past the barn and heads for the yard again. Then he comes back down the driveway and Rachel and I are able to steer him into the fence. Rachel shuts the gate and I grab Lightening and put him in the barn. The Escape of the Blond has been cut short. Every thing is good now and everyone is still alive. Better yet, this happened without anyone inside the house finding out!! So we feed and water the rabbits, I go get the hot water for the ponies then realize that I still have to dump the rabbit tray. But it doesn't fit through the barn door! So I dump it in a bucket, dump the bucket, and head for the house. My very simple evening chore routine has really had an amazing twist tonight!! But everyone survived and we did tell mom and dad (but not grandma, because if we did, she would start on her whole "we need to get rid of the ponies" speech. Which we do not need to do, because everyone needs something cuddly like a mini horse. Or maybe you just need some excitement. Everyone needs some of that. So my exciting night ended and Lightening is just waiting for the next chance to escape. I have some really good stories about him. I'll have to post some others.





I hope you enjoyed the story. The picture is not the greatest, but I will get a better one for you all.


'becca